Watching her step out of the hospital, Nico next to her, holding her small duffle bag, my heart feels heavy. Every day, I have had to restrain myself from visiting her, forcing myself into my work and trying my best to ignore the situation. She takes small, unsure steps as the bright light of the day hits her face, and all I want to do is run to her and tuck her into me and never let her go. Nico says something to her, and her eyebrows rise and she walks quickly to the car, but not before I notice his hand touching the small of her back. My grip on the steering wheel tightens, and I push my body back into the car seat, willing myself not to move.

She lied. I can’t have liars in my life. I have to protect Leo. Nothing else can happen to him. I continue to tell myself the same things over and over, trying to drill into my brain that she is not the person I thought she was, when really, all I want to do is grab her and hold her tight.

“You like torturing yourself, don’t you?” Sebastian says next to me as he types into his phone, messages to Goldie, no doubt, who like Maria and Leo are ignoring me because I have let Little Red go. The silence that is directed at me in our compound is near stifling and has been going on ever since I left her at the hospital. With no signs of it letting up, I question myself every day, something I have never done before in my life. Especially over a fucking woman.

“I need to make sure she is okay,” I grit out, angry at her, angry at myself, angry at the whole fucking world.

“Well, let’s fucking find and kill Dominic so you can ship her back to Oklahoma and get on with your life, then,” Sebastian says, and I look at him and snarl.

“Yep, thought as much.” He rolls his eyes at me, an annoying trait that he picked up from his wife. “Okay, they are moving. Let's go.” I look back at the car she just got in, and I start the engine to follow them.

“Why did you move her to the fucking safe house? Of all the places...” Carter chimes in from the backseat, and my eyes flick to him in the mirror.

“Where else should she go?” I grumble back to him, not in the mood for his questions.

“Well, she could have stayed at my place?” Carter says seriously, and I pull on the steering wheel and slam on the brakes before turning in my seat to see him grinning like the cat that got the canary.

“Fucking asshole,” I snarl at him, before facing forward and driving again. He goads me on purpose, and if he is not careful, I will punch him in the fucking throat.