Page 106 of Nyx

"I'm sure whoever you use will be capable of keeping me safe," I say.

Chapter 27

Nyx

"I don't know how it doesn't prove stalking," I mutter.

"Max has dug as deep as the trail goes," Hound says. "A prepaid card was used for the flowers. The IP address didn't even link back to any home or business owned by a Whitmore. There's no surveillance video from the card purchase."

"But you said it was purchased close to her hometown," I argue.

"And that's circumstantial."

"He's not supposed to have contact with her," I say, my irritation growing with every word of this fucking conversation.

"The protective order she had against him expired years ago while he was still incarcerated. The rule about making contact with her disappeared when he was released from parole," he explains.

"So now she's just fair game?"

He shakes his head. "Of course not, but other than strongly suggesting that he leave her alone, legally our hands are sort of tied here."

"It's not going to stop with flowers."

"I know it won't," he says, his lips forming a flat line. "I just know that even if we did know where he was, we can't prove stalking."

"I think he'll strike before we have enough evidence to prove it, and that's the problem."

"If he acts in a way that may cause her harm or prove bad intentions, then we'll react accordingly."

"I really need to know what the expectations are here," I say, my eyes locked on his. "We may have different ideas of what needs to be done."

"You're very aware of threat levels," he says, "And how to react to each one."

"Right," I say, knowing full well that even if Graham gained access to her apartment, he'd have to have a weapon or be between Juliet and me and posing a threat for me to have a justified kill.

Sometimes the laws make me sick. They seem to protect the perpetrator more than the potential victim.

I open my mouth to give him a different scenario, but the conference room door opens. Juliet steps out, her eyes looking all over the room as if she's searching for me, but I look past her, watching Kincaid shake his head.

She refused to stay on the property.

It doesn't lessen my want or need to protect her, but it does make things a little more difficult than they would be if she were here.

I look back at her, finding her eyes locked on me, and try not to read too much into the way she seems calmer knowing that I'm close.

"You're going back to your apartment?" I ask, doing my best not to let disappointment taint my voice.

"Yes," she says. "Will you take me?"

"Of course," I say.

I walk toward the door, keeping my steps in line with hers, and open the front door.

She allows me to open the door to the SUV for her, and I have a million things I want to say to her, all of them running through my head as I walk around the front of the vehicle and climb inside. Leaving Cerberus's property seems like asking for trouble, but I can't guilt her into staying.

She has been controlled and commanded to do things her entire life, and I don't want to be just one more person telling her what she has to do or guilting her into staying when it's something she's not interested in.

"You weren't in the meeting," she says as we head out of the parking area toward the gate.