Page 55 of A Violet Obsession

Lily shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”

Sera frowns, still studying her. “Huh.” She doesn’t push it, but the crease between her brows doesn’t smooth either.

“To add to your logistics problem,” Vincent says, looking up from his phone. “A winter advisory has been extended down into the metro area.”

Sera waves her hands in the air with faux panic. “Oh no, Atlanta and snow. Everyone hide the bread.”

Vincent doesn’t crack a smile. “It shouldn’t be a problem, but depending on where they’re headed, they should be aware of it.” His gaze shifts to me. “I’ll get some supplies together. Enough for a week.” He pauses. “You got clothes?”

“I have a bag in my truck.”

Luke clears his throat. “Which brings me to a suggestion.” He looks at me. “You need someplace remote, right? Somewhere that isn’t connected to Elite or to Lily’s name, but that you can get to quickly?”

When I nod, he adds, “Dahlia and I have a cabin in the North Georgia mountains. It’s remote and more than a little rustic.” He smirks. “The deed is under an LLC. It shouldn’t quickly trace back to me.”

Brady straightens. “Leo goes with Emma to Finn’s parents’ house in Grangerton. Keep Mark on the Vales.” He turns to Lily. “Call your friends. Let them know what’s going on. And then the two of you need to go.” He looks at me. “Take a SAT phone and whatever else you need from the gear room.”

I read the support in his eyes. Maybe not for Lily, but he’ll do this for me.

Brady holds my gaze for a beat longer. “And if, once you’ve analyzed the footage… if it’s clean…”

“It won’t be.”

He doesn’t look convinced. But he doesn’t argue.

Lily is quiet as we climb the stairs. I hand her the burner phone once we’re back in the safe room, and she takes it with both hands, turning it over in her palms.

“Thank you,” she says. “For what you said down there, for defending me. You didn’t have to⁠—”

“Yeah, I did.”

She lifts her eyes. The bruises on her jaw are vivid now, and the scab on her lower lip catches the light, and I want to kiss her. Badly.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I’m not sure what’s happening between us. Her life is in upheaval. She’s been kidnapped, threatened, and dragged from her bed, and now she’s about to go on the run with a man she doesn’t really know. I’m worried she’s feeling gratitude and mistaking it for something else. Or maybe it’s the ghost of a childhood crush that hasn’t caught up to the reality of who I am now.

She’s deluded enough to think she’s in love with you.

What if my sister’s right? What if Lily is conflating what she felt as a teenager with what she’s feeling now?

And what if I’m wrong about all of it, and she wants exactly what I want, and I’m standing here talking myself out of it, because the last woman I trusted was partially responsible for my friends getting killed?

“Make your calls.” My voice comes out rougher than I want because I’m fighting the urge to pull her into my arms and test the theory. “We leave in an hour.”

I pull the door shut behind me and stand in the hallway with my hands braced on either side of the frame, breathing through my nose, until I trust myself to walk away.

18

LILY

Thankfully, I remember Dawn’s number.

“Hello?” Dawn’s voice is cautious.

“Dawn, it’s Lily. Sorry, I had to borrow a phone.”

“Lily?” The caution evaporates.