“What if I say no?” Autumn asked in a calm voice.
“I’ll shoot you.” The response came with no hesitation.
“Rude, but okay,” Autumn said. Usually, Lila loved the woman’s humor, but at the moment, Lila gave her warning look. Autumn just smiled at her.
“And you can leave your phones. I’ve blocked all signals anyway.”
Dammit. Well, the only thing Lila cared about was getting Autumn out of range of the woman. Normally, she would welcome help from Autumn. She was a smart operative, capable of taking this woman down. With her being pregnant, it made her a target. Lila knew she needed to find out just what this nut wanted and work it to save Autumn. She could not let the other woman get hurt.
They filed inside and Autumn frowned at the woman. “I know you,” she said again. “Vivian, right?”
“Yes. I worked with your brother.”
Her voice softened on the word brother. “You know Ian, of course.”
She cut a sharp look at Lila. “We have a bond.”
That was news to Lila. She was pretty sure it was going to be news to Ian too. There was something…off about the woman. Her eyes were a little too bright. Her smile on the manic side.
“I doubt that you have a bond at all. All he did was train you,” Autumn said, dismissal filling her voice.
Vivian moved her gun to aim it at Autumn. Panic had Lila’s entire body icing over. Dammit.
“It was more than that. We connected on a different level. He just needed time to see it.”
Things were staring to fall into place, and none of it good. This woman wanted to kill anyone who she saw as a rival for Ian’s attention, even his sister. Lila stepped in front of Autumn, who made a disgruntled sound. She ignored her and kept her attention on the other woman.
“You can’t hurt her.”
She cocked her head to the side. Oh, yeah, this woman was crazy.
“Why not?”
“She’s pregnant with Ian’s niece or nephew. You wouldn’t want to upset Ian. It would be better if you put her in the bedroom, right? She can’t get anywhere from here since you’ve suppressed the signal.”
“Why would you want to save her?”
Because I’m not a nut job. “I would do it for Ian. I know he would appreciate it. He would definitely thank anyone who looked after his sister.”
Vivian studied Lila just long enough for Lila to worry she wouldn’t agree.
She nodded. “Yes. You’re right. Ian does like to take care of other people. Go.”
“Absolutely not,” was the response from behind Lila.
“Autumn, you need to go. All Vivian wants is me, so you can go. Please.”
She hoped that Autumn understood that Lila hardly ever said please.
“Fine. We’ll argue about this later.”
Then she stomped away.
“She would be dead if she wasn’t pregnant right now.”
Jesus, this woman. What was with her life? She wanted one fucking day without a nut trying to kill her. Now she just had to figure out how to tackle the woman without getting herself shot. Her time was definitely running short because now that she had gotten rid of Autumn, Vivian looked ready to kill Lila.
“Before you shoot me,” she said licking her lips and fighting the nausea that statement brought about, “could you tell me why? That’s all I ask.”
