Where the Snow Falls (Seasons of Betrayal #2)(4)

Today was important.

He was out.

She wasn’t going to have to keep pretending she gave a f*ck for much longer.

“Waiting for something?” Alberto asked.

Violet’s gaze snapped back to her father instantly. “Pardon?”

He cut into his chicken, never looking up from his task. “Your food is going cold, Violet, and instead of eating with me like I invited you here to do, you’re too busy watching the clock. Are you waiting for something?”

“Yes.”

Alberto did lift his head that time. “Oh? Do tell.”

A lie was already on the tip of her tongue. “New fad diet. You shouldn’t take your first bite of your heaviest meal before four-thirty in the evening. Something about the carbs and all from your last meal weighing down digestion.”

Violet nodded at the clock. “Three minutes to start, Daddy.”

“Little strange, isn’t it?”

She didn’t answer him.

She didn’t have to.

“What are your plans after this?” Alberto asked.

Violet shrugged as she picked up her fork and cut a piece of chicken. It was two minutes early, according to the clock, but her father didn't seem to notice the slip. “Going home, and I’m sure Tony will be close behind to let you know I get there safely.”

Alberto didn’t even deny her statement about the new enforcer who drove her to and from wherever she needed to go, never mind tailing her while she was out and about doing things. It wasn’t as if her father had given her a choice in the matter, and Violet wasn’t exactly in a place to argue.

However, Tony did make some things difficult.

Like today.

Violet’s hand ached with the urge to fish her phone out of her pocket and scroll to the contact list. All it would take was one single message—that was it.

I’m here. I’m ready. Come get me.

Anything of that sort would work just fine.

But she couldn't because she was never alone. Even when she thought she was, she wasn’t. She had learned that one night when she woke up from a dead sleep. After having spent the majority of the evening hours on the phone with Kaz, she’d decided to take a walk outside of her building and had found Tony waiting right beyond her front door.

She didn’t ask how Kaz had gotten access to a cell phone while locked up, and he didn’t offer the information. She simply had accepted the package left at the front desk for her one day, securely wrapped in packaging that didn’t allow for tampering without it being very obvious.

The package hadn’t been touched.

For once, her enforcer didn’t seem to care.

Maybe he had thought she had just ordered something online. It wasn’t—it had been a simple, pretty cardstock wishing her good tidings on the outside. But inside? Inside was a phone number, a date when to expect a call, and a familiar K signed right below it.

She only recognized Kaz’s signature, or rather, how he signed the initial of his first name because he always seemed to have something on the go or lying out where she could see it when she had gone to his place.

That number had been her lifeline for those first thirty days after her father had ripped her from Kaz’s side, and she watched from the media’s perspective as her lover was put behind bars on a bullshit charge.

And then he called.

And he called again.

Every night, if he could. And sometimes, a text in the day, if possible.

Violet had a quarter of her chicken gone before she realized it. She wasn’t hungry but chewing and swallowing was comforting in a way, even if the fact she was staring at the clock again lessened her desire to eat.

Kaz was out.

All she had to do was call him, and she could leave.

With him.

Violet passed a look over her shoulder and saw her enforcer sitting two tables over, sipping on a cup of coffee. Her father was still eating away, oblivious to her inner war.

All she had to do was send that message.

But it wasn’t that easy.





Violet stepped into the waiting elevator and tried not to give her irritation away when Tony slid in beside her without a word. She pressed the number for her floor and leaned against the golden rail as the doors closed and the elevator began to lift.

She couldn’t even walk herself through her own building and up to her apartment without Alberto’s appointed babysitter following right behind.

And lately—at least for the past few days—it seemed like Tony was sticking even closer than usual. Most times, he would wait outside places when she went in to do her business. But no, he started coming in right behind her for no apparent reason and with no explanation when she asked why.

Boss’ orders.

That was all she was given.

Violet had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly why her father had ordered Tony to stick closer. Kaz’s release was no secret.

Alberto was crossing his t’s and dotting his i’s where Violet was concerned.

And it was working.

With Tony’s suffocating presence, she wasn’t comfortable with even glancing at her phone if it buzzed for fear he would be looking over her shoulder. Sure, Tony stayed outside her place when she was home, but it wasn't that simple for Violet.

Four months.

She’d waited four months to talk to Kaz when he was on the outside and not confined to a f*cking cell. When he was locked up, their conversation stayed on mostly safe topics and rarely ventured beyond what would happen when he was back in the city. Occasionally, that slipped into their conversation too, but just enough to let her know he was waiting on her.