Page 41 of Her Protector Daddies

I glanced over from Bailey to Jay. “What do you mean?”

“Andrés has always taken care of the more brutal crimes by his own hand, such as extortion, home invasions, etc. It earns him respect - and loyalty that has men jumping off roofs rather than being arrested.”

Bailey snorted in agreement.

“They even say that he likes to pick a family to terrorize, assault, and kill just to de-stress, then he keeps their belongings as trophies,” Tyler added with a curl of disgust in his tone.

“Because he couldn’t take Goat Yoga like every other enlightened fuck in LA,” Jay grumbled.

Slowly, I started to understand and I shifted to the edge of my seat. “You think Andrés’ private security is always there because that’s where he keeps it? The stuff he steals?”

Bailey nodded and squeezed my thigh comfortingly. “Exactly.”

“And the stuff that my father stole, there’s a chance it’ll connect Andrés to crimes you otherwise wouldn’t be able to prove?” My pulse quickened. Working things out like this was rather addicting.

Maybe I should become a cop.

“Which is also why my father ran over that guard because they were risking everything to get it back. It wasn’t just a case of stolen money because that’s replaceable. All the stolen stuff though… that isn’t.”

“Exactly,” Jay nodded, finishing going over the files. “If there’s DNA, even a fingerprint on those jewels - and they are what we think they are - then it’ll tie Andrés to more murders than you can shake a stick at. “

“The only problem,” Bailey sighed, “is that your father is the only one who can testify that he stole them directly from Andrés. And he still has them, which means every ounce of proof of this is still with your father if he’s even aware of what he stole.”

“Assuming he didn’t ditch it when Andrés’ men came knocking,” Tyler added.

It all made sense. No wonder there was such a giant target on my back. Out of everyone, I was the only one who could be used as a pawn to get anything out of my father. While I wasn’t confident he would even appear, to everyone else I was the one thing that could be used against him, and if the theory about the jewels was true, Andrés wasn’t even going to give up.

“So,” I decided slowly and glanced between all three of them. “You need me to get in touch with him. For real, this time.”

“Last time wasn’t real?” Tyler remarked, his brow dipping.

“Not exactly,” I admitted with a tired smile. “But this time it will be.”

16

TYLER

Nothing combatted work exhaustion faster than a cheese and bean burrito.

The flavor explosion over my tongue was enough to distract me from my turbulent thoughts. I glanced out the window to my patrol partner, Officer Trask, as he delivered a warning to the car driver we’d pulled over. A broken tail light wasn’t worth fucking up someone’s day as long as they promised to get it fixed.

After another bite, and with one eye trained on Trask, my mind returned to mulling over Selena’s case. It played in a loop in my mind and it was almost impossible to think of anything else. The whole thing was fucked, but it was the first time in a long time that we had a real shot at Andrés. He had caused so much pain to the people I cared about - Bailey had crumbled after the death of his sister, and Jay’s entire life had shifted gears after his partner got murdered.

Both of those crimes couldn’t be proven, and Andrés continued to walk a free man while Bailey and Jay harbored more pain than anyone should face in one lifetime.

In a way, I was lucky. Andrés had never affected me directly, which made me excellent for the undercover Patrol work but the hatred I harbored for the man was well stoked.

More now, thanks to Selena. She went through so much in such a short time because her father saw fit to steal from Andrés. Given his drug history, we can’t even be sure that Marcus is aware of what he stole or if he was so high that he blindly snatched everything he could get his hands on.

So many loose ends hinged on being able to contact Marcus. With him, his testimony and what he stole, there was a chance we could wrap Andrés up in a bow for the DA.

After our dinner discussion the other night, Selena called her father on a different number. They had a private number and she had hidden this purely because she was driven by a need to protect him. It was admirable and painful, given how he didn’t seem to extend the same protective urges.

I still couldn’t stomach that he left her to those men. Sometimes, when I closed my eyes, the sight of her beaten and tied to that chair flashed in my mind like a lightning strike.

How could he abandon his own daughter?

Marcus should be protecting Selena, not the other way around.

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