Then I notice Willa’s boots are missing.
Fuck.
I head straight for the sitting room, where Hayami is perched on the window seat, book in her hand.As soon as she sees me, she puts her book down, which is not a good sign.
“What’s going on?”I ask as I scan the room.“Where’s Willa?”
Hayami swings her legs off the window seat and places her hands on her knees.She’s the picture of peace, which I find all the more unnerving.
“I need you to promise that you’ll stay calm.”Her voice is low and level.My hackles rise.
“What?”A water droplet from my hair trickles down the back of my neck.
“Promise me.”She glares at me, and I know by the severity of her words that she means them.I’m not going to get anywhere unless I play the good dog and obey.
“Okay.”My teeth grind against the word, my mind racing with all the possible things she could be about to tell me, my imagination playing out the worst.
“There’s a problem with Marta and the baby, so I sent Willa away.”
“You didwhat?”I swear my teeth crack.
“I drove her to the airport and drove back here,” Hayami says, but the words don’t reach me, like a bullet that’s missed the target board completely.I try to switch my brain into gear as she keeps talking.“She needs to be with her family right now, not stuck here babysitting me from a nonexistent threat.”
Fuck.
Dragging my hand down my face, I open my mouth, ready to unleash every reason she shouldn’t have done what she’s just done, but Hayami puts her finger in the air, halting my deluge of profanities.
“You promised you’d stay calm.”
“That was before I learned you sent the only other bodyguard we have away.And not only that, but you also drove her to the airport, which means you drove back by yourself.”I can’t hide the snarl of my words, the anger blistering over my skin at how foolish, how reckless she’s been.
“And I’m still alive.Would you look at that!”She flaps her arms out as if readying to twirl, and I want to scream at her.
“This isn’t a fucking joke, Hayami.”
“I’m not laughing.”
I can feel the vein in the side of my neck pulsating.
What was she fucking thinking?
“Okay, you made it back alive and unharmed, but how exactly do you expect me to watch you every single hour of the day?”We were stretched at two of us, but now?
“I don’t need watching.Today proved that.I’m perfectly safe.”
“Today, maybe.But what happens if someone finds out where you are?What then?”
“Then you’ll deal with them like you always do.Besides, you told me you don’t sleep.”
“I need to rest, Hayami.I can’t be on alert all the time.I need to shower.I need time to reset.”
“And you can.You’re making a very big deal out of this.”She scoffs at me as if I’m some minor irritant.
“Only last night you were telling me what your father would do to us all if you ran away.What do you think he’s going to do when he finds out you sent Willa home?”
She bites her lip, the first sign of her being scared by what she’s done.
“He won’t know.She’ll only be a few days, and then she’ll be back here.No one will be any the wiser.”
