Page 59 of Her Protector Daddies

The lanky lingered and his gaze dropped down to Dae, then he lifted one hand and gave a pathetic wave. Then his eyes snapped back to mine, boring into me like daggers.

“Cute kid.”

22

TYLER

“Iguaranteed her protection.” The cup in my hands tilted slightly. “You’ll make sure?”

Captain Watts glanced up from her desk and met my gaze. She nodded, twirling her pen absently between her fingers.

“Yes. The Escort that provided the details of Andrés’ party will get witness protection, which will ramp up in security if this party leads to an arrest,” she said. “You don’t have to worry.”

“Of course I worry. Andrés has a way of getting at witnesses so we need to protect them all, no matter how small.” Too often we have grown close to slamming Andrés behind bars and he’s weaseled out of it due to witnesses going missing or mysteriously dying. While I cared about the Escort from the traffic stop, she wasn’t my main concern.

Selena was.

If this sting went as planned then Selena would be the strongest witness we’d ever had against Andrés. Which meant she would end up with the biggest target on her back and all of Andrés top dogs and business partners gunning for her death.

I couldn’t let that happen.

“If anything,” Aubrey continued, somewhat oblivious to my internal turmoil. “I’m more concerned about Jay and Bailey.”

I lifted my head, my brows furrowing. “Why?”

She quirked a brow and half rolled her eyes. “Bailey has a temper. We’ve all seen it and he’s shown on more than one occasion that he’s too close to this case. We are within spitting distance of Andrés and I don’t want this to fuck up because Bailey can’t keep himself under control.”

“Sure, he’s got a few temper issues but he’s not stupid,” I replied, running my thumb over the ridged design on the cup. “He wanted Andrés behind bars just as much as the rest of us.”

“Hm. We’ll see. And it’s no secret that Jay wants revenge. Having someone like that this close to the case is just asking for trouble.”

Jay had been quiet on that whole aspect of the case. He’d never talked much about how his partner died, but we’d all seen firsthand how it had affected him. Given how close we were getting to Andrés, I understood the Captain’s apprehension but given Jay’s softener demeanor, it certainly wasn’t an issue in my eyes.

“He’s got his son to think about,” I reminded her. “No matter how badly he might want to kill Andrés, he’d never do anything to jeopardize his kid. Besides, Selena hired him, so Jay’s here whether you will like it or not.”

“Tyler, it’s not a case of whether I like it. It’s a case of whether or not the high emotions and rampant tempers will fuck up this case so spectacularly that Andrés walks free and remains even more untouchable than before.” Aubrey dropped her pen and slowly rubbed at her temples with both hands.

Sympathy pulsed through my chest. “I’ll keep Bailey in check.”

“Thank you.” Aubrey continued to massage her temple, pressing her lips into a flat line. “What about Selena?”

That got my attention immediately. Setting the empty mug down, I rose from my chair. “What about her?”

“Will she be a problem?” Aubrey asked as I approached her desk. “The three of you are unusually close to her and the unorthodox way you’ve been handling the case with her staying with you?—.”

“Technically,” I interrupted quickly. “She’s staying with Jay, who is a PI she hired to help her. It’s not breaking any rules that we happen to be working the same case, and given that every detective in the entire department is working this case, it’s pretty unavoidable.”

Aubrey shot me a withering look.

“Besides.” I settled on the edge of her desk and spotted a red and white stack of cubes that clacked together when I picked them up. “This entire case is unorthodox. And I’m still, technically, undercover so even if this becomes an issue in court I can even play it out like that.”

“Your cockiness will be your downfall,” Aubrey remarked, her eyes dropping to the magnets in my hand.

“Trust me. We’ll get Andrés on something so utterly clear-cut and clean that no lawyer will be able to talk their way out of it.”

“We better.” Aubrey’s attention turned to her pen and the documents in front of her, a silent hint that this meeting was over. Just as I was about to set the magnets down however, I remembered the real reason I’d come here.

“The last time we spoke, you mentioned that Officer Trask had asked to be paired up with me.”

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