“I know you do, baby. But this horse is in pain. He could hurt someone without meaning to. You’re staying here with Sabrina and Rosa.”
Livy’s face falls.
“I can help.”
“You can help by staying safe.”
“That is not my favorite kind of helping.”
“I know.” I kiss the top of her head. “But it’s the kind I need from you right now.”
She crosses her arms. “Mav would let me come.”
“No, he absolutely would not.”
Her mouth opens.
I point at her. “Don’t even try that with me.”
She shuts it again, but her little eyebrows pull together in a way that tells me this conversation is not finished in her mind.
Too bad.
I don’t have time for a ten-year-old uprising.
I hurry out of the room and nearly run straight into Stefano in the hall.
He catches my shoulders before I bounce off him.
“Easy, Mia.”
“I have to leave.”
His expression changes instantly. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No,” he repeats. “Maverick’s not here.”
“I know that.”
“He’s with the Shadows. If there’s an emergency, we call him.”
“There’s an emergency, but not one Maverick can fix.”
Stefano’s eyes narrow. “Explain.”
“Willow Creek Farm has a horse down with what sounds like severe colic. Their vet is literally in labor, the emergency vet is over an hour out, and if that horse keeps rolling, he could twist something and die.”
Stefano looks torn.
“I understand that matters to you, but—”
“But nothing. I can help him.”
“Mia.”
“Am I being held prisoner here?”
