he reached his destination, grabbed the door and hauled it open.
Little chimes sounded overhead as he entered the store. Pietro was surprised to see how busy it was. He’d expected it to be mostly empty, or just a couple of people, but there were easily a dozen people or more browsing the aisles.
Pietro towered above most of them, so it wasn’t difficult for him to spot the person he was looking for.
“Lilly,” he said, his voice easily carrying across the crowd.
The young woman at the cash register looked up.
Pietro’s relief at seeing her gave way to a knot of fear as the recognition blooming on Lilly’s face was replaced with a tense worry.
Something was wrong.
Making his way through the crowd as swiftly as he could, Pietro left more than one customer shaken as they were abruptly moved to the side and out of the way so he could pass.
“What’s wrong?” he rumbled as he came around the far end of the register. “Lilly, what’s going on? Where is Claire?”
“One moment,” Lilly said as she finished checking someone out. “Gayle, can you come here please?”
A short haired woman with short-cropped hair much the color of Claire’s, but a darker, more crimson red, came bustling out from one of the aisles to take over the register.
“Come with me,” Lilly said, heading for the back of the store.
Grinding his teeth to keep his mouth shut and not press Lilly, Pietro followed in her wake, his worry growing with every step. Something was going on that he wasn’t aware of. Something involving Claire. He hated not knowing, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that Claire was in trouble and he needed to be there to protect her.
“I don’t know exactly how it happened,” Lilly said as they entered her office, the door closing behind him. “But Claire was arrested this morning.”
His jaw dropped. “What?” he bellowed, the walls shaking.
“Keep it down,” Lilly snapped. “I’m running a business here. I had nothing to do with it. Here, watch.”
She clicked a few times on her computer and spun the monitor to him. A video from the Five Peaks Sheriff’s Department was playing on the screen.
“I have to get back to work, I’m sorry. I don’t know anything more than this either,” Lilly said. “Just…let me know how I can help, okay?”
“Yeah,” he grunted as the spokesperson was talking.
He watched the whole video play out. The charges against Claire for grand theft auto. Her being brought into the Sheriff’s Department in handcuffs.
Pietro’s growl at that sight once more set the walls rumbling, and he only at the last minute forced his fingers away from the desk before it crumbled under his angry grasp.
“Mother fucker,” he snarled as the video that had brought about the charges rolled on the screen.
It was of Claire from an auto dealership CCTV camera. They were stealing cars; there was no doubt about it. Pete must have stolen the footage to hold over her head. This must have been what Claire was alluding to about having too much going on in her head.
“And I just made it worse by beating him and his friends up,” Pietro whispered quietly to himself.
“She is now currently being held at the Five Peaks Sheriff’s Department, awaiting sentencing having pleaded guilty. Bail is set at—”
“This is my fault,” he growled, getting to his feet, his mind made up.
He had made the situation worse. Now, he was going to go make it better.
The door opened again and Lilly came back in. “Hey, Gayle is handling it. I’ve got a few minutes. Pietro, what the hell happened last night?”
He gestured at the screen. “Did you know about this?”
Lilly shook her head. “No! Of course not. Did you?”
“No,” he said, frowning. “Not specifically. She said things were bad, that she had other things going on right now. But I never suspected it was anything like this!”
A meaty fist smacked into his palm as he expressed his anger, the sound startling Lilly.
“This is my fault,” he spat.
“How is it your fault?” Lilly wanted to know.
“I beat up Pete last night when he was threatening Claire, trying to force her to go back to Kennewick Falls with him. She wasn’t going to go, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer. So, I made him realize the error of his ways. Now he’s gone and done this, the bastard.”
“Pete? That asshole?” Lilly asked. “I thought she dumped him ages ago. Why…”
“I guess she wasn’t telling you everything,” Pietro rumbled.
“I guess not,” Lilly said