“Not until recently.” Emotion thickened her voice but she rushed on before he could identify the specific feelings. “My father owns a bar called the Clubhouse. I manage the business side of things, inventory, payroll, that sort of thing.”
“I’ve heard of the Clubhouse.” Frequent fights, easy access to all sorts of drugs and pack-sanctioned prostitutes. Yeah, he’d heard all about the Clubhouse. He just couldn’t picture Heather in such a rough-and-tumble environment. “I didn’t realize your family owned it.”
“It’s technically owned by Blue River Pack, but it’s the alpha’s job to manage the place.”
“All the responsibility with none of the profit? That doesn’t seem quite fair.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Why do you think Dad leaves the actual management to me?” Her smile faded as suddenly as it had appeared. Turning around, she leaned back against the railing and asked, “Were you here the night Bruce broke in? This is where all that took place, isn’t it?”
He abandoned the rail and moved in front of her. The sequence of events led to her brother’s death. Why was she asking him about them now? “Your father was desperate to locate Ava before she was defined. He sent Bruce after her and—”
“Bruce rushed in guns blazing and found half of your network here protecting her. I know all of that. Did you see the actual fight? Did Bruce seem shocked or… I don’t know.”
“I wasn’t here. My youngest sister and two of my nieces had disappeared the same day. I was out looking for them when your brother came here.”
“Ava hooked up with Kyle, right?” He nodded. “Then why did he bring her here rather than hiding her at his house?”
“I have better security.” She made a noncommittal sound but didn’t seem satisfied with his answer. “Why all the questions?”
“I’d already gone home that night, so I only know what Dhane told me.”
“Which was?”
“According to Dhane, Bruce insisted that Dad set him up for failure, or worse, sent him on a mission he wasn’t supposed to survive.”
Jake touched her arm and waited until she looked at him again. “What would your father gain by killing his oldest son?” Wolves were even more patriarchal than cats. Most cat clans voted on their leaders while wolf packs still passed the honor down from father to son. Had Nate been dissatisfied with his successor? And was he coldhearted enough to snuff out one of his sons?
“Bruce was out of control. He was making enemies faster than Dad could smooth things over. Dad couldn’t control him and people who oppose my father have a way of disappearing.” Her voice thinned and color drained from her face. She was no longer thinking about her brother.
“Now who sounds paranoid?” He softened the question with a playful smile. “Like Carlos, there’s nothing we can do to help Bruce.”
“I know. It’s just haunted me ever since it happened.”
“Understandable. Regardless of his faults, Bruce was still your brother.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at her shoes. “Did you find your sister and nieces?”
He started to nod then realized she couldn’t see him. “They were in the mountain lab.”
Her gaze shot back to his, worry evident in her pained expression. “Were they okay?”
He nodded. “They were terrified but physically unharmed. We were all pretty shaken by the incident.”
“I keep hearing about the mountain lab. What was it like? I know the captives were freed but what happened to the people who worked there?”
“I wasn’t part of the actual raid. I was able to examine a lot of the information that was recovered there. The lab was high-tech and extremely isolated. The workers were basically prisoners too.”
Heather shook her head and glanced beyond him. “I don’t buy that. Isolated or not, they had to know what they were doing was wrong. They had people in cages. That should have been their first clue.”
He smiled, warmed by her conviction. “Of course they knew it was wrong.”
“And were they punished for their actions?”
“The Prime Council is handling the investigation, so I don’t know the details. I know they decided against involving human law enforcement. Thought it was too risky. They’re focused on crippling the entire organization rather than each individual worker. Other than that, I don’t know much more than you do.”
“Do they know how many labs there are or how many captives?”
He just shook his head.
“It’s hard to fight an enemy so shrouded in secrecy.”