Page 17 of The Villain

“There are a few other cars in the footage I can track down, but the camera is still blind to a good portion of the street,” he said and then winced at his word choice. “Sorry.”

“Yeah,” I said, staring at the video feed of the house on the screen. The wreckage of the car had been removed, but there was a giant stain of soot on the asphalt and a radiating spray of ash on the lawn. Except where Athena had been. There, the grass was still green and bright.

She’d always left everything around her brighter and for the better—except me.

“What are you thinking?” Rob asked, capturing my attention.

I tensed and told her what Ishould’vebeen thinking about. “That this all has to do with Ivans.”

“Interesting.” Her face completely masked her thoughts, which only made my suspicions about them run rampant for a second.

“Not interesting. Logical.” I met her stare. “What other reason would someone have to target her? For what gain? Ivans is the only thing that makes sense.”Though her relationship with him still didn’t.

“If someone wanted to blow Ivans up, then why not put the bomb on his car?”

“Maybe they couldn’t find or get access to his car. Maybe whoever did this only wanted to send a warning—” I broke my stare from Rob’s and swallowed down a curse.Shit.I shouldn’t be arguing about this.I should fucking know better.I quickly pivoted to Ty. “Unless you found out something about her that I don’t know? That would put her in danger?”

I’d been with Rorik, scrutinizing everything he did, everybreath Athena took, until she’d woken up. I was sure by now that Ty had done at least a cursory background check on my high school girlfriend, and sure he found years—a lifetime—of things I didn’t know about her.

His eyes briefly flicked to Harm, and my fist tightened.Jesus Christ,I didn’t need to be protected from Athena’s past. Sensing my sentiment, Harm nodded, and Ty shaded in the last two decades of her life with bold strokes.

“She graduated with a fine arts degree. Got married to a Brandon Martins and moved to Sacramento.”

Married. The air whooshed from my chest, and I swayed back.She’d gotten married.The idea was like a second detonation, but this one was contained inside me.Of course, she had. What the hell else did I expect from her? From the world?Athena Holman was a gold mine. Brains. Beauty. Beneficence. Any man who let her go would be the biggest fool.

“Not too much of note there until she filed for divorce a year ago. Took about six months and looks like it was pretty bitter. Brandon ended up with everything,” he continued, and I fought to maintain my composure.

Bitter? And he’d taken everything?I didn’t know who this guy was or what happened, but I already hated him. Nothing about Athena would ever be bitter, and knowing her, she wouldn’t have fought for anything; she would’ve given it all up to make the other person happy because that’s what she always did—put everyone else’s happiness before her own.

“Utility bills started being paid at her current address six months ago.”

“Her mom’s house,” I said low.

After a second and a few clicks of his mouse, he nodded. “Yeah. She inherited it…eighteen years ago.”

“What is she doing here?”

“Part-time work at museums…” He trailed off, scrolling over the screen. “Looks like she’s starting to show and sell her artwork. She has a local gallery show coming up in about a month.”

“But nothing to indicate a connection to Ivans or GrowTech?” My pulse thudded heavily.

“Nothing except that photo, but I’ll keep looking. Her artist gig is pretty freelance, so it’s hard to track down where she’s been and when. If we knew Ivans’s new alias…”

“We have to ask her, it’s the fastest way,” Rob chimed in.

A surge of protectiveness whipped through me. “No.” I glared at her. “She needs to rest. Doctor’s orders.”

“Enough.” Harm broke in. “Until we have more information, all options are on the table. We’ll see what Hadrian has to say about the bomb, check on video footage in the development and traffic camsleavingthe development. In the meantime…” He trailed off and looked at me.

“Rorik said she needs to rest.”

“I understand, but right now, she’s our best shot—our only lead. All we need is his name,” my brother countered firmly.

“I’ll sit and talk with her,” Rob offered, sliding off the table and looking between us. “Might be easier for her to open up to me anyway. Not being able to see…I’m sure she’s feeling very vulnerable right now.”

I swallowed my gut reaction to protest. I knew Rob would be gentle—careful—with Athena; one of my sister’s many projects in San Francisco was sheltering women—victims of violent men in power—and then bringing their abusers to justice. I didn’t doubt her compassion—it was as boundless as her vengeance. The problem was I wanted to know the answers, too.

“Fine, but I’m coming with you.”

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