Page 40 of A Violet Obsession

More shouts from the hallway. Two more muffled pops. A crash. Then—silence. My lungs burn with the breath I’m holding. I count heartbeats. One. Two. Five. Ten.

Then the unmistakable sound of my front door opening.

“Lily,” Finn’s voice. Low and controlled, but there’s a crack running through it. “I’m coming in.”

The sob tears out of me and I nearly choke on it. I set Hera on the bed and rush for the door.

Finn fills the frame, chest heaving, sweat beaded on his brow. His eyes sweep the room, and I don’t wait.

I throw myself at him.

He staggers back a step under my weight before his arms lock around me, and I wrap my legs around his waist, burying my face in his neck.

“They came in,” I sob against his skin. “Into my room. They had a key.” My heart is pounding so hard I can feel it against his chest, or maybe that’s his. “I was asleep.” My voice breaks on the last word.

His arms tighten around me. One hand cups the back of my head, pressing my face harder into his neck. The other arm is clamped across my back, holding me against him, and I can feel the tension in every muscle of his body.

I’m not sure I’m ever going to let go.

13

FINN

“I was asleep.”

The anguish in her voice cracks my chest open.

She’s wrapped around me, her face buried in my neck. Every word is tangled in sobs that shake her whole body against mine.

“…and he thinks the stone can control people’s minds, and he asked if I’d felt it, and I lied because I didn’t know what else to say… and then his guy hit me, and Voss pointed a gun at me… and then in the hallway, he tried to take me, but Hera—” She sucks in a ragged breath. “Hera jumped on him, and the gun went off, and I slammed the door… and then you were here and—” Another sob breaks through. “Hera saved my life.”

My hand is on the back of her head, the other arm around her soft waist. She’s shaking so hard I can feel it in my teeth.

“It’s okay, Butterfly. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

She makes a sound against my neck that guts me.

I just hold her. Though time feels irrelevent. Has it been one minute? Five?

It’s long enough for her breathing to go from gasping to ragged. Long enough for me to get my shit under control, because right now every nerve in my body is screaming at me to set her down, and go find Voss to finish what Hera started.

I set her down carefully. Her legs are unsteady, and she grips the front of my hoodie to stay upright. When she tips her face up, I get my first proper look at her in the light.

Everything inside me freezes.

Her lower lip is split and swollen, blood smeared across her chin. Red marks bloom on both sides of her jaw—finger-shaped, pressed into her skin by someone who gripped her face hard enough to leave bruises. Her left cheek is already swelling.

Something detonates inside me. My vision narrows. My hands curl into fists at my sides, and for fifteen full seconds, I can’t speak because, if I open my mouth, the only thing that’s going to come out is a sound that will terrify her. “Did Voss do that to you?”

Someone clears their throat.

Fuck. We aren’t alone.

The second I saw her, I forgot everything else. That’s a good way to get killed.

Rhodes appears in the doorway, tactical vest still on, weapon at his side. His eyes sweep Lily, and his expression tightens before he covers it. “Voss shot himself in the foot on the way out. Literally. The cat fucked up his hand pretty good. He dropped the gun on the stairs, and there’s a blood trail.” The corner of his mouth twitches. “His guys are dealing with that, so we’ve got a window. I’d rather not test how long it’s going to stay open though.”

I look at Lily with her arms wrapped around her stomach. She’s standing in front of me in a thin T-shirt and fuzzy pajama shorts, and I can see⁠—