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“Whatever is easiest for you, Mrs. Hannigan,” I told her.
“Sit,” Bash instructed, lifting his own mug of coffee to his mouth. “Talked to your dad just now.”
“And?” I asked, taking a seat across from the two men.
“Someone broke in to the girl’s dorm room last night. Tore the place up, but there was nothing there to tell them where she might be.” He leaned back in his chair, his long dark hair falling over his shoulders. “He also said he would be talking to you later about his security. Apparently he has discovered two other moles who work for Petrov.”
“Not surprised,” I said with a shrug.
“You were right to bring the girl here,” Jet commented, sipping his coffee. “Especially if your father is having difficulties with his men. Your mother and sister should come out here too.”
“Mom isn’t one to hide,” I told him, feeling the hint of a grin teasing at my lips. “Besides, Anya won’t let anything happen to her or Sofia.”
Three plates of food were placed on the table, all of them full of bacon, pancakes, and scrambled eggs. Jet kissed his wife when she started to move away, thanking her for breakfast. She winked at him and walked back to the stove, humming softly to herself.
I picked up my fork and began eating, my stomach growling angrily with hunger. Before I was finished with my meal, Bash left, and Jet went to wake up his kids. Minutes later, Nova walked into the kitchen, her long blond hair braided down her back.
She looked almost nothing like her mom. Instead, she was the spitting image of her aunt Raven. “Mom, I kept hearing a weird tapping noise coming from Garret’s room all night,” she complained as she took a seat at the table.
“I’m sure it was nothing,” Felicity murmured, not really paying attention to her daughter as she plated pancakes and bacon. Placing the dish in front of Nova, she walked back to the stove.
“But Mom, it was really annoying.” From the time she was three, Nova and her brother had spent every summer in New York. I’d gotten to know her more than Garret because she was always following my cousin Ryan around, so I knew that she wasn’t much of a complainer—except when it came to her brother.
“He’s always doing something to annoy us all, sweetheart. Haven’t you learned by now your brother thrives on irritating you?”
Nova muttered something under her breath that made me have to fight a grin. Finishing off my coffee, I stood and carried my dirty dishes to the sink.
“You don’t have to do that, Theo,” Felicity said. “I’ve got this. You go check on Tavia. If she’s hungry, I can make her another tray with broth and maybe some Jell-O today.”
Upstairs, I passed Garret’s room and heard Jet in there with his son. “You cannot keep that thing in the house, boy. What the hell? If your mom saw this, she would skin us both alive.”
“Ah, come on, Dad. It’s not that bad. And look, I built a cage for it.”
“Is that the tapping noise your sister was complaining about?” Jet demanded, sounding exasperated. “Damn it, Garret, you cannot have a fucking raccoon in the house. It’s a wild animal.”
“It’s only a baby. I’ll take care of it. Mom won’t freak as much as you think. She’ll think it’s cute.”
Shaking my head as father and son continued to argue, I opened Tavia’s door. She was still in bed, sound asleep. Raven was checking on her oxygen machine and then the IV site that was still in the back of her hand but wasn’t connected, although there was a pole with fluids hanging from it in case she did need it.
As I entered the room, Raven glanced my way. “She’s been sleeping, but the rest hasn’t been nearly as peaceful as when you were in bed with her.”
“She had a nightmare yesterday evening. That was why I was in bed with her. She wanted me to hold her.” I crossed to the bed and bent to brush my lips over her brow. As my lips touched her forehead, she sighed softly and buried her head deeper into the pillow.
“About the shooting?” Raven asked, her eyes narrowed.
“No,” I muttered as I straightened. “It was about what happened before she was shot. Yerik was a member of my father’s security. He was actually one of my Mom’s personal guards. She had him drive Tavia sometimes.” I gritted my teeth, remembering the bastard’s hands on her. “He tried to rape her.”
“Fuck.” Seething now, Raven walked to the end of the bed, her hands clenched at her sides. “I need to teach her some self-defense. Once she’s healed, Lexa and I will take care of that.”
“I’ll teach her.” I should have already done that. Anya had taught Sofia and my two female cousins how to protect themselves, so I’d never really had to worry about them knowing what to do if some guy got out of hand—not that they were around guys who weren’t family often. But I should have been teaching Tavia self-defense from the first day we’d met.
“You should have already been teaching her,” Raven snapped, voicing my same thoughts. “You had your chance. Now I’ll do what you haven’t. As soon as she’s cleared for physical activity, Lexa and I will teach her everything she needs to know about protecting herself.”
Before I could argue, my phone went off. The sound made Tavia shift restlessly, and I quickly silenced it before checking to see who it was. Seeing Pops’s name on my screen, I walked out of the room so I wouldn’t disturb her before answering.
“Hey, Pops,” I greeted as I walked downstairs.
“Reid tell you about Tavia’s dorm room?” he asked before I’d even reached the front door.
