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Regent nodded. He knew all of this, but it was good to corroborate his information.
“I’m in the library,” Gracen whispered through the ear-piece they’d given her. “There’s Jilly, she’s shelving books. Nothing much is happening.”
They waited a while. There was some background noise, but they couldn’t distinguish what different people were saying.
He thought he heard someone say ‘Jillian’, but he knew Gracen wouldn’t be able to get close enough for him to hear her what Jilly was saying.
“All right, I’ve seen enough,” Gracen said twenty minutes later. “I’m coming back now.”
He had men stationed outside, watching Gracen as she left the library so she’d be safe. But Victor was still twitchy until she got back into the car.
Her face was flushed. “What a . . . a bitch!”
Well. Strong words from Gracen.
“What happened? Did someone hurt you?” Victor demanded. “I’ll kill them.”
“No, no, I’m fine.” Gracen patted his knee. “Thank you, though. It was a library. Nothing bad happens in libraries.”
Regent liked that she felt secure enough in her world to think that. He didn’t like the idea of the women in his life feeling fear or being upset.
However . . .
“Bad things can happen anywhere,” he told her gently. He’d be doing Gracen a disservice if he let her think that anywhere was truly safe.
“Not that anything will ever happen to you,” Victor said
“Well, I guess that’s true,” she said, addressing Regent, “since it doesn’t seem to be a nice place to work. At least, not for Jilly.”
Regent stiffened, his protective instincts rising. “What’s going on? Is she at risk?”
He’d go in there and pull her out himself. Fuck, he knew his instincts were right.
“Not physical danger,” Gracen said, biting her lip. “And I don’t think we have any evidence of bullying, per se. But I saw her boss speaking to her, and the way she berated her . . . it just wasn’t right.”
“What did she say?” Regent asked.
“Well, it wasn’t really what she said but more the way she said it. She spoke to Jilly like she was a naughty child. Being spoken to like that all the time would start to wear on someone . . . it would make them feel like maybe they were useless. I can imagine what it’s doing to Jilly’s self-esteem. I did catch her sneaking several peeks into books she was meant to be shelving.”
He remembered she loved reading. The times he’d seen her when she was younger, she’d often had a book with her or was sitting in a corner, reading. Once, her father had taken the book from her, yelling that she needed to get her head out of the clouds and be useful.
That fucking bastard.
“How did she look when her boss was berating her?” Victor asked.
“Resigned. Maybe a bit sad.”
Fuck.
He didn’t like the idea of her being sad.
“What are you going to do next?” Gracen asked.
That was the problem. He didn’t know. “I need to speak to her again.”
“I don’t think she’s going to come out and just tell you,” Gracen said.
“Why not? Friends share their worries and concerns, right?”
