7. Kitty

7

KITTY

A n intruder?

I didn’t have a chance to say anything else. Rook closed the door, and the lock clicked into place, securely locking me in. I stepped back from the door and folded my arms across my chest.

Was someone really here?

I thought back to the email I’d sent a few days ago. The group of protestors I’d been working with weren’t dumb enough to come straight here. We all knew that would be a death wish and my father would end up using it as some way to twist the truth and make himself the victim, further securing his decision to keep up with that damned deal.

Sighing, I trudged over to my window and peered out.

The side lawn lit up with several beams of flashlights, and I spotted a few guards hurrying down the path back toward the house. Learning that Rook had installed a perimeter alarm was comforting, although I was curious why we didn’t already have one. Perhaps Dad was simply too caught up in other things and didn’t think anyone would be bold enough to come right to the manor.

I moved to my bed and flopped down onto the sheets. Then I grabbed my phone and went immediately to my email. The threats that had come through had greatly upset my mother, but she would be okay. Those threats were harsh, and despite my work with the protestors, each one still sent a chill through me. Not everyone knew I was on their side, but that was a risk I took. The fewer people who knew, the better.

Unfortunately, threats against me and Mom hadn’t shaken him in the slightest. If anything, they’ve made him more stubborn.

As I scrolled through countless emails from mailing lists and adverts for the newest and hottest makeup trends, a text came through from an unknown number.

‘ Kitty, I need your help. ’

I frowned and sat up. It only took me a couple of seconds to copy the number into my socials to see if the number was attached to any of my friends’ accounts, but it came up blank.

‘ Who is this? ’

‘ Anton. ’

Anton? I turned the name over in my mind, searching for a connection until the number sent another text.

‘ We’ve been emailing about your father’s meeting? ’

Oh! I hadn’t expected to hear from the protestor group through anything other than email, but I wasn’t alarmed that he had my number. If he knew where to look, then it was easy to find.

‘ And now you’re texting? ’

‘ It was faster. You take ages to reply sometimes .’

‘ A girl’s got shit to do. ’

‘ Well, does that shit include coming outside? Because we need to talk face to face. ’

‘ Why? ’

‘No paper trail. ’

Suddenly, a chill prickles down my arms and legs. ‘ Wait, you’re outside right now?’

‘Yes.’

Fuck. Did that mean Anton was the one who tripped the alarm? If so, that meant Rook and the rest of the security team were out there right now looking for him, and if he got caught, then I had no guarantee he would keep his mouth shut.

I had to get to him.

‘ Okay, where are you? ’

‘ Idk, some kind of woodshed? ’

I told Anton to stay exactly where he was and hurried to the balcony. We didn’t have a woodshed, but we did have a small outbuilding that my father had built and then abandoned once he’d gotten bored. It was supposed to be a hang-out for his friends with a bar and entertainment system, but he never followed through.

Luckily, that was near the back of the house. All I had to do was get there and send Anton on his way before anyone caught him.

This wasn’t the first time I’d used the trellis by my window to climb down to the garden. Many nights in my teen years were spent sneaking out to see my friends or pretending I could run away after an argument. Age had weathered the trellis, and several wooden slats crumbled faintly under my grip as I climbed down around the creeping ivy, but it held my weight easily. I made it to the ground safely and dusted the wood particles from my hands.

With the guards patrolling and the manor on high alert, making it across the back garden without being seen was going to be a challenge. A fun one, at the very least. As a kid, my lack of understanding around my father’s job had me believing he was some kind of spy, and I’d had many spy missions running around this garden. This was no different.

Keeping close to the wall, I moved down the garden path and then froze as footsteps crunched on the gravel ahead of me. Two voices slowly came out of the dark.

“This is bullshit,” said one.

“It’s the rules,” said the second.

“Yeah, well I don’t see the point of scouring every inch of this place. Just lock everyone up in the building and wait to see if anyone approaches,” one replied.

“You heard Rook,” muttered the second. “He’s not taking any chances.”

“Dude’s treating it like a fucking military operation,” one continued to grumble.

I shrank back against the wall as they passed. When they walked into the light, I recognized them as two of the house guards who were likely more used to patrolling the inside than actually facing any real danger. I also didn’t particularly like how they spoke about Rook. He was doing his job, and pretty well, if the alarm was anything to go by.

The two guards walked past where I was hidden in the bushes and continued on down the path toward the garage. I waited until their footsteps were faint, then I continued on my own path toward the back shed. Sprinting across the lawn was the most nerve-racking. I kept expecting a giant spotlight to appear and land right on me, followed by Rook scolding me for sneaking out where there was an intruder. Or trip wires to catch on my ankles and bundle me up in a net until Rook came to rescue me.

Okay, that one would be hot, though. I could go for that.

Breathless, I made it to the edge of the hut and pressed against the wall, staring back over my shoulder. No guards came sprinting after me and no lights glared down from the roof. I was safe.

“Anton?” I hissed softly, creeping toward the back of the building. “Anton, are you here?”

