I shrugged as I heaved a heavy sigh. “There was a gun in there with a filed-off serial number, a bunch of money in all sorts of different currency, a journal of transactions written in code—or so I found out later by Sheriff Barnes when he paid us a visit yesterday—and a passport with Gordon’s face, but not his name. Or any of his other information, for that matter.”
“Jesus,” Dad whispered.
“When I found all of that, I took it to the police straight away. And when they saw it, they knew they had to put me in protective custody. Coming across stuff like that triggers a certain set of protocols, and one of those protocols was protective custody until Gordon was put in handcuffs and Griggs was tracked down.”
Dad peered over his shoulder to find the guys standing in the kitchen, smiling to themselves as they tried their best to look like they weren’t listening in.
I knew they’d be proud of my story, too.
“So, those guys are…?”
I snickered. “They’re confidential informants that work for the police department. I was adamant about not leaving town because I didn’t want to leave you behind, so they put me here with them. That way, they could watch over me, check up on you, and keep tabs on things if Gordon ever found me.”
“Which one’s Ranger?”
I blinked. “What?”
He thumbed over his shoulder. “Ranger. He kept calling me to tell me that you were okay. Didn’t you ever wonder why I never came after you?”
I slowly peered in through the window and held Range’s gaze for a while.
“He did?” I asked.
Dad picked up my hands within his. “You never once wondered why I didn’t come after you?”
I shrugged as my attention returned to him. “I figured you understood that giving myself up for you meant that you couldn’t come after me, with their threats and stuff. That’s all.”
He brought my hands to his lips to kiss. “Those daily phone calls were the only thing that kept me at bay. He kept reassuring me that you were all right. That it was for your own good.”
I furrowed my brow. “And when did he start those phone calls?”
“A couple of days or so after everything happened. I was so dazed, and worried. Much too scared to go to the police for fear that their threats were real. And then he called, and explained that it was for your own safety, and that whatever you had gotten caught up in, they’d make sure you got out of it.”
“I’m so sorry, Dad,” I whispered.
Gordon. Ranger started calling my father after we figured out Gordon’s dirty little secret.
I couldn’t have loved that man more if I actively tried.
My gaze gravitated back to Range and I watched a grin cross his face. He held up his coffee mug to me before tossing me a playful wink, and my heart grew another size for him. Range had kept my father updated. That’s why he never came after me. Even before I knew I was in trouble. Even before I knew what the hell was going on and the risks that sat outside the front door for me… he knew.
He kept meandmy father safe.
I guess my men could still surprise me, after all.
“So,” Dad said as he cleared his throat, “confidential informants, you say?”
I smiled back at Range. “Yeah.”
“Naomi?”
My gaze returned to my father. “Yeah? Sorry, just in my head a bit. It’s been a wild time.”
“Are you okay, sweetheart? Honestly?”
I nodded slowly. “There was… a moment yesterday that was rough. Gordon spared no expense in tracking me down, and--.”
“I do have a question, though,” Dad said as he interrupted me.
