And he couldn’t deny the fact that he was troubled by her withdrawn demeanor.
Something was wrong.
Something had happened to upset her, and every combat instinct inside him was certain it had everything to do with Travis Parrish.
He took the steps three at a time, then stole down the hallway to her bedroom. His knock went unanswered. So did his low request for her to let him in.
Then he heard the faint sound of her hitched breath coming from somewhere inside. Followed by a muffled sob.
“Damn it.” Knowing he had no right to barge into her private quarters didn’t stop him from reaching for the doorknob. It was unlocked, though hardly an invitation for him to enter.
“Lenora?” He stepped inside, drawn to the hushed sounds of her crying inside the adjoining bathroom. She was still wearing her navy pea coat and boots, sitting on the closed toilet seat with her face in her hands, her body curved into itself as she wept. “Ah, Christ. Leni.”
He crouched before her and gathered her into his arms. She didn’t resist his embrace. All of the fight seemed gone from her as she continued crying into his chest.
“It’s all right now. I’ve got you.” It was a miracle his voice didn’t sound more unearthly than it did. Rage poured through him at the feel of her trembling in his arms. “You heard from Travis today?”
She nodded, sniffling. “He came into the diner this afternoon with his father, Enoch.”
The bastard had gotten within arm’s length of her while he’d been holed up waiting for the sun to go down? Fuck.
Knox wanted to punch his fist through something—preferably, Travis Parrish’s face.
“Tell me what happened, sweetheart.” His reply was toneless with the depth of his fury. “What did he do? And God help him if he laid as much as a finger on you.”
“No, nothing like that,” she said, shaking her head. Her tears slowed as Knox caressed her back. She lifted her head, glancing up at him with red-rimmed eyes. “He’s managed to get the law on his side now. He came in with a court order for a paternity test on Riley.”
“Shit. Where is it?”
“I lit the damn thing on fire and threw it back in his face. Then I told him to get out of my diner and not come back.”
Knox felt a smile tug at the edge of his mouth in spite of the gravity of the situation. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
She frowned. “I’m only doing what I have to do. I have to keep Riley safe. I have to keep him out of the Parrishes’ hands. For Shannon as much as anyone else, I have to do whatever it takes to protect him.”
Knox didn’t miss the fact that she was excluding him from that equation. Sometime between yesterday morning and tonight, she had determined she was on her own when it came to taking on Travis and his family.
It wasn’t going to go over well when he informed her he’d arranged for a safe house without conferring with her. That the remote location a couple hours away from Parrish Falls belonged to the Breed warriors of the Order was only going to add a lot of gasoline to that fire.
“There’s more, Knox.” Leni’s voice took on a strangled edge. “Travis said something to me before he left. Something indirectly about Shannon.”
“What about her?”
Tears welled up in her eyes again, emotion choking her words. “He got mad after I burned up the court order. He told me I shouldn’t have done it. His father called me a dumb slut. Travis agreed. He said, ‘Sometimes dumb sluts get hurt.’ Then he said, ‘Sometimes they disappear.’”
Knox’s growl vibrated deep in his chest. Not only because of the two men who’d spoken to her like that, but because of the threat those words carried.
And underneath the awful words was the intimation that Leni might have been right about the Parrishes’ involvement in Shannon’s absence.
Leni sagged against him, releasing a broken sob. “What if they killed her, Knox? Oh, God. What if she really is dead?”
He wanted that answer as much as she did. Maybe more than she did, because if it turned out Travis or any of his kin had anything to do with harming Leni’s sister, he was going to kill every last one of them with his bare hands.
He pressed a kiss to the top of Leni’s head. “We’re going to find out what happened to her, I promise.”
A small, pained moan escaped her.
“Don’t do that,” she whispered, pulling herself away from him even though it was clear to him that she needed the comfort. She frowned, shaking her head as she searched his gaze. “Don’t let me think you care about me.”
