Page 55 of Keeping Lilith

“Micah.” She spoke his name in a whisper, but his smile showed he’d heard it all the same.

Her heart thumped, and Lilith made a move to open the door, uncaring that she could die if she managed to get out. Anything was better than being back in the presence of this man. Her movement was thwarted as Stella grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked hard. Lilith bit back the scream of agony, as she was sure half her hair had been ripped out.

“I told you not to try anything.”

“That’s enough, Stella. Leave her. You’re going to be a good girl, aren’t you, Lilith?” Micah mocked, as if he knew victory was his.

Lilith nodded, but she would not be a victim this time. Somehow, some way, she wouldn’t be sucked into whatever Micah had planned for her. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be all roses and sunshine. Of that, she was sure.

Whatever she had to do, she would, even if it meant the consequences were going to be life altering.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Julian staredat his phone while Ox and the others discussed the information that Cass had presented earlier. He’d been invited to attend the meeting because, while the tech guys at the FBI had investigated the job advert Lilith had found, they’d decided there was nothing much to it. Cass, on the other hand, had done a little more digging and had come up with information that suggested Lilith was spot on.

“You good, man?” Deal asked. Julian had been surprised when the former SEAL had sat next to him. Their relationship was still tense, but had changed after Julian had joined them on the most recent operation.

“Yeah,” he said, although he couldn’t shake the fact that Lilith still hadn’t responded to his text. She was pretty quick to reply to him. Then again, she mentioned she was going to the grocery story to pick up some items for their celebratory dinner. Perhaps she was busy with all the preparations for it.

“Are you sure? Because you don’t look it,” Deal persisted.

The conversation had stopped, and everyone was looking at him, not in annoyance that he hadn’t been paying attention, but with concern. “It’s probably nothing.”

“It’s not nothing if your gut is saying it’s something,” Ox said. “Talk to us.”

This was why he liked this group of men. To them, any concerns, doubts or bad feelings weren’t laughed at or considered stupid. All of them had mentioned that their intuition had gotten them out of a lot of messes and kept them safe. “Lilith hasn’t returned my text. She’s usually pretty quick. But she could be busy.”

“How long ago did you text her?” Irish asked.

“Two hours ago. She told me she was going to the store, so I was just checking in to make sure she got everything, and if she wanted me to bring anything home.”

“Right. Okay. Has she given any indication that something was off with her? Like she was being followed or anything?” Ox was in full leader mode, looking at all angles. Angles that Julian didn’t want to look at or think about.

He refused to believe something had happened to her while she’d been going to the store, but he could he really discount it? How many times had the people they’d rescued said they’d been taken while doing a mundane activity? A lot. “No, she hasn’t. Plus, I know she’s been home most of the time, and when she has gone out, she’s sent the odd message to let me know where she is. Today she was excited because she got the job at the botanical gardens.”

“Right. Irish, do you want to grab Cass?” Ox directed, and Irish nodded, slipping out the door to get his wife. “I’m assuming she’s wearing the tracker you gave her?”

“I put it on her this morning, but it’s possible she took it off when she got home.” There had been a few times he’d found it in the hallway by the front door, as if she’d taken it off the moment she walked in. A couple of times, he’d told her she should only take it off when she went to bed. He hadn’t harped on it becausehe didn’t want her to think he was controlling her. Or the decisions she made. But now he wished he had.

“What’s up?” Cass asked, laptop in hand as she took the seat vacated by Irish.

“Can you get a lock on Lilith’s position?” Ox asked.

Julian was glad that Ox was doing what he did because he was so caught up in the fact that Lilith could be missing, that he couldn’t think straight.

“We’ve got your back, Julian. You know that, right?” Deal stared intensely at him.

“I know. I appreciate it.”

“Looks like she’s in a car. Do you know where she’s headed?” Cass asked as she tapped away on her keyboard. A few seconds later, a map appeared on the TV screen behind where Ox stood.

Julian studied the map, trying to get a sense of where the flashing blue dot was heading. “Can you zoom in a bit? I’m not sure where she’s at.”

The map enlarged, and where Lilith appeared to be going wasn’t the grocery store. “She said she was going to get some groceries. But the store is within walking distance of my house. She’s nowhere near our house.”

“Can you get a visual on them?” Irish asked, his hand rubbing up and down his wife’s back.

“Give me a few seconds to hack into the cameras. Fortunately, she’s on the highway, so it should be easy to get eyes on the vehicle.”