Page 42 of A Violet Obsession

“I’ll grab the cat’s stuff,” he says. “Kitchen?”

He’s giving us a minute, and the fact he knows I need one pisses me off almost as much as it helps.

“Her food’s under the counter,” Lily says quietly. “And a new litter pan is under the sink.”

She looks up at me. Hera’s purr vibrates against her chest. The bruises on her jaw are already deepening. She opens her mouth, then closes it.

“Don’t.” I don’t even know what I’m telling her not to say.

Don’t apologize? Don’t thank me? Don’t look at me with an expression I don’t have a name for when the evidence of my failure is on your face?

Rhodes reappears with a bag of cat food in one hand and the litter pan tucked under his arm. “We good?”

I put my hand on Lily’s lower back and guide her toward the front door, my body between her and the open hallway, until Rhodes takes point and I pivot behind her.

The hallway is clear, but my eyes are tracking every doorway. Leo is at the ground floor exit, back against the wall, weapon low. His eyes land on Lily, and whatever smart-ass comment he had dies on his tongue. He checks her injuries with a quick sweep, then looks at me. “Vehicle’s at the east exit. Clear to move.”

I rush Lily and the cat to my truck and don’t exhale completely until she’s inside with Hera in her lap.

“Want me to follow you back?” Rhodes asks. “Leo’s got to get back to headquarters; he’s point tonight.”

I shake my head. “I’m going to Brady’s first,” I say, referring to my other boss. “Then Elite. I need to talk to him before I commit us to this.”

“And if he says no?”

“I’ll think of something else.”

Rhodes grips my shoulder, then moves toward the street where he and Leo left their vehicles.

Lily is silent beside me, her face turned toward the window. Hera has finally stopped growling and settled into a tight ball in Lily’s lap, her orange face pressed against the pocket of my hoodie.

“I need your phone.”

Her surprised eyes fly to mine. “Why?”

“I’m going to power it off so Voss can’t track you. When we get back to Elite, I can take better precautions.”

She sighs but pulls her phone from her bag and hands it to me before bending to bury her face in her cat’s fur. Three blocks pass before she speaks. “I need to tell you something.”

This won’t be good.

“The reason I left Elite earlier. Why I insisted on going home.” She stares straight ahead, one hand stroking Hera’s back in a slow, mindless rhythm. “Voss sent me a text while you and Vincent were talking. A photo of Dawn and her husband Trevor outside their house. Taken with a zoom lens.” She swallows. “Then a photo of you, and a shot of Elite’s gates… and Emma.”

My hands tighten on the wheel. Every molecule in my body wanting to commit irreparable violence on Voss. “Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice is dangerously quiet.

“He told me to leave. Go home. Not alert anyone. Wait for instructions.” Her words sound strangled. “I thought if I left town before the instructions came, he wouldn’t have a reason to hurt anyone and⁠—”

“You decided for all of us.” I don’t raise my voice. “Without telling any of us.”

“I’m sorry.” The words are barely a whisper. “I was trying to⁠—”

“Protect people by lying to them?”

“I wasn’t lying. I was⁠—”

“Omitting. Which is just as bad, because I can’t defend against what I don’t know.” I scrub a hand over my face.

My anger is genuine, but the fear underneath it is bigger. If she’d gotten on a bus tonight and vanished, I would have had no idea why. And Voss would have likely followed her wherever she went.