Avela’s POV
I stared at the phone like it had personally betrayed me.
“A woman?” I repeated, voice flat, trying to keep the tremor out of it.
Lily’s breathing came fast through the speaker. “Yes, ma’am. She just… showed up. No appointment. No name. She’s been sitting in the waiting area for almost twenty minutes already, refusing to leave. I told her you don’t usually come in before nine on Fridays, but she said she’d wait. All day if she had to.”
My free hand curled into a fist at my side.
Lucas hadn’t moved from the doorway. He was still watching me, arms crossed, jaw locked so tight I could see the muscle jumping under the skin.
I forced a calm I didn’t feel. “Tell her I’m on my way. Don’t let her leave.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I ended the call.
The silence that followed felt heavier th
