My phone buzzed in my pocket, pulling me from my thoughts. A text from Maddox:
Found something on Marco. Call when you can.
I glanced at Lottie, making sure she was still sleeping soundly, then slipped out of the room, leaving the door cracked so I could hear if she called out.
In the hallway, I dialed Maddox's number, keeping my voice low.
"What did you find?" I asked without preamble when he answered.
"Mark Hutchins a.k.a. Marco, age 43, manager of Sunny's Mart for the past six years," Maddox said, his voice clipped and professional. "No criminal record, but I did a deep dive into his online history." Maddox paused.
“What?” I bit out.
“He subscribes to two porn sites that barely scrape under the radar. They’ve even been shut down, but they keep popping back up. Currently they’re called RogueHeat and EveryVice. They’re both extreme, hardcore, but thesupposedlyfake rape scene I just watched made me want to throw up.”
Anger rushed through me like a tsunami. My body went rigid with fury. "What else?" I forced out, my voice barely above awhisper as I moved farther down the hallway away from the bedroom door.
"There's more," Maddox continued, his normally unflappable voice carrying an edge. "He's been photographing female employees. Found a hidden folder with hundreds of images—Sunny's has terrible network security, by the way. Most are candids taken from security footage, zoomed in on specific women, and I found a picture of his ex-girlfriend. It shows a shot of her kitchen and all the cans are turned in the same way you saw Lottie's stuff, precise."
Shit. "Lottie?" The word came out as a growl.
"She's in there. A lot." Maddox paused. "Nothing explicit—they're all fully clothed, just working—but the focus is...unsettling. Close-ups of necks, wrists, the back of knees. And he's been making her schedule align with his, but he wasn't working the night someone messed with her stuff."
I pressed my forehead against the wall, trying to contain the rage building inside me. "Is he our break-in suspect?"
"Can't confirm yet. The timing works. But the security footage isn't clear enough for a positive ID, even if he's the right height."
"Keep digging," I said. "And get me everything you can on this guy. I want to know if he's ever been investigated, if there have been complaints, everything."
"Already on it. Gideon's got someone watching him now."
After I hung up, I stood in the hallway, trying to process what I'd learned. Marco—the man Lottie had described as "always kind" to her—had been secretly photographing her, tracking her movements, possibly breaking into her apartment. The thought made me sick.
I checked on Lottie again, finding her still peacefully asleep, Mr. Snuggles clutched to her chest. The sight of her—so vulnerable, so trusting—cemented my resolve. There was no wayin hell she was going back to Sunny's Mart. Not while Marco was there.
But I couldn't just tell her that. I'd already overstepped once, and she'd pushed back hard. I needed to be smarter this time, to give her the information and support her in making the right decision herself.
I headed downstairs to make some calls. By the time Lottie woke up, I wanted to have options ready for her—other jobs, safer places to live if she didn't want to stay with me, though the thought made me want to rage, and financial assistance for her medical needs. This time, I'd do it right.
I was on the phone with Xavier discussing potential openings at Kingdom, although the alternative Fiona had suggested sounded better, when I heard a toilet flush upstairs. Ending the call quickly, I headed back up to check on Lottie.
She was sitting on the edge of the bed, her hair tousled from sleep, looking adorably rumpled in my oversized clothes. The basics I'd ordered had been delivered but I loved her in mine. Something in my chest tightened at the sight.
"Hey," I said softly from the doorway. "Feel better?"
"Much better," she said, running her fingers through her messy curls. "Thank you for letting me rest."
"Of course." I moved into the room, checking the time. "Are you ready to go get your things from your apartment?"
She nodded, then hesitated. "Walker, about work tomorrow...I really need to go in. I can't afford to miss shifts."
I tensed, thinking about what Maddox had just told me about Marco. "About that. I've been looking into some things while you were sleeping."
"What things?" Her tone grew wary.
"I don't think you should go back to Sunny's," I said carefully. "I have reason to believe your boss may be the one who broke into your apartment."
Her eyes widened. "Marco? That's ridiculous. He's always been nice to me."
