Oh no. That implied she’d have to call him. Great.
“Okay, I’ll hold you to that. I’ll text you. That way, you’ll have my number. See ya.” Jax climbed into his truck. Seyla turned away, determined not to watch him drive off. His words had made her stomach flutter, like a dip in the road after cresting a hill. Why? Her heart withered a fraction when the answer came to her. It was the promise in those words that she’d see him again.
That can’t happen. You’re nothing more than his best friend’s cousin. Don’t forget that.
At the sound of another car starting up, Seyla whirled back around. Victor Soros drove past, lips curled in a cunning, oily grin.
Tension spread through her like poison. How much had he overheard? The flutter turned to a lump of cement in her stomach.
She trudged inside again.
On the way to her office, she heard Allen’s voice and veered off in that direction instead. She soon found him talking with Jessa in the break room.
Her breath stalled.
Allen’s phone lay on the bench behind him.
Now is your chance.
Seyla’s heart pumped harder with each beat and with each inch closer she got to the device.
What if Jessa saw? Would she give her away?
Seyla could tell the moment her friend spotted her. Hopefully, Allen couldn’t. She put a finger to her lips, pointing to the phone with the other hand. Jessa must have understood, because she convinced Allen to move with her through the doorway on the opposite side of the room while describing a cage ramp she wanted. A description that sounded way too complicated and way too detailed for him to focus on anything else.
Thank you, Lord, for a friend. Other than cousins, Jessa was the only friend she’d made in Lavender Creek because of her busy, self-imposed work schedule. She owed it to Jessa to save the sanctuary. To guarantee she and her son continued to heal after his father’s death.
With renewed focus, Seyla grabbed the phone. No lock. Relief swept through her bones.
Jessa droned on in the background. Wow, the woman was good.
Seyla located the text message icon and checked through the messages on the current day. After scrolling down, she found one from right around the time she entered the enclosure, with no messages prior to that or after. No text chain. Only that one lone message. Ice-cold fear hiked up her spine when she clicked on it.
She tugged her own phone from her pocket and snapped a picture of the screen. Would Allen really plot with another person to hurt her? She had to learn more about him. But how?
At the sound of feet shuffling, Seyla clicked the phone off and returned it to the bench. She bent down, pretending to tie a shoe when they entered the room again. She laughed at the irony.
“Oh, there’s my phone.” Allen refused to meet Seyla’s gaze. He plucked the phone off the bench and shuffled past her.
“Allen, wait!” Seyla called out, struggling to control the tirade of words she longed to launch at him.Be professional.
The man stopped. He pivoted around, his stance uneasy.
“There’s been another break in the fencing on the west side facing the Harrison ranch. I need you to repair it within the hour, reinforce the area, and triple your checks on the fencing each day. This is the second break. We can’t have a third. I’ll assign additional people to check the perimeter to help you out.”
Allen’s eyes narrowed. A muscle twitched in his cheek. “Sure.” Without another word, he stalked off.
Jessa dropped into an office chair and tucked a pen behind her ear. “What was that about?”
“This.” Seyla showed Jessa the picture of the damaged fencing Jax sent her. “And this,” she added, swiping to the next photo showing the text message on Allen’s phone. “Allen got this text right before I went into the enclosure when he supposedly tripped and told me to stop.”
She held the phone out to Jessa, whose mouth dropped open on a gasp.
Seyla closed her eyes, wishing she could wipe the image away, but the text was burned into her retinas. The bold letters screamed their malicious intent.
(UNKNOWN CALLER):IT’S DONE.
CHAPTER FIVE