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“Mr. Pierson—”
“You don’t need to keep calling me that, Zara.” I gave her a charming smile, knowing it would only irritate her more because she hated when I called her by her first name.
But I kind of fucking hated when she used that last name.
She drew in a slow breath, her eyes flashing with anger and worry at overstepping some invisible boundary that she really didn’t need to worry about with me. “It would help us greatly to know how you managed to get past doors that are meant to be locked.”
“They were locked,” I told her, shrugging my shoulders. “All you need to know is it can be bypassed, and your ladies up front don’t do much to stop people who shouldn’t be here.” Before she could continue arguing her side, I went on. “But that isn’t why I’m here.”
One of her eyebrows lifted. “Please enlighten me,” she said dryly, pulling a full smile from me.
“So much fabricated hate,” I teased. “I know you secretly love when I visit you.”
“Always a highlight.”
A hushed laugh bled past my lips but quickly died as I narrowed my gaze on hers, watching as her feigned irritation leached away until the only thing left was her fear. “Alexis Kennedy might be in danger.”
Zara watched me for a few more seconds before she leaned forward, reaching for her phone and jolting when I slammed my hand on top of hers.
“This isn’t the type of conversation that leaves this office or your lips ever again, do you understand?”
Her fear-filled eyes flashed my way. “W-we need to check on her! We need to check on the class she’s in.”
My head shifted, just the slightest movement to let her know there wasn’t a need just yet. “At some point, her parents might pull her from the school. If that happens, you make sure her teacher doesn’t ask questions and there’s no trace of it happening. Until then, I need to know that you’ll do more than you’ve been doing to keep people out of this school. I need to know that if something happens, you’ll call me before you call the police.”
Zara looked more flustered than I’d ever seen her. That fear that always seeped from her was blatant and thick, coating the walls of her office and my skin as she seemed to try to figure out her next move. As she seemed to assess me in a different light.
“I need a response, Zara,” I prompted, my eyebrows raising when her head moved in quick shakes.
“If she’s in danger, the rest of my kids are in danger. What kind of danger are you people putting her in?” she asked, nearly demanded.
I would’ve been proud of the strength behind her words if I didn’t need to focus on pulling her back to a world she could understand and digest.
A world where there weren’t monsters sitting directly beside her.
“‘You people,’” I echoed, drawing out the words and feigning confusion. “I don’t know what you mean by that, but her biological dad has found out where they are. They fled from him because he was abusive, among other things. We’re worried he’ll come here and try to take Alexis.”
Technically, it wasn’t all a lie.
He had been abusive to Sutton—Lexi’s mom and Conor’s wife. They had fled from him.
But he was extremely dead, thanks to Maverick.
“Oh God,” Zara said, a hand going to her throat as she sank into the chair, seeming to accept the story as her stare fell to her desk. “That poor child.”
I glanced to the side when the bell rang for dismissal. “So, what are you gonna do?”
“I’ll call you,” she said, head bobbing. “If anything happens, I’ll call you first.”
“Glad to hear it.” I pushed from her desk and started for the door, my steps pausing and my neck cracking as unease slid through me when she called out to me.
“Mr. Pierson.”
Slowly, I met her worried stare from over my shoulder again.
“I, uh...well, I know you’ve asked for personal details on staff, but that isn’t something you can demand, and there are privacy laws...”
I turned fully to face her, my brow furrowing because we’d had this conversation last year. She’d given me the list of her staff and their files.
