This Fearless Girl (St. Clary's University #2) - E. M. Moore Page 0,70

passenger seat while Lucas and I get in the back. “I ran home and grabbed the ring already.” He pulls away from the curb, then finds me in the rearview mirror. “I made some arrangements and nothing’s going to happen to you. There won’t even be a note in your file.”

I frown. It’s not that I didn’t want that, but it makes me uneasy that people can use their clout to go do those things. “Nothing?”

“No, Meghan backed down when she was also reminded of the bullying policy the school has. Though, that wasn’t all of it. There was a room full of witnesses, but I promised the dean that you wouldn’t do anything like that again.”

Wyatt groans. “She will if Meghan gets in her face again.”

“We’re going to take down Meghan another way,” Stone promises.

He’s stopped looking at me and is focusing on the road, but I see the dangerous look in his eyes. She really shouldn’t have put herself on their radar. I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of their punishments, and I doubt they’re going to hide her bike on the top of the school. It might be something much worse.

I lean back and pull the copy of the front page of the Clary newspaper out of my bag. When the guys first got the maps out, I asked the librarian to photocopy it for me. For the first time since getting it at my desk, I read through it. The article lists facts about my father regarding his past Superstition Mountain experiences and, of course, the treasure. Every mention of my father will always have the treasure attached, just the way he wanted.

But this article also has a few quotes from Lance Jacobs. I shake my head, my blood boiling. “Your father’s a piece of work,” I growl.

Stone looks up, then peers over his shoulder at what I’m reading. “What’s that?”

“The article from the newspaper.” I shake my head. “‘It’s a shame Wilder never worked within this century,’ Jacobs says. ‘In all the years of his hunting experience, he never moved the needle forward. In fact, the Wilders are as close to finding the treasure as they were the day it was lost.’”

Lucas wraps his fingers around my thigh and squeezes. His comfort is welcome, but I’m furious.

“He’s not supposed to be talking to the media.” I slice Stone a look.

He shrugs. “My father does what he wants.”

“I suppose my finger shouldn’t have slipped then.”

The car is silent for a moment. Stone peers up and meets my gaze in the mirror. “Maybe it shouldn’t have.”

Instead of making me feel better, his admission makes me feel worse. My stomach hollows out, and I try to wrangle myself under control.

It’s taken a long time for me to figure out that Lance being who he is isn’t Stone’s fault, and his father’s actions shouldn’t be taken out on him. I blow out a breath. “Has he done anything useful?”

Stone nods to the glove compartment. “There’s a file in there on Cole, leader of the Dragon gang.”

I lean forward. “Well, that’s interesting.”

“He had a private investigator look into his background to see what makes him tick. Maybe why he’s doing this. Vulnerabilities. Weaknesses.”

Wyatt flips through the pages. “This is pretty thorough.”

“My dad is nothing but thorough.”

That’s something I’ve gathered. He knew right where to hit me, and I bet somewhere in the main Jacobses estate, there’s a file like that with my name on it. And one with my dad’s.

Wyatt reads from the paper. “Joined the Dragons a few years ago. He grew up in Rawley Heights where he actually joined a different gang. The next information we have on him, though, is that he was no longer in the Heights Crew but pledging the Dragons. Hmm,” Wyatt muses, tipping his cowboy hat down. “Looks like someone got a little loose-lipped on him here.”

“What’s it say?”

“He had a really good friend. Someone he went through an initiation with,” Wyatt says, eyebrow peaking. “His friend got killed just walking down the street. He went AWOL for a bit, and when he came back, he challenged the current leader of the Dragons for his spot.”

Initiation and challenges? Those words sound so foreign to me. It’s like the Dragons have their own set of rules.

“He won,” Wyatt says. “Obviously.” He turns the page. “He has one known family member, a former undercover cop who hasn’t been seen in months. No trace of him, so that’s a dead