Sweet Heart (The Hearts of Sawyers Bend #2) - Ivy Layne Page 0,74
of trouble, can you?”
“Hey, I was just coming to my office for lunch.” I explained what we knew so far, ignoring Forrest and Sterling's whispers.
Narrowing his eyes on the bloody napkins pressed to Forrest's side, West took over. “Royal, walk Daisy back to the bakery. You'll have to reschedule lunch. I'm going to get Forrest to the ER and take his statement. After you drop Daisy, come straight back here, grab Tenn, and we'll go over the whole thing with your security team, see if they found anything.”
Sterling glared up at both of us, her hand gripping Forrest's with white knuckles. “I'm coming to the hospital with Forrest.”
I thought about arguing and decided that Daisy's look earlier had been right. Now was not the time. Instead, I gave a sharp nod and stood. I took Daisy's hand in mine, only remembering lunch when we were halfway down the block. “I'm sorry about lunch,” I said, my voice sounding distant in my own ears. I was still dazed from walking into my office to find Forrest bleeding all over the place. “I should have remembered the bag. Now you don't have anything to eat.”
“It's fine,” Daisy said absently. “I'm not hungry anymore.”
“Yeah, me either.”
That was all either of us said until we reached the alley door to Sweetheart's kitchen. Once inside, Daisy stopped and looked up at me, her expression fierce. “Be careful. If that had been you—” She shuddered.
I pulled her into my arms, burying my face in her hair and taking a deep, soothing breath. Rocking her from side to side, I murmured, “I'll be careful. I promise. Nothing is going to happen to me.”
“It had better not,” Daisy threatened, her eyes worried beneath the false bravado. “I just found you. You aren't allowed to get stabbed.”
“I won't,” I promised again. Lifting my head, I opened the door to leave. I needed to get to the office and catch Tenn before he came back and saw the blood on the carpet.
Turning the doorknob in my hand, I said, “Lock this behind me. When things are settled, I'll come back to let you know what's going on. But don't let anyone in if you're alone.”
“Do you think I'm in danger?” she asked as if that thought hadn't occurred to her. I hated that it had occurred to me.
“I hope not. Sabotage is one thing. If this is escalating to physical attacks, I don't want to take the chance it's going to spill over onto you. It's pretty obvious to anyone watching me that you're an important part of my life. I won't let anything happen to you.”
Daisy went to her toes, reaching up to press her lips to mine. “Okay, I'll be careful, too.”
I left her with one more kiss, pausing on the other side of the door to wait for the snick of the deadbolt flipping so I knew she was safely locked inside. It came, and I left, my mind racing with possibilities, eyes scanning the street for threats.
This was absurd. Griffen had a guy come after him not long after he'd moved back to Sawyers Bend, but that guy was in jail now, and he'd had a grudge against our father. The list of people who'd hated Prentice was long, but I couldn't think of anyone who'd come after me specifically.
You can't expect logic from a person who'd walk into your office and stab someone, I reminded myself.
We were dealing with someone who was capable of murder. Who the hell knew what they were thinking? I hoped West had some idea of where to go with this because I had nothing.
When I got back, the offices were crowded with evidence techs, my office blocked off by yellow caution tape. Tenn sat at Penny's desk, talking to West and digging into one of the quiches Daisy brought for our lunch. I thought about complaining and then, much like the thing with Sterling and Forrest, decided now was not the time. It wasn't like Daisy was going to eat it anyway.
Two hours later, Forrest was back from the ER, bandaged but not stitched, and we were no closer to figuring out who had attacked him. He was giving me cautious looks when he thought I wasn't paying attention, but I wasn't sure if they were about Sterling or getting stabbed in my place. I didn't ask.
Forrest and I agreed that the woman we'd seen was both tall and blond, but neither of us had recognized her. Something about her