Page 74 of Caught in the Crossfire

The time had passed in a blur while we all kept ourselves busy.

Leona was physically healing, but still burying everything. Nothing we did encouraged her to open up. Same with Wynn. They’d both been back in the gym, even though Wynn had set his recovery back by overexerting himself the night of the marina. He’d been in pain ever since. Willow and I had both chewed him out, which only made him retreat further away from me.

He was deteriorating right in front of my face. He became increasingly frustrated that we’d only scratched the surface of the Vokshi operation. He’d disappear into his room for hours at a time. He wasn’thealthy.He was growing stronger yet weaker at the same time. I wasn’t even sure he was sleeping, because he had stopped sleeping in the big living room bed with the rest of us.

Dios mio, I just wanted him to stay alive. Every time he looked at me, my heart raced. Every time a smile peeked through his lips, my soul soared.

The Wynn I knew was determined. He was confident and earnest, brave and beautiful. He’d throw himself into his work, but always remember to come home to us.

This Wynn was withering away.

I had to help him find that again.

So I kept looking for Vokshi while we waited for Obi to tell us what to do about the Luccheses. Ryuji went back and forth between his clubs and home. Leona worked as much as she could with VCI and Anton Felix. She and Cas spoke regularly with Giulio about their skirmishes against Max, where at least we seemed to gain the upper hand. She tried to keep herself busy with planning, but nothing helped. We’d all been extra careful around her, trying not to trigger her or startle her.

“Leona?” I knocked softly on the door to her room.

No response. She’d gone to her room after picking at her lunch to take a shower. I opened her door and stepped inside.

“Leona?” I repeated.

The bed was empty. Steam rolled from the bathroom. I’d just peek my head around the corner to make sure she was all right.

She stared at herself in the mirror, a towel wrapped around her body while her wet hair dripped down her back. Her bruises had faded over the last week, and the scabs on her chest had fallen off, leaving behind little white lines that made my heart twist in pain.

“Baby girl?”

She didn’t move, like she didn’t even hear me. Her finger hovered over the scar on her cheek. It was still an aggressive pink, bright against her pale skin. Her eyes turned forlorn while her lips pressed together like she was trying to keep herself from crying.

Her eyes caught mine in the mirror, and she blinked herself back to the present. In an instant, she shuttered her emotions and smoothed her mouth into a small smile.

“Hi.”

“Hey,” I said, leaning the side of my head against the archway into the bathroom. “You okay?”

She nodded as she picked up some moisturizer and gently rubbed it all over her face. “Fine.”

I watched her do her skincare routine, trying to figure out what to say or do. When she was done, she moved on to smoothing some product through her curls.

“I could use your help,” I finally said. “If you want.”

Her eyes lit up, meeting mine in the mirror. “Help? With what?”

I had mountains of data about the Vokshi Clan to analyze. I was trying to find patterns and connect them back to the questions we had about how the Vokshi were transporting their victims on land, where they were keeping them, and who was buying them. My eyes were crossing while staring at it all myself.

Leona’s brain worked exactly like mine. She was excellent at finding patterns I couldn’t see.

“Boring stuff.” A smile pulled up at the corners of my mouth. “Stuff I don’t want to do.”

She scoffed. “So you’d make me, your lowly trainee, do it.”

“Isn’t that what trainees are for?”

“Sure, sure, use and abuse the trainee. I don’t even get paid! I should report this to someone.”

God,I had missed her snark. “I’m sure Obi will hear your complaint.”

She turned away from the mirror and sauntered closer, some of her usual sway returning to her hips. A spike of desire went through my body, but I tamped it down.