"Ophelia is still out there, Lyse."
Levi’s face was scrunched up in a concerned smile and Lyse who had been picking out her outfit turned to him with a sigh and touched his face.
"I know that Levi," she said. "But we can’t allow that awful woman affect our lives."
"But she could harm you." Levi Insisted. "I won’t be able to live with myself if sothing happened to you." He looked like he was close to tears. His shoulders were slumped and he looked smaller than she had ever seen him before. His big, muscular fra seed fragile. Her heart ached for him.
"Levi, what do you want to do? Should we live in fear forever? I need to get back to work, and you need to get back to yours."
When he did not seem ready to budge, she sighed again.
"How is she going to harm when you are going to be there? And all those guards? I would be safe."
She turned back and picked out a pair of sneakers and continued to speak.
"Moreover, you know the kids at the shelter have been looking forward to this day. I can’t disappoint them, they would be heartbroken."
Levi walked to the window and looked out, pinching the bridge of his nose to ground himself.
His n had been out all night looking for Ophelia and there was still nothing. Almost like she had vanished into thin air, but how was that possible?
He saw the black car in the driveway and he knew it was pointless to try to argue with her.
"Okay," he finally said. "But we need to set so ground rules."
Lyse finally turned to him with a smile.
"What are the ground rules?"
He thought for a mont, the worry still etched onto his face.
"First, you stay close to at all tis. No wandering off."
Lyse nodded. "Okay."
"Second, you don’t talk to anyone you don’t know without or one of my guards right there. No exceptions."
Lyse’s smile faltered a little. "Okay."
"Third, if anything feels wrong, even slightly, you tell imdiately. We leave. No questions asked."
"Okay," she said again, her voice softer.
He walked back to her, closing the distance between them. He gently tilted her chin up, forcing her to et his gaze. "Promise , Lyse."
"I promise," she whispered, and the word seed to cost her sothing.
He lowered his head and kissed her, a soft, lingering thing that tasted of both apology and possession. When he pulled back, her eyes were wide, a little dazed. He brushed a stray strand of hair from her cheek, his thumb lingering on her skin.
As much as he wanted to keep her locked up, he knew that he could not do it.
He knew that Lyse needed to live life on her own terms, his job was to be beside her and make sure she was safe and comfortable.
He watched as she finished getting ready, the simple act of her tying her shoelaces a strangely intimate, dostic sight. He morized the curve of her neck as she bent, the way the morning light caught the golden strands in her hair. He was storing these monts, hoarding them against a future he refused to contemplate.
The drive to the community shelter was quiet. Levi sat in the back with Lyse, while two of his n sat upfront. There were two cars ahead and two more cars in the rear, all filled with heavily ard and trained n.
He had wanted to bring along even more cars but Lyse had protested.
Every car that passed, every pedestrian on the sidewalk, was a potential threat in his mind. His hand rested on his thigh, close to the holstered weapon he never left without. Lyse, on the other hand, seed to have shed her apprehension. She stared out the window, a small smile playing on her lips as the cityscape blurred by.
When they arrived, a small crowd of children was already waiting, their faces pressed against the glass of the center’s main door. The second the car pulled to a stop, they erupted, a chaotic wave of excitent. Lyse was out before Levi could fully open his door, her laughter mingling with the children’s shouts as they sward her.
He watched her, a fixed point in their joyful storm. She knelt, her arms full of small bodies, her face alight with a genuine happiness that made sothing deep in his chest tighten.
Another car pulled up and out ca Ken and Bella. They both approached Levi, worry on their faces.
"I see you could not convince her to stay ho today." Bella said, looking at Lyse through the glass door.
"I’m going to go inside and see if Lyse needs anything." Bella added before leaving the two n.
"She got that stubbornness from her mother." A resigned Ken comnted. "You could never get Maeve to do what she didn’t want to do."
"We all just have to stay alert and ensure that Ophelia does not get a chance of harm Lyse."
Ken nodded. "Yes, Levi. We can’t allow her to harm Lyse, not Maeve’s daughter."
Ken had a faraway look in his eyes and Levi didn’t have to ask to know that he was thinking about Maeve.
"I didn’t protect Maeve then, Ken," he said, his voice low. "But I will die before I let anything happen to her daughter. That’s a promise."
A child, a little girl with pigtails and a bright yellow dress, broke away from the group and ran towards them. She stopped a few feet away, staring up at Levi with wide, curious eyes. He tensed, his anxious mind kicking in, but the girl just held out a slightly squashed-looking dandelion.
"This is for you," she said, her voice clear as a bell. "So you can be happy too."
Levi looked from the offering in the small, grubby hand to the child’s earnest face, then back to the flower. He slowly crouched down, his massive fra making the movent seem deliberate and careful.
"What’s your na?" he asked, his own voice rougher than he intended.
"Lily."
"Well, Lily," he said, taking the dandelion. "Thank you."
His phone rang right at that mont and he quickly pulled it out of his pocket and stared skeptically at the screen.
No caller ID.
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