Page 96 of Shattered By the Currents

“Maybe.” Connor’s mind moved quickly. “Or he knows she told me everything, and he followed through on his threat.”

“How would he know?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t know. He always seems to know a hell of a lot more than he should.”

Ethan frowned. “Have you got her phone?”

Connor grabbed her cell from the bedside table and handed it to him.

Ethan tapped a few things on the screen—then cursed.

A band wrapped around Connor’s chest. “What?”

Ethan turned the phone off before looking at Connor. “There’s an app on here. It’s in one of her folders, so I’mguessing she didn’t even see it. It’s basically spyware. It listens through the phone’s microphone. Not just to calls. Whenever the phone is on, the app can listen to any ambient audio. Conversations. Background noise. Anything within range.”

“The fuck?” Ryan growled.

Black rage tinged Connor’s vision. He wanted to punch something. To ram his fist into a wall or some glass, or hell, the fucker’s face. “So the piece of shit heard her confide in me last week, and he tried to kill me.”

Ryan inched closer, his voice hardening. “We’re going to nail this guy.”

Connor wanted to do more than that.

A breathy whimper sounded from the bed.

Connor spun.

Raven’s eyes scrunched before opening.

Two strides and he was by her side, dropping into the seat beside her bed and taking her hand. “Hey. You’re awake.”

She frowned at him before pulling down her mask. “Connor?”

“Yeah, honey. I’m here. We’re in the hospital. You inhaled a chemical gas, but doctors say you’re gonna be okay.”

Her frown deepened, and she glanced up at Ryan and Ethan before looking back at him. “He texted me.”

“What?”

“Xander. He said, ‘Remember what happened to the last person you told?’ I was so scared for you. I tried to get out but I couldn’t.”

Xander had texted her. That was basically a fucking admission of guilt.

“Are you okay?” Her gaze ran over his body as if searching for injury.

“I’m fine.” He’d need to tell her about the shooter in the forest, but that could wait. Too much was going on right now.

“What about my parents?” She suddenly tried to sit up. “Are they safe? Is someone?—”

“Joel’s still there.” He touched her shoulder to steady her. “He went in to check on them after we told him what was going on, and I believe he’s currently playing bridge with them.”

She closed her eyes. “Thank God. Everyone’s okay.” When she opened them again, they were big pools of sadness. “But he knows.”

He didn’t want to tell her this part. “Ethan found something on your phone.”

She looked at Ethan, then back to Connor. “What?”

“An app that records audio.”