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I can’t help myself—I cup her face in my hand, then lower my lips to her face and softly kiss her tears away. I still feel like ripping the superintendent limb from limb, but I have to admit—something about taking care of Clara calms the fury inside me.
A little.
“Exactly what I said I’d do,” I respond before kissing her sweet lips soundly. “I’m getting Willow back.”
8
DEMYEN
Clara hasn’t said a word since we got in the car.
It’s only a ten-minute drive between the school and the precinct, but we’re stuck in traffic. Half of me wants to scream at the lights to fucking turn green already. The other half recognizes this as an opportunity for both of us to calm down enough to not get arrested.
Fuck that. I’ll burn the place down if I have to.
I have to tell that part of me to shut up before I start listening to it. The part that revels in chaos and destruction, that craves the feeling of throats crushing in my fist whenever someone thinks they can fuck with me and mine.
But Martin… I might actually make an exception for him. I might actually fucking kill him right there in the precinct for the shit he’s pulled.
He’s not doing this because he wants Willow; not really. She’s just a means to an end for him, and that end is Clara crawling onhands and knees begging him to take her back just so she can be with her daughter.
So why areyoudoing this?I ask myself.
I can’t think of any answer I’m actually willing to admit.
I should be at the hanger finalizing the flight plan with my crew. I should be boarding my private jet to Fiji, reviewing the questions I have for this mysterious person who is obviously hiding from LVPD. I should be focusing on getting Tolya out of prison, not… whatever the fuck this is.
She’s not even my kid.
But the moment that thought crosses my mind, it feels wrong.
I glance at Clara, who is staring numbly out the window. There’s no way I’d let her go into the lion’s den alone. Not with everything I’ve been learning about her father, about Martin, and about the sickening negligence of LVPD when it comes to protecting her from those monsters. They’d rather protect their own—and sacrifice an innocent woman and her daughter in the process.
We pull into the station parking lot several tense minutes later. I feel Clara stiffen beside me.
“I should go handle this. Alone.” She glances at me, but mostly stares at the console.
I snort. “Fuck that. You’re not doing any of this alone.”
“But—”
“Clara.” I make her turn her face so she looks me in the eyes. “You are not going in there alone. And you’re sure as shit not facing Martin, or your father, without me there. Understood?”
She looks confused, but she slowly relents and nods.
I give her hand a reassuring squeeze before sliding out of the car. I hold the door open for her as she gets out on her side; it’s important everyone sees who the fuck they’re dealing with.
Bambi is right there with us as we approach the steps to the front door. She meets us in one of her sharpest pinstripe jumpsuits, padfolio and tablet tucked under one arm. The other reaches out to Clara to give her another reassuring squeeze, silently telling her, We got this.
I don’t see Pavel anywhere, but I have a hunch as to where he may be. And if I’m right, Martin Patterson is about to eat his career.
I hold the door open for both women and glance behind us toward the parking lot. Right on cue, I spot two of myvorscasually leaning against their cars, talking while eyeing the station.
The rest are probably still back at the school, spelling out the gravity of this fuck-up to the administrators.
The receptionist glances up at us and is about to ask us what our entourage is about, when?—
“Clara?”
