Page 21 of A Violet Obsession

“I have a guest.”

A pause. “Copy.”

The gates to Elite Security are already swinging wide when I turn onto the street. The second my tailgate clears it, the heavy metal is closing behind us and the underground parking bay doors are rolling up. I pull in next to one of the fleet of SUVs and kill the engine.

Vincent is already there, weapon drawn but held low against his thigh. His face is unreadable, but his eyes are sharp, sweeping the truck, the bay, and then the truck again.

“Oh my god,” Lily’s whisper is barely audible. “What is happening?”

“Get out of the truck.” I’m out and striding toward Vincent before she can argue.

“Need to wipe some traffic cameras.” I say, jogging up the short flight of stairs and entering my code to the interior door. “Watch her.”

Vincent’s brows lift a fraction, but he doesn’t argue. I stride across the main floor toward the cyber room, where I pull up the city’s traffic management system through the back door I installed two years ago and type the crossroads near the bus stop. As Elite’s resident hacker and computer expert, I’ve found encoding back doors into various cities’ infrastructure databases and controls convenient. My fingers are ready to type the necessary commands when I stop and stare at the monitor. The traffic feeds I need are already blank.

I sit back, brow furrowing. The only segment still intact is a twelve-second window of the bus stop, and as I watch, it pixelates and disappears.

Someone got here first. Someone with the same access I have.

I push back from the desk and stand there for a second, running through possibilities before sitting again. Whoever grabbed Lily off that sidewalk had resources, including a digital cleanup crew.

After I double-check there is no evidence of me shooting at the SUV, I wipe the traffic cams that followed our route back to Elite. When I return to the main room, Lily is sitting on one of the gray sofas, her bag on the cushion beside her, coat still on. She’s gripping the sofa beneath her with both hands, but it’s doing nothing to hide the shaking.

Her chin comes up when she sees me. Two spots of angry color bright on her pale cheeks. She stands. “Tell me what’s going on.”

I hold my palm up. “Stop talking.”

“Excuse me?”

The look on her face hits me like a punch to the gut. I don’t know what’s wrong with me or why I can’t stop snapping at her.

“Sit.” I practically growl, though my frustration is directed more at myself than her. I’m on edge, the adrenaline leaving my body making my nerves jump under my skin.

Her eyes flash. “I’m not a fucking dog,” she snaps, and then blinks like she hadn’t expected to say that.

“No shit. Dogs are easy, and you’re a fucking nightmare.”

What the fuck, Finn?

Hurt shoots across her face before she can hide it. I can feel Vincent’s eyes on me.

This isn’t me. I don’t lash out.

I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry. Give me two minutes. Okay?”

I pull Vincent a few steps away and keep my voice low. “Her name’s Lily. She’s been best friends with my sister since they were kids.” I frown. “Or they were best friends. Lily disappeared for about a decade, and now she’s back. Possibly mixed up in that auction house heist last night. And I just shot out the tires of an SUV after two guys in suits grabbed her off the sidewalk.”

“Fuck.” Vincent glares at me.

“It gets worse. By the time I got into my system, someone had already scrubbed the footage.”

His brows lift. “Who’s after her?”

“I don’t know. But until I figure out if she’s a threat to my family…”

It’s not a total lie. I am worried that whatever shitstorm Lily has landed herself in will spill onto my sister.

But in the race back to the security of Elite’s headquarters, I wasn’t thinking about my family.