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Levy nodded. “We have a team pushing the arrest warrants through as we speak, and we’re moving on assembling a care team with psychologists and social workers to make the transition as easy as possible for the girls. We’ll move in as soon as—”
The phone with Alejandro’s SIM card pinged from the center of the table, and Levy picked it up, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Travis just texted you the final price and his bank details. We’ve got the bastard.”
* * *
After they’d wrapped up the details, Sam checked her phone and offered to walk Alex out to her car.
“You look exhausted, man.” Sam handed Alex another bottle of water and held the conference door open for her. “I bet you had a sleepless night between this and the Lily situation.”
“You have no idea.” Alex rubbed her temples as they walked. “I’m going to try to find her and explain, but she could be halfway back to LA by now.” She paused, steadying her voice. “I finally found the love of my life, and I fucked it up in five minutes.”
Sam led her down the main hall to the front desk, checking her phone as she opened the front door. “I’ll let you take it from here, buddy. I think there’s someone out there that wants to talk to you.”
Alex stopped in the doorway and looked at Sam. “You’re kidding, right?” She paused, rubbing her temples, her eyes strained and red. “Well, it had better be quick. I seriously can’t take much more today.”
Sam stepped back in and motioned toward the parking lot as she headed back to her office.
Alex rounded the corner of the station and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a pissed-off Lily sitting on the hood of her car.
Chapter Seventeen
Lily hopped off Alex’s car and walked toward her, slowing as they met in the middle of the parking lot. The heat shimmered just above the concrete, and faint country music drifted in from a ski boat pulling into the community docks. It was all Alex could do not to reach for her, but Lily’s arms were crossed tightly across her chest, her face pale and drawn.
“I’m so glad you’re here.” Alex looked across the lot to Lily’s Jeep. Her bags were packed and sitting in the back seat. “I was afraid I was going to be too late to catch you before you hopped the next flight to LA.”
Lily’s voice was tight, as if being pulled from opposite directions. “How could you not tell me about the undercover thing last night?” Her voice finally cracked, and she looked out to the lake to regain her composure, her eyes following a crane as it dipped closer to the surface of the water, then disappeared in the grove of trees along the shoreline. Lily finally turned and looked back to Alex. “You let me go last night thinking that you’d just slept with Charlotte.”
“Lily. I couldn’t tell anyone.” Alex folded her hands behind her head and looked to the sky. “I promised Sam I wouldn’t. Everything
was riding on it. We could’ve lost our chance to stop him and rescue those girls.” Alex stopped suddenly and looked at Lily, shading her eyes with her hand as the sun reemerged from behind a cloud. “Wait, how do you even know about this? I literally just left the debriefing and was on my way to find you.”
“Well, I got my first clue when I went back to Lake Haven and confronted Charlotte.” Lily paused, drawing an imaginary line between two rocks on the pavement with the toe of her white sneaker. “I found her on the docks wrapping up the planning for the last night of camp.” She paused. “And…I might have accidentally pushed her in the lake when she denied it.”
“Oh, sweet Jesus.” Alex tried not to laugh. “What happened after that?”
“She was actually great about it, considering.” Lily met her eyes for the first time and smiled. “She said she probably had it coming.”
“Well, she’s not wrong there.” Alex led Lily over to her car, and this time, they both took a seat on the shiny turquoise hood, still warm from the sunshine. “So what did she tell you?”
“The truth, I think. She told me you were talking to her about going back to school when you two were on the dock, and she even showed me the book you lent her last night.” Lily hesitated. “And I recognized it right away from our bookshelf.”
“That’s the only reason I was at her cabin. She was on the phone when I got there, and I literally set the book inside the door and left.” Alex bumped her shoulder gently into Lily’s and drew in the sweet jasmine scent of her hair. “But that still doesn’t explain how you know about the undercover thing.”
“Well, after my conversation with Charlotte I drove straight back to Sara’s. I was so confused. I felt like Charlotte was telling me the truth, but it still didn’t explain why you were wearing…what you were wearing.”
“And by that time me and Sam were already at the location so Sara could tell you?”
“Exactly. Although it took us a while to figure out that you were packing and not actually strapped on. Sara mentioned you were impersonating your cousin Alejandro, and it finally dawned on us why you’d be wearing it.” Lily turned to face Alex. “But I still don’t get how you could let me go all night thinking you’d cheated on me.” Lily bit her lip. “How could you do that?”
“Lily.” Alex took Lily’s tense, cold hands in hers and tried to wrap words around the moment that had been replaying in her mind since it happened. “I’m a therapist. I keep secrets for a living. It’s just completely ingrained in me. If I’d had time to think about it, I probably would have told you, but everything was over so fast, and by the time I got myself together, you were already with Sam and Sara.”
???“So then, you couldn’t have told me even if you wanted to.” Lily’s hands began to warm in Alex’s, and her voice softened as she looked into her eyes. “You must have been so upset too.”
“I was.” Alex turned and took Lily’s face in her hands. Tears burned behind her eyes, and she stroked Lily’s cheek softly with her thumb. “I stayed up all night worrying that the woman I loved was somewhere thinking I’d cheated on her.”
Lily smiled and leaned into Alex’s shoulder. “The woman you love?”
“Lily, I’ve been in love with you since the first night I met you.” Alex pulled Lily over to sit across her lap, facing her, hands around her hips. “In fact, it’s the reason I talked to my cousin a couple of days ago about renting his yacht.”
