Page 39 of Her Sensual Protector

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears.

“Yes. No. I don’t know.”

He scooched closer and grabbed her hand. “You saw a video, didn’t you?”

She put her other hand on top of his and nodded her head. “How did you know? Did someone tell you about it? Did you see it?”

A tear dripped down her face. She swiped it away by wiping her cheek onto her shoulder.

“Yes, I saw it.”

“They hurt him so bad. They want to kill him, Leo.”

That was the point when he realized that she hadn’t really—hadn’t consciously—figured that out yet. She might have talked a good game, but this was the first time it had settled in for her that her father was going to be murdered. He thought back to their talk at lunch, the way she seemed to compartmentalize her feelings, especially when it came to Ethan.

“I know, Daisy.”

“I don’t want him to die,” her voice was forlorn.

“I know you don’t.”

“What am I going to do? How am I going to save him?” Her hands clenched his.

“Honey, you’re not. You can’t. What you’re going to do is let the professionals handle it.”

“But that’s not what I do. I always help.”

God, she’s killing me.

He wrapped his arms around her and she fell against his chest. She didn’t cry, but her body heaved dry sobs against him.

“But what if you can’t rescue him?”

“We can. It’s what we do.”

Jesus, did I just make that promise? Stupid, Perez. Really goddamn stupid.

She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with tears. “I know you’ll try. But I don’t want you hurt, either.” Her hands gripped his shirt, her nails biting into his chest.

“Daisy, how did you get ahold of that video? Who gave it to you?”

She looked away. “I can’t tell you.”

“You have to. Not only is it important from a security standpoint, but whoever showed you that video is not a friend of yours.”

“How can you say that? I needed to know what was going on with my father. Leo, you should have seen it. It was horrible.”

“Daisy, I did see it,” he admitted. “That’s why I’m saying whoever showed it to you isn’t a friend of yours. Think about it—would you ever show a family member something like that? Ever?”

He watched her wheels turn.

“Ever, Daisy. You would tell them about it, and say that their father was alive, but you wouldn’t show it to them, right? What kind of person would show that to you?”

“He’s a good man,” she protested. But Leo could see that his words had gotten through.

“Fine, he’s a good man. Tell me who he is. It was hard enough for our men to get our guys to find this, but how did your guy come across it?”

She let go of his shirt and tried to sit back, but Leo wasn’t having any of it. She was staying where she belonged, in his arms. “I don’t know his sources. He’s a reporter. I don’t think he would ever tell anybody how he got his hands on that video. But Alistair has worked with him in the past. He vouches for him, so that’s good enough in my book.”