Chapter 141 TYLER

Chapter 141 TYLER
We were all standing in my living room now, but nobody had bothered sitting down. It wasn’t even a conscious decision, more like our bodies refused anything that looked like settling. Sitting would have meant patience, and none of us had that left in us.

Kane hovered near the armrest like he was seconds away from pacing straight through the wall. Jax kept glancing at his phone every few seconds, thumb tapping the screen like it owed him money. Peter was the worst of them, pacing in tight circles, stopping now and then just to lean into me or mutter theories about Racquel and Sam that made everything sound worse than it already did.

Mark stayed slightly apart from the rest of us, arms folded across his chest. He wasn’t looking at anyone directly, but I could tell he was listening to everything. He had the kind of quiet around him that felt like he was holding his thoughts back on purpose, trying not to let them spill out in the wrong direction.

And at the center of all of it, my dad stood with his phone pressed to his ear, listening.

He had been like that for a while now. Not speaking much, just listening, nodding once or twice like the person on the other end could see him. Whatever was being said wasn’t light. I could tell from the way his jaw stayed locked and the way his free hand kept flexing at his side.

Then finally, he exhaled.

“Alright. Thank you,” he said into the phone.

Something in that tone made my chest tighten before the call even ended.

He pulled the phone away from his ear, and I didn’t even wait for him to properly lower it.

“What did you find out?” I asked immediately.

My dad looked at me, then at the rest of us. There was a pause, like he was deciding how much to say out loud.

“Mr Lawson confirmed it,” he said finally. “Racquel is missing. She never boarded her flight.”

The words didn’t land all at once. They kind of spread through the room in pieces.

Peter stopped pacing. Kane straightened from the armrest like someone had just pulled him upright. Jax finally looked up from his phone. Even Mark’s arms dropped slightly from where they were folded.

I felt something close to irritation and annoyance at the news.

“Missing?” I repeated. “As in gone missing?”

My dad nodded once. “She ran before departure. They only realized after the flight took off that she never left the country. They've been trying to keep the matter private and now, thanks to your friends sightings they'll know where to start looking.”

Peter let out a snort behind me.

Kane muttered something under his breath that I didn’t fully catch, but I knew it wasn’t good.

I looked at my dad, waiting for more. Waiting for a plan, a direction, anything that made this feel less like the ground had shifted.

But he glanced at his watch instead.

“It’s getting late,” he said, like that mattered right now.

Something inside me snapped.

“That’s it?” I said, stepping forward. “We just wait? That’s the plan? We just sit around while her parents handle it?”

My dad’s eyes came back to me. “Tyler.”

“No,” I cut in before he could finish. “No, Dad. That’s not good enough. You don’t know what she’s doing. You don’t know what Sam is doing either. They could be anywhere right now plotting against us.”

Jax shifted beside me. “Ty, calm down.”

“I am calm,” I snapped, which was definitely not true. “But this doesn’t make sense. Why not just arrest them? Sam is clearly involved. And Racquel would have been in prison if her parents hadn't covered up the matter.”

My dad let out a slow breath, like he was trying not to turn this into a lecture.

“It’s not that simple,” he said. “You were all witnesses, yes. But you didn’t see an actual crime happen this time. There is no active charge that allows immediate arrest.”

Behind me, Peter gave a short laugh.

“So what,” he said, “we just wait until something worse happens? That’s the plan? Because last time I checked, ‘waiting’ is how people end up regretting things.”

My dad didn’t respond to that directly.

Instead, Mark spoke.

“I think there’s something else we can do,” he said.

Everyone looked at him.

Even Peter stopped talking.

Mark hesitated for a second, like he wasn’t used to being the one to step into the middle of things like this.

“We can file a restraint order,” he continued. “Against Racquel and Sam. If there’s documented history, especially with what happened with Harper before, it gives grounds. At least it puts legal distance between them and everyone else.”

For a moment, the room didn’t move. Then my dad nodded slowly.