“Kitty?” A man’s head suddenly poked out from the side of the building, then his body followed once we locked eyes. He was tall and gangly with slicked-back black hair and a few pockmarks across his face.

“What are you doing here?”

“I told you we have to talk in person.”

“I get that,” I muttered, grabbing his arm and pulling him back behind the building out of sight, “but we could have met up in town or something. Coming here, you’ve tripped all sorts of alarms.”

“Wait, really?” Anton scoffed and peered past me toward the manor. “So fucking pretentious. What is this, Fort Knox?”

“No, I just have some really efficient security.” I kept one ear out for the sound of footsteps as I eyed him. “So come on. Out with it. What couldn’t you say in an email?”

“Emails are traceable,” Anton said, sighing deeply and giving me an unpleasant whiff of stale cigarette smoke. “I thought you’d appreciate my asking you this face-to-face so nothing could be linked back to you.”

“Ask me what?” I repeated, quickly growing irritated.

“The mayor’s meeting.”

“Yes?” I sharply raised a brow. “What about it?”

“We scouted the place out. Using the mayor’s old security plans, we have a pretty good idea of how secure the place will be, and we want to make sure he listens to us. So we need you to let us in.”

“Into the building?”

“Yup. There’s a fire exit on the west side. If you can open that for us, we get a clear shot at that meeting, and the mayor and those assholes won’t know what hit them.”

“What do you plan to do?” There was an odd eagerness in Anton’s eyes. It could just be his passion for protecting the forest and the town, but there was something slightly unsettling that I couldn’t put my finger on.

“Scare them, that’s all.” Anton suddenly smiled a toothy grin. “Throw some paint and some sap, be a hassle. The usual. We need them to know that they can’t make these kinds of decisions without the input of the town. Do you have any idea how old some of the trees are in that forest? How catastrophic the damage will be to the ecosystem and the stability of this very land? Those tree roots are the only thing stopping this town from being washed away. You saw that flood last spring, right? That’s just the start.”

Ahh, the spring flood. We’d suffered a little structural damage during that, but no one had been hit as hard as my best friend. She’d had to shut down the old barn she’d used for events and dancing, which was a loss for the community and her books.

“Okay, I get it,” I assured him. “You have to promise me something, though.”

“Sure thing.”

“No one gets hurt. Because that definitely won’t help our cause. I know my father. If you injure anyone in any way, he’ll turn that around and double down on the deal. You have to keep this peaceful, or at least firm enough that he knows you’re standing your ground.”

“Don’t worry.” Anton chuckled. “While it’s tempting to make them pay for each tree they’ve torn down, we won’t be doing anything like that. Just want to scare them. Getting in the building might be enough to do that.”

“Alright. I guess I’m going to that meeting, then.”

“Excellent.”

“You’ll have to text me when you’re ready. It shouldn’t be too hard for me to sneak out and let you in, but you have to be ready,” I said. “And no fuckery.”

“Got it. No fuckery.”

“You'd better get out of here before the guards come back and find you.”

Anton nodded and then performed a mock salute. Then he melted back into the darkness from where he came. I waited for a few minutes just to listen out for any sounds of Anton accidentally walking into anyone from the security team, then I turned and headed back toward the manor.

Would my father listen? Would he even care? The protests against this project had been going on for months, but he hadn’t shown any signs of wavering. There were too many dollar signs in his eyes for that. How extreme would we have to get for him to start listening?

Melanie, my best friend, had already suffered a loss from the flooding but that wasn’t enough to sway my father. Neither were the countless stories of gardens being washed away and hiking trails being lost under loose ground and mudslides. Bit by bit, this place was getting washed away in the name of progress. As I reached the manor, I thought back to the man in the grocery store.

Rook had said men like him only wanted to share their pain, that it was the only way they would feel better. How many other people in this town were in the same boat? How long until another one snapped and Rook wasn’t fast enough to stop them?

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t notice how off-path I was walking until a shadow fell across my face.

“Oi!”

I jumped out of my skin at the barking voice and looked up to see one of the guards who had passed me earlier. His face was shadowed with anger, and he reached for his radio as he grabbed my arm.

“Don’t you know we’re on lockdown?”

“Hey!” I tried to pull my arm free from his grip, but he was much stronger than me. “I know we’re on lockdown, I was just?—”

“Let her go.” A familiar, deep voice cut through the night air, and the guard immediately released my arm.

“Sir.” The guard straightened like a board. “I found Miss?—”

“I can see that,” Rook cut in. “I’ll take care of it. Carry on.”

The guard glanced between me and Rook and then left without saying a word. I puffed out my cheeks and groaned softly.

“Thank you. I was a little worried I’d have to pull out the claws on him,” I said, smiling up at Rook.

Rook didn’t smile back. Instead, he took my arm and began pulling me toward the house. “Kitty, I locked you in your room to keep you safe. What the hell are you doing out here?”

My mind ran rampant, searching for an excuse that would be good enough before finally settling on one that was mostly the truth.

“I was looking for you. I needed to see you.”

Rook stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face me. “Why?”