Page 114 of The Fractured

Seb released a breath. “You’re brave.”

I jerked my head towards the driveway and pushed my fists into my pockets. “And he’s waiting. So is Lily.”

Seb unclicked his plate and got on his bike. “I’m gonna miss this.”

“Threatenin’ people or runnin’ away from crazed drivers?” I knew what he meant, but offered him a smile anyway.

He grinned, but his eyes said enough about what he was thinking. Then he looked down to adjust and readjust the straps on his gloves, hesitating or trying to find the right words for whatever he wanted to say. He didn’t have to say it, though.

“Yeah, I know.” I scuffed the gravel with my boot.

Seb inhaled and then huffed a laugh before pulling on his helmet. “Go on. Go sweep Lily off her feet.”

“Will do.”

I walked the two blocks back to where Mark agreed to wait in his car.

He didn’t say anything until we were on the road again.

“How’d it go?” he asked, casually checking his rearview mirror.

“I think your investigations are getting to him. He’s stressed.”

Mark shrugged. “Don’t do illegal things, and that won’t happen.”

I scoffed but didn’t answer.

We drove on in silence. With Antonio’s mansion located in Bay Ridge, the same suburb as Lily’s apartment and her parents’ house, I figured he would take me back to his place, where Lily was staying. But then the streets started looking more and more like the ones I drove to get to Lily and Kira’s apartment.

It wasn’t until we were on their block that I straightened and looked at Mark. “You brought her back here?”

“Things were getting tense at home.” He looked at me side-on for a second before focusing on the road. “I think my family is going to have to sit down for a long conversation. But for now, she’s here. Lily needed space.”

“From your wife.”

His hold on the steering wheel shifted. “I don’t think you’re entitled to comment on it, Dean.”

I considered biting my tongue, but the words came out before I could stop them. “I think I am if she’s makin’ my girlfriend so miserable she has to call me up to organize an escape from her childhood home.”

He didn’t respond.

“She’s meant to feel safe there. Instead, she can’t get out of that house fast enough when she has the chance.”

“As I said, we will talk about it. As a family…”

“Lily agreed to that? Openly talkin’ about her sexual harassment in front of her entire family?”

He was silent again, but I had a feeling this silence was out of guilt for not knowing what his daughter had been through.

I kept my eyes ahead. “Wait until she’s ready.”

We arrived at the apartment, still not speaking until I spotted the patrol car parked across the street.

Suddenly, the gun was like a branding iron burning in my lap. “Who’s that for?”

“Relax. It’s protection for Lily while she’s here since I doubt she’ll want to go back to mine any time soon,” Mark said. “I’ll organize another car to watch your house too. But for now, go upstairs.”

I didn’t know what time it was, but it was already Saturday morning. Probably several hours before sunrise. And somehow I didn’t feel like sleeping. The night's events had left me wired and wide awake.