“That’s actually a good suggestion,” he said.

I didn’t realize I had been holding my breath until I let it out.

Mark didn’t say anything else, just gave a small shrug like it wasn’t a big deal. But I silently thanked him in my head.

He had followed me here, stayed quiet through everything, and still managed to think straight when the rest of us were just running on adrenaline.

My dad looked around the room again.

“I’ll look into it immediately,” he said. “And I’ll make sure this is escalated properly. Racquel will not be coming anywhere near you boys.”

It sounded final enough, but I still didn’t like it.

Before I could say anything else, his phone buzzed again. He glanced at it, then sighed.

“I have a Zoom meeting I can’t delay,” he said. “I need to take this. We’ll continue this later.”

And just like that, he was gone.

The room fell into silence again, like everyone was briefly stuck, deciding what to do next.

A few seconds passed before my mom walked in from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel.

“Is everything alright?” she asked, looking between all of us.

Then her expression softened slightly. “It’s getting late. Do you boys want to spend the night? I’m sure we’ve got space for four more.”

Peter reacted instantly like she had just offered him ownership papers.

“Three,” he said, pointing vaguely around the room like he was doing a headcount only he understood. “It’s three. I practically live here. Tyler's room is technically mine, so.”

My mom laughed, shaking her head like she had long given up trying to correct him.

“Don’t worry,” she said warmly. “I’m sure there’s space for everyone.”

Everything should’ve felt normal after that. Something light to reset everything that had just been dropped on us.

But my mind wasn’t there anymore.

It was stuck on what my dad had said.

Racquel is missing.

Sam was obviously involved.

And the part that wouldn’t leave me alone was how easily everything was slipping into chaos again right after I told Harper not to worry about Sam anymore.

I had actually meant it when I said it. I had believed it. Now I didn’t know what I was supposed to tell her if she asked again.

I barely noticed I had gone quiet until Peter came over and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t zone out on us, cap,” he said. “We’re staying over so we can figure this out.”

Kane and Jax both agreed from the side, voices overlapping a little as they tried to sound confident.

But it didn’t really reach me.

Jax stepped back first. “I’m calling my parents to let them know I'm staying over,” he said, already heading for the front door. “I’ll be back.”

Mark stayed a moment longer, before he brought out his phone.

“I’ll text Megan,” he said quietly, then looked at me. “Try not to sit in your head too long.”

I gave a small nod, even though I barely heard him properly.

Kane and Peter were already moving toward the kitchen, arguing about snacks like it was a national sport.

The house started shifting into that strange in-between state, where everyone was still around but doing different things.

I heard mom's voice echo from the kitchen, talking about blankets, and assigning rooms like this was just another normal night.

I stayed where I was, Harper's name still pushing at the back of my mind.

I should call her.

Just hear her voice.

Tell her something, anything, so she wouldn’t hear the news later from someone else and twist it into something worse in her head.

I started for the stairs, heading to my room where I knew I'd get a few minutes of privacy.

The moment I pushed my door open, I stopped.

Something was off.

Not dramatic enough to shout about, but enough that my eyes picked it up immediately. My chair wasn’t where I left it, angled slightly to the side like someone had sat and not bothered to fix it. One of my drawers was pulled open just enough to break the clean line I always kept. Even my bed, which I had made that morning, had a crease that wasn’t there before.

My first thought was Jacob, but that didn’t hold for long. He was already back at boarding school, and even when he was here, he never touched my room without asking.

I took another step inside, slower now, checking the corners of the room as my mind tried to figure out what I was looking at. Just then I caught a whiff of a familiar scent I knew damn well wasn't supposed to belong in my space.

My stomach tightened before the thought fully formed, but I said it anyway. “Racquel.”

“Hey, stud,” she answered from behind me immediately.

I turned fast—just in time to see her slam my door shut before I could fully register the movement.

“Miss me?”

My jaw clenched.