“Dammit. Who? Was it Frank? Is that why you looked upset?”
She shook her head and blinked quickly, suddenly holding back tears. When she spoke, she rushed her words out. “I don’t know who did it, but someone took a picture of your SUV in front of my house that first night and gave it to Stan.”
Alex’s anger boiled over. “Someone was watching us? Watchingyou?” Oh, he would definitely be doing something about this. For starters, Tex was going to be getting a call. “That’s it—you’re moving in with me. I don’t want—”
“Stop,” Sylvie said.
“Stop what? Defending you? Finding out who’s stalking you and ratted you out? I’m not going to sit back and let someone do this to you, Sylvie. You’re moving in with me.”
“I’m not being stalked.”
“You wouldn’t call being followed and photographed stalking?”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “It…it was just your SUV.”
Alex narrowed his eyes as he studied her face. She looked absolutely miserable. “What are you hiding from me?”
“Nothing! I resigned because otherwise the truth would have come out and you have too much to lose. I can still work in law enforcement even if it’s not with Chewie, but you, you’d be in danger of losing your job if this got out. If Watchdog lost its contract with Boulder.”
Dammit. Shewasprotecting me. More than that, protecting Watchdog. Kyle was right. “This isn’t going to stand. I won’t let it. You should have called me immediately. I would’ve defended you. I still can. I can talk to them. And I have people who—”
“No!” she stopped him again, alarm shining in her eyes. “When we were talking at breakfast, you said you had people who could ‘persuade’ Leslie. Please, you can’t be talking about siccing these same people on police officers.”
Shocked, Alex pulled back. “It’s not like that.”
“What does…” She shook her head, looking defeated. “I’m afraid to ask you what Watchdog really does.” Sylvie said, her voice quiet and resigned.
Fuck. I was sworn to secrecy.
“You’ve been there, Sylvie. You’ve had free run of the kennels and I’ve told you all about the breeding program. You know we do security and train people to protect themselves. We’re working with the K9 Unit.” He answered all around her question and prayed she’d be satisfied with what he gave her.
She grimaced and sighed. “Yes, but, people in town wonder.”
Please, let it go. “About?”
“You know. Unless Kyle’s a trust fund baby, people wonder where all the start-up money came from.”
“Peoplewonder, oryouwonder, Sylvie?”
“I—of course I wonder too. I know that Arden is a good person. I’ve known her forever. I used to babysit her when I was barely more than a kid myself. She wouldn’t pick a man who…”
“Who what? What are you trying to tell me?” He hated where this was going.
She closed her eyes and blew out a breath. “Who is somehow involved in a criminal enterprise.”
Anger mixed with hurt in his gut. “Yeah, I’ve heard those rumors, too. But that’s all they are. Do you really believe them? That I’d be involved in something like that? Think before you answer, Sylvie.”
She rushed to grab his hand. “I don’t. Not about you.Neverabout you.”
“Then about who, Sylvie? Kyle? Brock? Wolf? Charlie? MaybeArdenisn’t who you think she is.”Goddammit, why am I doing this? Why am I pushing her?
“No! I don’t, I just…” She swiped her other hand over her face. “Sometimes, people think they’re doing the right thing…” She shook her head as she looked at the long grass. “They join up with something thinking that it’s good, it’s right, and it isn’t. They get lied to.” She met his eyes again. “I don’t want that for you. So, if it isn’t a cartel, I need to know—what does Watchdogdo? And for whom?”
“Sylvie. Sylvie, please don’t.” He grabbed both her hands. “There are things I can’t tell you, not because I don’t want to, but because I took an oath when Kyle brought me in.”Fuck. “Yes, there is more to Watchdog than meets the eye. I’m only telling you the obvious. But I can’t…I can’t say more than that. It’s to keepyousafe, baby. And so that I don’t go against my promise.” He squeezed her hands as if he could physically force the truth into her. “We aren’t the bad guys.”
Jesus, that sounded so cliché, so simple. The truth was gray, not black and white. She should understand that as a cop. There’s the law, and then there’s what’s right and the two didn’t always go hand in hand, especially when there was corruption and money and power involved…
“Maybe you and me, maybe we play by different rules, but we’re still on the same side,” he blurted out.
