The Billionaire's Assistant

Chapter 91

She slid out of the car and hurried down the street, doing all she could to maintain her restrain and avoid breaking into a run. Her whole world was cracking into large, unfamiliar pieces, and she needed to be in the den, needed to talk to Emma, to Andy. Even if they hated her, even if they were angry with her, she just needed to see them.

Kat stopped in front of the door, took a deep breath, then knocked. Not expecting an answer right away, Kat knocked again, the den's notoriously peephole-less front door meaning that usually someone needed to crane their neck through the kitchen window to make out the person's feet and shins. No voices came from behind the door and Kat knocked for a third time, her stomach sinking as she realized that must have seen and ignored her.

"Guys," she called, rapping on the door again. "Guys?"

She inserted her key into the lock, turning it slowly.

"Guys, it's just me, I'm coming in," she called in warning. "You guys? I'm so sorry," she said as the door swung open. "I'm so sorry about everything but I'm mostly sorry that I left. I should've stayed and tried to explain things, tried to make you understand."

The front room was quiet, and no sounds came from the unusually dark living room to acknowledge her entrance.

"Guys," Kat called with trepidation as she entered the silent living room, flipping the switch for the overhead light that they'd never used in all the time she'd lived there.

Kat gasped, and tears quickly pooled to fill her eyes. The room was destroyed entirely, the bookshelf upended, stacks of books and papers all over the floor, strewn across the torn couches leaking stuffing. Muddy boot prints covered the rug and were scattered randomly about the couches' orange fabric covers, each cushion as if it had been sliced open and sorted through.

She stepped further into the room, not wanting to take stock of all the damage to the place she'd called her home for over a year but unable to stop herself. Brent's guitar was destroyed, potentially stepped on, and pools of candle wax had hardened on various surfaces, indicating to Kat they had been kicked out instead of blown.

The den had been raided. All of their worst fears realized, all the members of FES in custody except for her. Kat crossed to the bedroom and flung open the door, hoping against hope to see Emma curled up in a back corner, but the bedroom was as dark, empty, and disheveled as the front room. Kat backed out of it, feeling hysteria beginning to overtake her. In just 24 hours she'd lost everything, everything had changed. Some things for the better, like Jove's confession, but the vast majority for the worst, her chosen family gone in the blink of an eye.

They probably think I ratted on them. came the fleeting thought. As it passed however, Kat grabbed it, bringing it more solidly into reality. Who could've snitched on them? Who knew what FES was, and more than that, who now knew, for the first time as of yesterday, how to find them? Jove. He'd set her up. Promised to make the changes she wanted, taken care of her with false confession of love, all to distract her while he had his private security force storm through and arrest her best friends, her family.

She darted back onto the street, half expecting an army of cops to be waiting for her, to arrest her too. Jove's car still idled at the end of the street and she slammed the den's door then raced for it frantically, outrage growing within her like well tended fire.

"You turned them in," Kat painted accusatorily, throwing open the passenger door.

"What?" Jove furrowed his brow. "What happened?"

"Don't," said Kat, still crying. "You turned them in. You were the only one who knows where the den is and you're the only one who knows any of us were involved, you turned them in."

"Kat, I didn't,"

"Don't lie," Kat forced out, trying to keep her voice steady. "Don't lie to me."

Jove made a face.

"You want to talk about lying Kat? You've been lying to me this entire time, you've been lying since you met me, and all I've ever done is tell you the truth."

Kat searched his eyes and saw real emotion, real hurt.

"You don't trust me when all I've done is trust you, even though you haven't earned it. Even though you've kept so much from me. Kat, I wouldn't do this to you," he said with emphasis. "I would never do anything to hurt you, I know you believe that."

Kat's expression softened, the tears still running down her face. Jove grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the seat.

"Close the door," he instructed gently. "I'll make some calls. I'll find out what happened."

Kat closed the door as she was told then curled into the window and continued to cry quietly, Jove reaching over to place a comforting hand on her leg while he typed out multiple messages on his smartphone.

"C'mon." he finally said, sliding the phone back into his pocket. "I have people working on it. Let's go home."