Then Luke stepped forward. Close enough that Mercer had to tilt his head back slightly to hold his gaze.
"Luke," Grace said softly.
He didn't turn. Didn't break eye contact with Mercer.
"You think I'm out of line?" Luke asked. "You think I'm being unprofessional? Fine. Put it in a report. Write me up. I don't care."
His voice dropped lower, harder.
"But you're going to treat this call with the same seriousness you'd give if it was anyone else in this town. And you're going to stop acting like she deserves this because of her last name."
Sullivan looked at the floor. Mercer's face had gone carefully blank.
Grace's breath caught.
Luke turned back to her then, and the fury in his expression melted into something else. Something raw and unguarded.
"I'm not leaving you unprotected again,” he said. Softer now. Meant only for her. "Not until I know you're safe."
Grace stared at him.
This wasn't the man who'd parked around the corner. Who'd slipped out before dawn. Who'd treated her like a secret.
This was someone else entirely.
She just wish she knew what that meant.
"Okay," she whispered.
CHAPTER 24
Luke
Luke movedthrough Grace's house, checking every window latch, every door frame, every point of entry with the kind of focus that came from years of training and a fear he couldn't quite swallow down.
Mercer had left with a look that promised this conversation wasn't over, Sullivan had avoided eye contact entirely. Luke didn't care. Let them talk. Let the whole department know.
He tested the back door lock. Solid. The window pane had already been smashed, and the wooden panel that had replaced it was harder to get through than glass. But the window beside it?—
Luke's jaw clenched.
The house was old. Charming in daylight, probably. But security-wise? It was a nightmare.
Grace sat on the couch where he'd left her, blanket pulled tight around her shoulders, watching him move through her space. Her eyes tracked him—wary, exhausted, still a little shaken.
He hated that look on her.
Luke crouched by the living room window, checking the frame. "When was the last time these locks were replaced?"
"I don't know," Grace said quietly. "They were here when I moved in."
Of course they were.
He stood, scrubbing a hand over his jaw. The adrenaline was starting to fade, leaving something rawer behind. The image of her alone in this house, hearing footsteps, calling 911 because there was no one else?—
His chest felt too tight.
"Grace," he said carefully. "You can't stay here."
