Shit.
Lilith stopped in front of him. “Hello, Ethan.”
“I’m on my way somewhere, Lilith.” He stepped around her.
“Did you help her break into my home?”
He stopped and turned. “Excuse me?”
“I assume you did, because how else did she close the bedroom window? She always used to leave it open when she was sixteen and pulling off her great escapes.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face.
Walk away, Ethan. Don’t participate in this.
But fuck he was angry. “Maybe if you’d created a home where she felt welcome, she wouldn’t have felt the need to escape when she was a teenager.”
Lilith lifted a brow. “You’re saying it’smyfault. Hm. Is it also my fault my niece broke into my home?”
“I’m saying you knowexactlywhat you’re doing every time you hurt her.” He inched closer. “And you lost the right to call her your niece a long time ago.”
Lilith straightened. “I kept that girl out of foster care.”
“Maybe foster care would have been better than whatever the hell you gave her.”
She gasped. “Well, I never!”
“And if youeverinfer or evenhintthat her mother’s death was even slightly her fault again, you won’t like what I do.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I’m warning you.Stophurting her.” Without waiting for a response, he continued down the street, only stopping when he stepped inside Bloom to see Gerome standing over Maggie.
Then Ethan saw red.
“I’m soscared to go out after dark,” a woman fretted behind Maggie, making her pause in her typing.
Bloom was busy today. Some customers were standing by the flowers, choosing a bouquet. Others were reading books on the couches in the corner with hot drinks. Most seemed completely fine. But the table of women behind her had been talking about Priya Tan since the moment Maggie had opened her laptop.
“Don’t forget, it’s not just Priya,” a second woman said. “Two women went missing before her.Two. If Priya’s dead, they probably are too.”
“Is that serial killer status yet?” a third voice gasped.
Maggie forced her attention back to her work. Her business was officially launching in a week.Thatshould be her focus. She’d already let all her followers know what she was doing. She’d started marketing. And potential clients had already started contacting her.
She scanned through her emails. She’d reached out to so many hotels and businesses in the travel industry to inquire about deals they could offer her customers, and most were open to collaborating.
The seat legs scratched across the floor opposite Maggie.
“I love this store,” Polly gushed, setting an iced matcha in front of Maggie and a sliced croissant in the center of the table. “I really do, but you know what I need?”
“A croissant and a coffee?”
“Yes. But also a project.”
“What kind of project?”
“The renovation kind.”
