Lauren had crawled in beside Lucy when she heard the sound of gunfire. Her heart lodged in her throat as the officers quickly breached the house.
Lord Jesus, please keep Grady safe in Your care!
Lauren hugged Lucy close as the seconds stretched into minutes. The not knowing was agonizing. Then finally the cops emerged with a younger man and a woman in handcuffs.
Grady? Was he...
Then she saw him coming out of the house. Without taking time to think it through, she pushed open her door and ran across the street toward him. She threw herself into his arms, and Grady gathered her close, pressing a kiss to her temple.
“It’s over,” he whispered near her ear. “Jerry Cromwell is dead.”
“Did you...” She didn’t finish. Really, it didn’t matter if he’d been forced to kill the man who’d abducted her twenty-five years ago.
“No, I managed to snag Simon when he came into the room looking for Lucy.” Grady leaned back to look into her eyes. “I disarmed him and marched him downstairs. Karla gave in quickly; she wasn’t armed. Jerry shot himself rather than risk going back to prison.”
“Thank you, Grady. For everything.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him in for a kiss.
He kissed her back, and she wished again that it was for real. That Grady cared about her as much as she cared for him.
Not cared, she quickly amended.Loved. She’d fallen in love with her fake fiancé/bodyguard.
Yet the nicest thing she could do for him was let him go.
She ended the kiss and pulled away. “I, um, need to get back to Lucy. She’s scared out of her mind and doesn’t have a coat.” Realizing she was babbling, she forced herself to stop and take a breath. She looked Grady squarely in the eye. “Thank you for saving my daughter.”
“It’s the least I could do.” His expression was solemn. “I’m going to make sure Rex reimburses you for my fee. I didn’t do my job as well as I had hoped.”
“There’s no need.” Her heart sank as she realized she was just a job to him. “Lucy’s kidnapping was my fault, not yours. You risked your life for her more than once. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. For us.”
“Ms. Chandler?” Lieutenant Olson’s voice had her glancing over. “What happened?”
Grady stepped forward. “I found Lucy, climbed in to rescue her, and managed to grab Simon, disarming him.” As he went on to describe how the events in the house unfolded, she glanced over to where Lucy was sitting in the car, her face pressed against the window.
Leaving Grady wasn’t easy, but she forced herself to cross the street to join Lucy. Grady had his own life, despite how hers now seemed glaringly empty.
To her surprise, Grady came over a few minutes later. He opened the back door, and asked, “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes, please,” Lucy said. “I’m cold.”
“Take my coat,” Grady instantly shrugged out of his jacket and handed it back. “It won’t take us long to get back to the apartment.”
She wrapped the coat around Lucy’s small frame and decided to stay in the back with her daughter. When Grady slid in behind the wheel and pulled away from the curb, she caught his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Did Lieutenant Olson let Agent Braun know that we have Lucy?”
“He was making the call as I left.” Grady lifted a shoulder. “You ask me, the cops did more on this case than he did.”
She privately agreed. The one loose thread in all this was Nelson. She glanced at Grady, wondering if Karla had mentioned her ex during the arrest. If there was evidence that Nelson had participated in the kidnapping, she prayed his release from prison would be delayed.
Permanently.
By the time they were back in the penthouse, Rex and Micah were the only ones there. Agent Braun and his tech guys had apparently left the moment the danger was over.
“Do you need anything else before we go?” Rex asked.
“No thank you.” She wanted to ask Grady to stay but couldn’t find the words. “Excuse me for a moment, I need to get Lucy taken care of.”
“Of course.” Rex nodded.
“Say good night to Mr. Grady,” she told her daughter.
