Page 24 of Honest Neglect

“You really care about her, don’t you?” Leroy remarked suddenly. I wasn’t expecting that, but I nodded.

“Yeah, I really do,” I replied. “I...I love her. I just want to bring her Tony’s head on a platter so she can actually focus on what she wants to do with her life. He’s dictated so much of what she’s been able to achieve, and it’s just not fair. I want her to be free from that.”

“I can imagine,” Leroy replied. “If someone had come at Grace the way they came at Lily...I don’t know what I would do. I don’t know how I would control myself.”

“Trust me, it’s not easy,” I growled. If I had Tony or Mark in front of me right now, I knew I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from going for one of them. I had only barely managed to restrain myself outside the courtroom, and if it hadn’t been for Diane putting herself in the middle of it, I probably would have landed in some deep trouble.

“Keep drinking,” Leroy replied, nodding to the glass in my hand. “It takes the edge off. Helps you think clearly.”

I did as I was told, lifting the glass to my lips again. I was glad Leroy was in this with me—as an ex-general, he knew exactly what needed to be done to take down an enemy, even one as powerful as the McCarthy family.

“We’re going to sleep in shifts tonight,” Leroy explained to me. “I’m going to take the first watch, then Grace said she’ll get up early to feed the horses and check there hasn’t been any trouble. Will you be able to pick up after that?”

“I should be,” I replied. My thoughts drifted to Lily, sleeping in bed with Silver, and I wished I could be with her right now.

“Tomorrow, I’ve got a few old...friends coming around,” Leroy explained. “They’ll be able to help us.”

“Friends?”

“Allies,” he assured me. “They’ll be able to help us. We’ve just got to catch them up on the situation, and they’ll be on board.”

I had to trust him. This was a man who had proved himself time and time again over the years as a general, and I had no doubt he was calling in a few of his friends from back in those days. And we could use all the help we could get—the larger our force, the easier it would be to build a resistance against the McCarthys.

“You finish up and get some sleep,” Leroy told me. “I’m going to patrol the house.”

“You sure that’s a good idea, at your age?” I asked, and he fired an incredulous look my way.

“Watch how you talk to me,” he replied, chuckling. “Soldier.”

And with that, he headed out the door, leaving me sitting there in the living room alone, wondering who these new allies might be—and if they were going to be enough to bring down Tony and Mark for good.

Chapter Fourteen

Lily

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I CAME TO THE NEXT morning with Silver lapping at my face, and I laughed as I playfully fought her off.

“Baby, please!” I protested, trying to cover my face before she completely covered it with her drool. But it was no good. She was full of life, and she wanted to get me up to share it with her.

And I was more than happy to. I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face into her fur, inhaling the scent deeply. Today seemed a whole lot brighter than yesterday. My body was already starting to hurt less, and though my stomach was still grumbling, I was a lot less exhausted than I had been.

I got out of bed and cleaned up in the small bathroom attached to our living space, then went inside the house with Silver right behind me. When I got in, I found Grace in the kitchen, managing what looked like twenty different pots and pans on the stove.

“Oh, you’re up!” she exclaimed when she saw me. “How did you sleep?”

“Really well, thanks,” I replied. “And Silver’s doing great. She slept in bed with us all night. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, of course not,” Grace replied. “Warren was up a few hours ago, by the way. He’s talking to Leroy in his office.”

She turned her attention back to the food in front of her, and I glanced around to see a door sitting an inch open just down the corridor. Inside, I could hear muffled voices, Warren’s among them. It would probably be a good idea to catch up with everything that was going on, so I headed down and pushed it open.

“Oh, no, I don’t think you should go in there,” Grace called to me, but it was too late—I had already opened the door and stepped inside.

Warren was there, sure enough. And Leroy. And a half-dozen other men I had never seen before in my life—though I would have put money on them all being from the military. Their shaved heads and bulky physiques gave that away. Everyone in the room fell silent and turned to face me, and I stood there, eyes wide, trying to figure out what was going on.

“We’ll be out in a minute,” Warren assured me, stepping forward and giving my shoulder a squeeze. “And we’ll catch you up on everything then. Okay?”