Page 11 of Her Protector Daddies

“No, she’s clean. No visible signs of drug use either.”

“Thanks.”

The nurse smiled and left. I sought out my phone and quickly dialed Trask’s number.

“Hey, boss.”

“Hey, so our victim is going to be okay. Her name is Selena Hartley. Can you do me a favor and run her through the system?”

“Why, do you think there’s something we’re missing?” Trask asked.

“I don’t know. This doesn’t feel like a typical home invasion. That place was a mess. I can’t imagine there was anything of much worth. I just want to see if anything flags that we might have missed.”

“Did you miss the needles by the sink?” Trask scoffed. “That place was a drug den. You know how it goes. You take the drugs and you don’t pay, they send some brutes round to empty the bank.”

“No, I don’t think so,” I replied. “But those needles were old, and Selena is clean. Those drugs aren’t hers.” I didn’t need to guess who they belonged to. “Whatever those guys were looking for, it was enough for them to tie her up and question her. Just do a little digging and see if anything pops up for me, okay?”

“Sure thing.”

I hung up and lightly pinched the bridge of my nose. If this was any other case, I would walk away now and leave the rest of it up to the detective but no matter how hard I tried, she wouldn’t leave my thoughts.

Every time I blinked, those fearful green eyes flashed brightly and seared into my mind.

“Fuck,” I groaned. More coffee ought to do the trick.

Leaving the waiting room to do just that, I only made it two steps before a familiar sight caught my eye, and a flood of acidic tension wormed its way through my gut.

At the end of the corridor, striding right toward Selena’s room, was my Vice Partner, Detective Bailey Grant. If he was here, then it definitely wasn’t a good sign.

“Bailey!” I yelled then I broke into a job to catch up. Bailey paused, lifting his attention from the file in my hands and the moment we locked eyes, he smiled.

“Tyler? What are you doing here? Everything okay?” Bailey’s eyes immediately ran over me, seeking any hint of a medical reason why I might be in the hospital. We’d been partners for years and that type of concern never goes away.

“Yeah I’m fine. I’m here on a call. Are you…?” I paused and glanced down at the file in Bailey’s hands, spotting Selena’s name in an instant. “You’re here for Selena?”

“You know her?”

“She’s my call. Home invasion turned assault and then some. I found her tied up and unconscious in the kitchen with two assholes running away.”

“You were the cop on scene?” Bailey smirked suddenly. “And they say being back in blues is no fun.”

“Fuck off,” I snorted. “You’re on this case?”

“Yeah.” Bailey sucked in a tired breath and passed the file over to me. “My hit-and-run this morning? Well, your victim drives the car that hit my guy. Pretty big coincidence that she ends up the victim of a home invasion a few hours later, don’t you think?”

I nodded slowly, skimming through the file. “You know who she is, right?”

“Yeah,” Bailey replied. “Marcus’ kid.”

I froze as I reached the bottom of the page where the details of the hit-and-run victim were scrawled at the bottom.

“Hold on, your hit-and-run was Dorame?”

“Yup.”

I glanced up and my blood ran cold as the connection clicked in my mind.

“The Cartel? Seriously?”

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