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“It all boils down to one thing,” Uncle David said with a firm grip on her arm. “You cannot trust her. Do you understand?”
“Yeah.”
“And if she gets violent, we’re right outside. We’ll get to you in seconds.”
“I’m not worried about that.” Andrea knew, as a female, she would be at a disadvantage whenever she had to go up against a male suspect. So she’d trained hard in all her combat courses.
And her father, who had always wanted and treated her like a boy, had enrolled her in taekwondo and judo lessons since she was six. “I can take her down if needed.”
“She’s stronger than she looks, and she isn’t afraid to scratch and bite.”
Andrea nodded once. “Noted.” She exhaled slowly through her nose, then nodded again, this time at the employees.
The employee at the wellness center scanned his pass, sliding the first door open. Only when that door closed behind her did the second door open.
Which felt surprisingly familiar since some high security prisons were built just like that.
And that made her think. Perhaps Holly truly was a lot more dangerous than she thought.
CHAPTER 24
Clary was sitting in a chair in the lobby, where visitors waited while the wellness center processed a temporary pass. She wished she were closer to the room where Holly was. She didn’t feel right being so far away when Andrea could get into trouble.
But she also understood why Andrea had benched her.
She could barely remain seated, though. Her feet were bouncing on her heels like a pair of energetic bunnies, and she was so wound up that the lady behind the front desk was watching her with concern.
So Clary got up and headed outside.
She sighed heavily and pressed her hands to her face. “Oh, Lord, please let Holly be bluffing. Let the plan work.” She dropped her hands, and after pacing the front steps of the wellness center she sat on the top step and tried to stop looking at her watch.
She tried reading the Bible to distract herself, but she couldn’t focus.
Besides, with her phone in hand, it was getting increasingly difficult not to tap into Seth’s messages to see what he’d sent her.
Perhaps she should figure out what she would say when she saw him again.
Clicking off the screen, Clary dropped her phone back into the pocket of her jacket.
When she lifted her chin, at the end of the long concrete walkway was Seth.
She blinked and stood, but she didn’t move. She wasn’t sure if he was actually there. Was she imagining things?
If she was, the front steps of a mental hospital veiled in a thin farce of a wellness center was the worst possible place to do it.
Clary held her breath as Seth strode forward.
Their gazes locked, and there was something so fierce, yet vulnerable, in his gaze.
She released her breath when Seth—perhaps wholly her imagination—stood right in front of her. A whole second passed, and she was sure.
This was her imagination.
“You’re real, right?” he asked.
Clary sucked in a breath and blinked away her tears.
Then Seth’s arms were around her, and he pulled her tight against him—so tight that she couldn’t breathe.
