I approached from behind, my gaze tracking down her slender back as she reached for one of the drawers and pulled. It didn’t budge. I paused, watching as she tried another. My stomach clenched as I realized why she must be here. She was trying to find something to use against me. Ammunition to make me back off from Lennox Securities. I’d hoped we were past that after the kiss, but apparently not.

I cleared my throat. “Good morning.”

She jerked in shock and spun around. “Shit!” Her eyes were wide and panicked. “It isn’t what it looks like.”

I was pretty sure it was exactly what it looked like, but when I caught sight of her face, her motivation for being here no longer mattered.

“What happened to you?” I hurried to her side.

One of her eyes was swollen shut, the skin around it blue. Her other cheek was bruised, and there was a bandage on her forehead that couldn’t quite conceal the split skin.

Someone had hit her.

Fury roiled in my gut. “Who did this?”

She touched her cheek. “Nobody you need to worry about.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Tell me.”

“I can’t. It’s complicated.”

“Please,” I beseeched. “I’m asking as someone who cares about you.”

The fact she was holding back made me suspicious. Was this the result of a run-in with Tom? Had he hit her because she’d left the dance with me? I felt sick at the thought. I hadn’t thought he’d go that far.

“I can’t tell you,” she whispered. “Not now. But maybe later. There’s someone I need to track down first.”

“Tom?”

She didn’t answer, and frustration flared, twisting and heating in my gut. I burned with the need to keep her safe. To protect her.

“Is that why you’re in here?” I asked. “You can’t find Tom and you thought we’d have something you could use to hunt him down?”

She winced. “It sounds stupid when you put it like that. But I already knew you were looking into him, so I thought maybe you’d be keeping a record of his location.”

The knots in my chest loosened at the knowledge she hadn’t been trying to spy on me. At least, not today.

I held her gaze but gentled my tone. “He’s in trouble?”

Her lips parted, and the lower one wobbled, but then she seemed to get a hold of herself.

“So am I,” she replied. “But it’s not your problem. I’m sorry for snooping. I didn’t know what else to do, and if I can’t find Tom then I have to call…”

I wished she’d finish the sentence. Who would she have to call?

“What’s going on, Willow?”

For a long moment, she didn’t say anything, and I began to worry she was going to ignore me, but she moistened her lips and spoke again. “I have to go.”

Her words set off a series of uncomfortable sensations in my chest. I reached for her hand, but she pulled it away. “You need my help. Let me in.”