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Turning to him slowly, she saw something in his expression that had her throat tightening. He was concerned, furious, worried. She might be more than a flavor, but still, she was far less than what she needed to be to him.
“It’s not your choice,” she whispered.
His jaw jumped in rage. “Get hurt, and it won’t be your choice when I kill these two fuckers!”
Natches and Dawg glanced at each other, concern flickering across their expressions, urging her to move, warning her that they were no more than a second or two from changing their minds.
And didn’t that make sense?
Why would Graham’s threat bother them when he hadn’t concerned them until now?
Turning, she moved quickly away from them and strode through the dining room and into the foyer.
“Mom? Tim?” she called out, as though confused. “I need to talk to you. Where are you? Zoey?”
Her sister. Her baby sister. Zoey had suffered the most at Chandler’s hands, though none of them had ever understood why. She was the one he had struck at every opportunity. The one her mother had had to wait the longest to have returned to her when they were taken away. But Zoey was a fighter. She was the temperamental one, the one most likely to spit in the face of an assailant.
“Zoey? Dammit, where the hell are you?” she called out, anger covering the fear as she started up the stairs.
“Easy,” D
awg murmured at her ear. Graham wasn’t speaking.
Where was he? Had he left?
Would he desert her now?
“Lyrica,” the voice announced as she reach the top of the stairs and Kevin Davis stepped from the family’s private living room.
“Kevin.” She forced herself to smile, to stare back at him as though pleasantly surprised. “Where is everyone?”
He frowned, scratching his head, his brown eyes giving a damned good impression of confusion. “I’ll be damned if I know, Lyrica. I made it back early and wanted to surprise Carmina.” Propping his hands on his hard hips, he looked around, frowning. “No one’s here.”
“Did you check Tim’s office?” She moved past him to stride up the hall, expecting him to stop her at any minute.
“I’ve been through every room, Lyrica,” he announced from behind her. “Even the office. Do they usually leave the house unlocked when they leave?”
“Something’s wrong,” Natches muttered, whether to her or to the others, she wasn’t certain.
The office was empty. “Did you open the other doors?” she asked, moving to the retractable door between Tim’s office and the personal suite Tim and her mother shared.
“They were all closed.” He sighed. “I left them open just in case there was a problem.”
She turned to him slowly. “Did you expect problems?” she asked.
“The last time I was here there was a weapon hid in the living room and one in the dining room,” he said. “They’re not there now.”
He didn’t mention the kitchen.
“Mom’s, Tim’s, and Zoey’s cars are outside,” she said.
“Carmina’s is parked in the back,” he told her, his expression hard, suspicious. The type of look her brother or cousins got when they were concerned.
What was he up to?
She could hear Dawg and the others in the background, their voices hushed as they discussed the situation and Kevin’s part in it. He was a damned good actor if nothing else, because if she didn’t know better, she would swear he was innocent.
“Lyrica.” He reached out for her then, causing her to jump back from him, her gaze going to his outstretched arm as he slowly pulled back.
