Page 96 of Lost in the Moonlight

“Does she know about your move to Cherry Bay?” Axel asked.

I told him about Katerina’s conversation with her at the fundraiser. “Last fall, we removed all the malware from my devices. Nothing here is in my name, so it’s more likely she was just fishing for information. I know for a fact she was in LA earlier this week, but it could be she hired someone new.”

“The person who did this”—Axel looked at the destroyed mural through the windows—“knew how to get by the locks and the alarm system without leaving a trace behind. That’s a professional. From what I’ve gathered of Poco Malta, he’s some C-list criminal. I’m not sure he’d have the skills, but we’ll poke around more. If this is Felicity having hired someone, how far do you think she’d go?”

My voice was grim as I responded. “I’d say Felicity would go pretty damn far. She made up an entire history with a stalker to try and get me to stay after we discovered she’d been messing with me. She had some mental health issues growing up the press never found out about.” I paused before adding, “Chase it down. I hope it isn’t her, but I need to know.”

If it was her, if my choices and my mistakes had come back to haunt me, I’d find a way to fix it before anyone got seriously hurt, before more trauma clamped its ugly claws around another woman I loved.

That I loved.

Those words landed like their own arrow deep inside me.

I loved Willow.

I hardly knew her, and yet I couldn’t deny the truth of those words. I’d agreed with Sienna that Willow was my person, which in and of itself had an implied permanency, an implied sense of love, but I hadn’t put the actual words to it. But it was love.

Fast and furiously, I’d gone over the deep end once again, and it would be stupid to try to deny it. I loved her, which was why I was more determined than ever to keep her safe, to ensure her light continued to shine as brightly as possible.

I looked inside The Tea Spot and saw Willow pacing in front of the display case while Shay and Hector held on to each other. She was alone. Again. How many times since her father was murdered had she been forced to be alone? She had her mom, who I could tell from our single conversation loved Willow and would do anything to protect her, but she wasn’t here. I’d seen Willow do more to try to guard her mom and their life here than the other way around.

She was trying to protect everyone around her, including me, in the way she hadn’t been able to protect her father.

I bit my cheek, thinking of how our pasts were bleeding into our present.

This morning, I’d basically told Willow I wanted her to quit her job and work out of my house. And yes, it was because of my feelings for her, but wasn’t it also a reaction to what I’d lost? I wanted to wrap her up and keep her hidden so she wouldn’t get hurt. How did I move past that?

I’d declined Secret Service protection because I’d wanted my privacy. And yet, now I’d hired a company to do the opposite with Willow, to shadow her every move.

It was messed up. I was messed up.

I didn’t know the right steps to take from here.

I turned my gaze to Axel’s. The man had been staring at me while I went through revelation after revelation. His all-seeing eyes were not only assessing but judging me as well.

“Do you think you can end this?” I asked.

“We’ll find out who’s behind it. Whether it’s the same person who took the photos who’s also leaving the notes or more than one.” The confidence in his voice should have been reassuring, but I’d lived my entire life observing my father’s opponents act equally confident while lying through their teeth.

“I need it over and behind us. She’ll never be able to move on with any of it hanging over her. I’m not just talking about the photos and whoever the hell destroyed that mural,” I said, waving a hand toward the shop and the ruined painting. “I’m talking about the Viceroys and their lawyer brother. I want to know she doesn’t have to live with that shadow. How do we do that?”

“We’re not a hit squad.” Axel’s voice was dark and forbidding.

“I’m not suggesting you kill anyone. I want to know what I can do. Ihaveto dosomething.” When he didn’t respond immediately, I added on, “I recognize that money isn’t always the answer, but I have a trust fund I haven’t touched. I’d be willing to give it up entirely if it means she doesn’t have to live in fear for even a second of one more day.”

None of my family was the type to throw money at our problems. We worked through them and respected what had been passed down to us. But if I needed the money to keep her safe, I’d use every last dime of it, regardless of my original intention to hand it off to the next generation.

“You start handing out cash, and that will just ensure whoever this is comes back for more,” Axel said curtly.

“I agree, but I also need to leave it on the table as an option. Give me an alternative. Give me something I can do to end this nightmare for her.”

I didn’t wait for another response. Instead, I strode with renewed determination back into The Tea Spot to the woman I’d fallen head over heels in love with. I wasn’t asking to end this just for Willow. It was for me as well. If some asshole took her from me…if life or fate or whatever higher power that existed in the universe allowed that to happen…I’d never be able to open myself up to love again. Strike three, you’re out.

So, I’d do everything in my power, use every resource possible, to make sure that didn’t happen.

? ? ?

I hadn’t wanted to leave Willow at the café, not even knowing she was surrounded by Axel’s team. But after the police left, she and Hector had hustled into the kitchen and scrambled to catch up on the baking, and I was left with nothing to do but stare at the ruined mural. I had nothing to keep my mind from spiraling with doubts about whether it was both my past and my family’s choices that were responsible for destroying Willow’s world.

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