“I’m waiting for an answer, Violet.” The words came out low and rough. “What are you doing here?”
She squared her shoulders, trying to appear taller than her five-five frame—and that waswithheels on. “I’m here on assignment for a patient. And you?”
“This is my house,” I snapped.
She blinked, clearly confused. “You need a… therapist?”
My jaw tightened as venom crawled through my veins. “Why in the fuck would I need a therapist, Dr. Freud?”
“I’d imagine it has something to do with your lifestyle.” Goddammit, she was quick on her feet.
“Oh, are you here for my mother?” Aria’s voice pierced through the red sheen clouding my vision and grounded me to my surroundings. Fuck, I completely forgot my children were standing next to me. “She’s the one in need of a?—”
“Shrink,” Dimitros finished with a snicker, shoving his hands into his pockets like he didn’t just lob a grenade into the conversation. “Although, that won’t help.”
“Dimitros,” I warned.
Violet’s gaze flickered between them, quick and assessing. When it landed on Aria, she stilled.
My pulse spiked, thundering so loudly that I was certain everyone could hear it. I watched as something shifted behind Violet’s eyes. Calculation. Surprise. Recognition. It was there and gone in the span of a heartbeat, but I caught it.
Did she recognize her?
My fingers curled at my sides as a dozen possibilities crashed through my mind. What was she thinking? What did she see when she looked at my daughter?
I tried to get a read on her, searching for any crack in her composure, but Violet smoothed her expression into a blank, professional mask. And it was impenetrable. Whatever hadflickered there was buried so deep it may as well have never existed.
“I must be here for your mother, then,” she said evenly, her tone crisp, as if it were another day at the office for her. It might be. After all, all the information I’d been sourcing over the years told me she worked with unusual clients.
I felt Dimitros shift at my side, no doubt plotting how best to get rid of the good doctor.
“Will someone show me to her, or am I expected to form a professional opinion out here on the doorstep?”
I huffed an amused breath and stepped aside, extending my hand toward the doorway. I couldn’t send her away now without making a scene and raising questions I couldn’t answer.
“After you.”
She moved past me, head held high and posture unyielding, almost as if she were the one granting me permission to enter, not the other way around.
And then her scent hit me. Violets.
My eyelids hooded and a slow, unwelcome heat coiled low in my stomach, stirring my cock to life.
I clenched my jaw, forcing my expression to remain neutral as I stepped in behind her.
Fuck, this was going to be a problem.
Familiar footsteps echoed down the long marble corridor behind me, the sound carrying through the high-ceilinged entryway, bouncing off stone and glass until it filled the already crowded foyer.
This damn reunion was getting bigger by the second.
My children hovered close at my sides. Violet stood on the threshold like she wasn’t sure whether she’d stepped into a home or a battlefield, and I—apparently—had lost control of my own house.
“Ah, welcome, Dr. Freud. I’ve heard so many good things about you and your practice.” Salvatore sounded entirely too pleased with himself as he slid into the space behind me.
He’d always been smooth, claimed female attention with little effort, but this time I wouldn’t fucking allow it. Not with Violet.
“Umm… thank you,” she replied, her tone reserved. Good. She wasn’t allowed to cave to my best friend’s charm.
