My heart warmed at the sympathy in her voice. She spoke like she had experience of trauma.
“Thank you,”I replied, my gaze dropping to a cut on her lip. A knot tightened in my stomach, my mind instantly conjuring up the thoughtthatJames had hit her.“What happened to your lip?”
Her brows lifted, and she swiped a finger across her lip as though she’d forgotten about the cut.“Elijah…he hit me.”
“Elijah? As in, Elijah Carter, my douchebag cousin?”
Fuck, I hadn’t thought aboutthatidiot for a long time. He’d come to live with us when we were kids after his father passed away, and I hated him from the minute he arrived. He was an arrogant little shit, but he worshipped the ground my father walked on, which only served to irritate James and me.
After I’d been ostracized from the family, James never spoke of Elijah, and I never asked. I’d always assumed he was still involved in Legion and still up my father’s ass, but I didn’t care. Elijah was nothing but a leech.
Willow giggled, and for the first time since meeting her, she relaxed.“Theverysame.”
“I doubt James was too happy?”
Her brows furrowed.“No, he…uh, he dealt with him.”
An amused smirk curled my lips.“I hope by dealt with, you mean James killed the fucker?”Willow’s grimace answered my question.“Good. He always was an evil dick. Six feet under is the best place for him. Why did he hit you?”
“It’s a long story.”
Something about Willow brought out my motherly instinct, and before I could stop myself, I stroked my palm along her arm, giving her a reassuring smile.“Well, we have time. That’s if you want to talk about it, of course.”
“Thatwould be nice,”she replied, her tone light as she returned my smile.“Only if you want to, though. I know you’ve got a lot going on.”
I squeezed her arm.“It’s fine. Besides, it’ll be a much-needed distraction from the events of the last few days. Doesn’t James have a housekeeper? She usually brings a tray of coffee and biscuits whenever Billie and I visit. I don’t know about you, but I could use some caffeine.”
Or maybe something stronger.
“Oh, Edith doesn’t work here anymore; she left.”
“She left?” I asked, wide-eyed.
Edith had worked for James for years; I didn’t think she’d ever resign.
Willow waved her hand.“Like I said, it’s a long story. I’ll make us some coffee, andthenwe can talk.”
I didn’t object as she scurried from the living room, finally allowing my body to slump on the couch. A dull throb had started at the back of my head, and I rubbed my temples, knowingthatif I didn’t get some sleep, the dull ache would turn into a full-blown migraine.
Falling back against the cushions, I let my eyes close, giving myself a few seconds to clear the chaos of thoughts spinning in my mind. But my eyes whipped open when a deafening smash echoed from somewhere in James’ house.
I bolted up, rushing from the living room and in the direction of the kitchen, where Willow would have been to make the coffee. The second I crossed the threshold into the kitchen, my feet came to an abrupt stop.
The smash had been caused by Willow dropping the coffee press, and coffee and glass had splashed over the marble floor. Her eyes found mine, wide and scared, but she didn’t make a sound. She couldn’t. Not with the hand across her mouth, preventing her from speaking.
Pressed against her head was the barrel of a gun, held by the man I despised. Alec stood behind Willow, glaring at me with a triumphant grin etched on his face.
“Hello, babe,”he crooned, his voice grating on my nerves like a fork scratching against china.
“How…how did you get in here?”My voice shook, as did my entire body.
His grin widened.“That’s not the question to be asking. What you should be asking iswhyam I here?”
White-hot rage streaked through me.“Where’s Billie?”
Alec chuckled, pressing the gun harder into Willow’s head. She released a muffled wince from behind his hand, her frightened eyes pooling with tears.
“You never quite learned to follow my orders, did you, Kiera? Ask me why I’m here,thenmaybeI’ll tell you where Billie is.”
