Royal thought about the time he’d spent back in the Sons. The things he’d seen and done with an end goal of protecting some of those girls. Any of those girls. He’d had to bide his time back then, too, and play a hell of a lot of games.
“Yeah, I’m a damn expert at waiting,” he muttered, turning away from Simmons and walking back out to where they’d come from.
When they got back into the living room, the boy was lying across Franny’s lap, still watching the movie intently, but he had one hand gripped on Franny’s arm. The baby was sitting next to them, and Franny was dangling a little bird toy in front of her, making her gurgle with laughter.
“She literally doesn’t like anyone but me right now,” Simmons said, clearly baffled.
Franny looked up at them, a relaxed smile on her face that hadn’t been there in days. “I have been called the baby whisperer a time or two.”
She carefully disentangled herself from the boy, then lifted the girl and handed her off to Simmons.
Simmons studied her curiously. “You looking for a babysitting job?”
Franny laughed. “Sure, now and then. You’ve got my number.”
He walked them out into the bright light of morning. Franny said cheerful goodbyes to both kids, but with every step toward his cruiser he watched the tension creep back into her shoulders.
“So?” she asked as they climbed into the car.
He wished he had a better answer for her. “Leads, I guess, but not answers.”
Franny blew out a breath. “Well, leads are better than nothing.”
He slid a glance at her before returning his eyes to the road. She was trying to be positive. She was always trying so hard to…make everything okay for anyone in her orbit.
Case in point, when he parked next to her building rather than his, she turned that warm smile on him. “You don’t have to walk me up.”
He didn’t. The cameras and alarms were all in place, but he went up just the same. Something about the whole day just feltoff. Was it him? Her? This…thingabout her that seemed to jumble up his previously held certainty? All those things she’d said to him…
It didn’t matter. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight until he had some answers. He walked up the stairs with her. “Have you had breakfast? We could go down to the bakery and—”
That off feeling finally had a place to land. He grabbed her arm before she could reach forward and put her key in the lock. “Don’t open the door.”
Chapter Twenty
Franny stopped on a dime. Royal’s expression was so serious her heart had leaped to her throat. And his grip on her arm was tight. This was an order, through and through.
Danger.
He was frowning at the door as he studied it, keeping his grip on her even though she’d immediately stopped her forward progress.
“See here,” he said, pointing to the frame around the latch with his free hand. “That splintering wasn’t there before. I studied this lock the first time someone tried to break in. This wasn’t here.”
She noticed the crack in the door frame now that he pointed it out, but she wasn’t sure it hadn’t been there before. She’d never paid much attention to the door frame. “Are you sure?” She glanced up at him.
He was sure.
He took her by the elbow, cop gaze moving around as if assessing a threat in every air molecule. “Come on.” He led her down the stairs, then across the street, then up the stairs to presumably his apartment.
“What do you think…” But the question died before she could get it out. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what he thought. The idea of someone getting into her apartment was scary enough, but trying to look like theyhadn’tbeen in there?
Definitely worse.
They made it to his door, but he didn’t immediately unlock it. He studied that too.
He shook his head. “Someone’s been in here too. Trying to break in or succeeding.” He turned in a slow circle on the landing. His gaze zeroed in on something at the bottom of the door. He released her enough to crouch, study it.
“What is it?”
