Page 29 of Her Lion Lover

The greasy real estate agent was already gone before Lily had even mentioned the police, but Cadence didn't seem to know when to quit.

"Lily, darling, we'll lose the house if we don't sell this building. It's not like you need it. It's just been sitting here empty since your father died. You wouldn't choose to keep some dusty office if it meant you'd lose your childhood home. Think of all the memories. With your mother and father. What would your father say if he knew it was your fault we were losing your family home?" Cadence wheedled.

"I already lost my father's home, the day you inherited it. But this place...this is where I took my first steps. We lived in the apartment here for years before my parents could afford to buy the place you now call home. You might have sold my father's things and mortgaged his house to pay for this lavish lifestyle you think you and your daughters deserve, but I won't let you steal any more from me. This is my property, and my future, and you have exactly ten seconds to leave the premises before I drag you out of here myself!"

"You ungrateful little bitch!" Cadence screeched, marching forward with her hand raised.

The blow never landed. One of Leo's bodyguards caught Cadence's wrist in his enormous hand. "Mrs King said it's time to go, ma'am." Another bodyguard appeared at Cadence's other side, taking her other arm, before they half carried, half dragged her out, still screeching.

As if by magic, a police car appeared outside. It took barely a moment before Cadence was bundled into it, and they drove off.

The bodyguards came back inside.

"Anything else you need, Mrs King?" one of them asked.

Lily shook her head. "No. Thanks, though."

"Did you want to check if you need to order more coffee?" Leo asked.

Again, Lily shook her head. "Oh, no. Faye would have already taken care of that. If she's okay. We need to go upstairs and check on her!" She raced for the records room, and the trick book case.

One of the bodyguards was only a step behind her. "Let me go first, ma'am."

Numbly, she stepped aside and let him ascend the stairs first. He even knocked on the door at the top.

No answer.

"Faye, it's me. Lily. They're gone. Are you okay?" Lily called through the closed door.

She had the keys to the flat, but she didn't want to have to use them. Much better for Faye to open the door herself, and invite them in. Then she'd know she was okay. Whereas if she had to use the keys, she had no idea what she might find.

"Faye? Are you in there?"

The seconds stretched, until the door cracked open. "Lily? Is that really you?"

"Of course. Who else would it be? No one else knows about the secret bookcase. Well, except for my husband and his security staff."

Lily glanced at the bodyguard who'd come upstairs with her.

"Standard NDA applies to all our clients, ma'am. None of us will breathe a word about anything that happens here tonight. You could have taken your claws to that screeching woman and we'd have all sworn she was attacked by a stray cat." He coughed. "We work exclusively for the supernatural, ma'am. Secrecy comes with the territory."

Lily felt lightheaded. "You mean there are more things out there than just shifters?" She wouldn't even have believed in shifters if she hadn't seen her own paws. It still felt like a dream.

"Takes all kinds, ma'am. Including fae." He nodded toward Faye, who now stood in the open doorway.

She spread her arms wide for a hug. "Oh, Lily, it's been too long. Congratulations on your graduation. Your parents would have been so proud."

Wrapped in her godmother's arms, for the first time Lily felt like she'd come home. But she ended the embrace sooner than she would have liked. "Wait until you've seen what I have planned for the Hea Sanctuary project. Did you get my emails?"

Faye swallowed. "Yes. I think you'd better come in."

THIRTY-SIX

Lily listened to Faye with increasing horror. "You're telling me the Hea Sanctuary project is so plagued by delays, it might never be built at all?" She turned her hard gaze on Leo. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Leo coughed. "Well, I didn't know you were involved in the project at all until a few hours ago, and we've been a bit busy since then. I would have briefed you the moment you asked, and while the project doesn't yet have council approval, that doesn't mean it will never be built. Council haven't even looked at the proposal. Once they do, I'm sure they'll have no problems approving it. The delays are nothing to do with us or our project at all. It's Craig Tremotino who's behind the delays, using a combination of blackmail, bribery and extortion. That's why I agreed to attend his blasted ball – I'd hoped to persuade him to cooperate. Instead, I found he was colluding with my uncle, Jeremy, the man who's trying to take over Pride Holdings."

Lily bristled. "I'd like to meet this uncle of yours, so I can kick his slimy arse."

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