Page 47 of Saved from Obsession

LEO

I never should have left.

The thought keeps looping through my head along with the dozen other things I could have done to keep Georgia safe.Shouldhave done.

I should have postponed the job in Atlanta and stayed with Georgia for the rest of the week, if not longer.

I should have installed more security. I could have added interior cameras, alarms on all the windows and doors, and wired them to connect to the police.

I should have pushed Georgia harder to come back to Sleepy Hollow with me. I didn’t want her to think I didn’t trust her or respect her wishes, but what good is that if she’s attacked in her own home and I’m not there to protect her?

Over the last two hours I’ve berated myself a hundred times. Two of the longest hours of my life, waiting for Georgia to get here and praying she doesn’t get into an accident. But horrific images keep coming at me—Georgia crying and not seeing a car cut in front of her or a panic attack coming on while she’s traveling seventy miles an hour.

God. My heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest.

She’s wearing her tracker—one small mercy—so I’ve been staring at her location on my laptop since she called me. The phone line is still open, so I have that small reassurance as well, though I’m too worried to talk to Georgia much for fear of distracting her. I can’t even imagine how much stress and panic she must be feeling right now and to add driving in Friday evening traffic on top of it? It’s one more thing I wish she wasn’t going through on her own.

When she said she wouldn’t go to the police to wait for me, I wanted to argue. To explain why that wasn’t a good idea. But Georgia sounded way too close to breaking down, and that was the last thing I wanted when she was still in danger. When we had no idea where the attacker was and if he was still coming after her.

She’s been quiet during the drive. I ask her every ten minutes or so if she’s still doing okay and she answers with the same strainedI’m fineevery time. And she did tell me exactly what happened at her house while I put her on speaker so Cole and Rylan could hear, too.

They’re the only other members of the team still at home—everyone else is out of town for a pro bono case. But I’m glad I have Cole and Rylan to help, since they’re the ones who know Georgia the best. As soon as I told them what was happening they mobilized immediately—Rylan calling the police in Ballston Spa and Cole asking Maya to gather some clothes and supplies for Georgia so she has something when she gets here.

They’ve kept me from losing my mind, too. Sort of. I keep jumping up from my laptop to pace around the room but then get panicked because I can’t see Georgia’s progress on the tracking software and lunge at my laptop to make sure she’s still moving. Finally—finally—she turns off the highway and my fear and anxiety dial back a notch.

Just one notch—I won’t be able to take a full breath until she’s standing in front of me.

“Are you still okay?” I ask Georgia, breathing another sigh of relief as she quietly gives me the same answer I’ve heard a dozen times.Yes, I’m fine.

Asshe wasattacked, almostabductedin her own house by athirdunknown assailant, fine isn’t even close to how she’s doing.Or me. I’m vacillating between suffocating guilt, crushing worry, and rage that burns so hot and intense it’s taking all of my control not to start breaking things.

“Leo.” Cole comes over to the conference table where my gaze is bouncing between the little moving dot on my laptop and the call timer ticking away on my phone. I’m concentrating so intently and wound so tightly I almost throw a punch before I realize who’s talking to me.

“Sorry, man.” Cole’s voice is low and pacifying. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

It’s not his fault I screwed up and now Georgia is paying for it. Sucking in deep breaths through my nose to settle myself, I say, “Sorry I almost punched you.”

“It’s okay.” He stares at me, his gaze appraising. “Come talk to me for a minute. Away from the phone.”

“No.” My voice is sharp, strained, a razor wire just about to snap. I gesture at the phone. “I need to be here.”

“Rylan will talk to Georgia.” Cole nods his head toward Rylan, who is cautiously approaching me from the other side. “It’ll just be for a minute, Leo.”

I don’t want to agree, but I know Cole wouldn’t ask me to do this if it wasn’t important. Then I think—maybe there’s news about the attacker and he doesn’t want to say it where Georgia can hear it—so I step away from the table and follow Cole to the other side of the room.

As I walk away, I can hear Rylan saying to Georgia soothingly, “Hey, hun. You’re doing great. Leo will be right back. He’s just talking to Cole for a second.”

When Cole stops and turns to face me, I ask, “What’s the news?”

His eyebrows go up. “What news?”

“About the guy who attacked Georgia. Isn’t that what you wanted to talk to me about?”

“No.” Cole frowns. “It’s not that. We don’t have more information yet. But Leo—”

Irritation bubbles up in my chest. “Why did you drag me over here, then?”

“Because,” Cole sighs heavily. “You need to calm down. Georgia is going to be here soon, and you look like you’re about to kill someone.”

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