“I know. She’s sleeping, last I checked on her. I came out here to check on you. To be with you now.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know what to think about this man. He was the one man on earth that Heather wasn’t afraid of. That mattered. Sometimes, she thought the two of them would be perfect together. Heather deserved to be happy. And he was big and strong enough to make her sister feel safe, right?
Sometimes the thought of Heather with him made her stomach clench though.
There was something about this man she just did not understand.
He was looking at her in a strange way. Like he was holding himself back or something. Sometimes, she just couldn’t figure him out. “Come on, I’ll walk you back.”
Hope looked at Madison. They hadn’t had a chance to say much, other than Madison asking her to copy everything that had happened tonight, that Hope had recorded, to Madison’sspecial server.As fast as she possibly could.
So that it didn’t disappear.
Hope…knew…she probably wasn’t supposed to do that. But Madison…
They both knew what was happening.
There wasn’tanyonethey could really trust at the TSP. Not really.
Except…maybe the two men staring at them.
Hope just didn’t know what todonow.
23
Hope was lookingat the two men, a broken expression on her face. Madison honestly thought the homicide commander was going to scoop Hope up and cuddle her, right there in front of them all. Or…kiss her or something. It was soobviousto her that the man was beyond hot for Hope. When had that happened?
She just didn’t think Hope was anywhere close to aware of it. Or…aware of how much the fear Hope was feeling right now was showing on her face. Or how much it hurt the people that cared about her to see that fear and not be able to do anything about it. Hope had something about her that made people want to protect her.
“What’s going on now?” Madison asked, shifting closer to Dom. Dom and Miguel together took up a lot of space in the narrow hallway.
Dom just shook his head. “I do not want you out of my sight. For now.”
He and Miguel shared a look. One that Madison did not miss.
“Why?” Hope asked.
“We just don’t,” Miguel said. “We’ll…talk…when we can. Not here. I’m going to take you and your mother home myself. After…”
“I want to stay. With Heather.” Hope shot him a look of pure stubbornness. It didn’t surprise Madison; Hope could dig her heels in at times. And right now, it would take a crowbar to get Hope away from Heather. No sane man would even try. Woman either, for that matter.
“You need to rest,” Miguel said. Apparently, Miguel was not quite assaneas he first appeared. This could be…interesting.
“You don’t get to decide for me, big guy. You just don’t.”
“No, that I do not,” Miguel said so mildly. “I just know you won’t want your mother to be worried about you, too.”
Hope’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, good one. Got me there, Miggy. But don’t boss me around.”
He just shot her a smile. The man was a very beautiful man. No denying that. A sound behind her had Madison turning.
Her blood turned…cold.
She fully understood what that expression meant. She shifted, a little in front of Hope. A part of her wanted toprotectthe younger woman from the darkness that was their world now. Hope had been through enough. She had been through enough.
Dom stepped in front of Madison. Miguel had tensed—not visibly, at least not for someone who didn’t know him. Madison felt her own skin crawl. The three men standing there were slimy in every way.
“Commander Rodriguez, I understand you were a part of this little circus tonight?” Stillman asked. Madison half-thought the man had followed her from the small chapel an hour ago. She’d needed a place to think for a moment. He had been in there—and she was almost convinced he was praying at the time. Shocked the hell out of her, but…maybe it was possible? Some of the evilest people she had ever encountered on this job had claimedreligion,after all. She’d never forget the pastor who’d ended up being a killer a few years ago. That case had been memorable—he’d killed two parishioners. “Can you tell me why?”
