Page 16 of Her Protector Daddies

“You were in the way,” the man snarled.

I scoffed, then my gut twisted as the suspect started to walk backward, mirroring each step I took forward. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to run out of roof.

“Hey, come on man. It’s over. You’ve got nothing left. Get on your knees, put your hands behind your head, and lace your fingers together,” I instructed.

“Fuck off,” the suspect snarled.

I stopped walking, keeping my gun trained on the man as he continued to walk backward until he was at the very edge of the room. My heart sank slowly.

“Look, Andrés isn’t worth dying over, is he? Just— come away from the edge. We can talk. You help us and maybe you won’t die in prison,” I said cautiously.

Was there a chance I could tackle him off the edge? Not from this angle. As I kept watch, my mind ran, trying to work out the safest way to get the suspect away from the edge, but I was coming up short. The only way I was getting this man in cuffs was to talk him down.

“I ain’t tellin’ you shit,” the suspect snarled and he turned to face me, raising his hands out to the side. “You rats are all the same.”

“Hey, hey!” I warned, and I took a step forward. “You don’t want to do this.”

“Don’t I?” With a chilling smirk, the man looked upward and then stepped back off the room, vanishing from sight.

“No!” I lurched forward, coming to a stop near the edge and peering down into the alley below. The suspect lay on the ground. His body spread eagle with limbs bent in unnatural directions and surrounded by a halo of crimson.

“Fuck,” I breathed out. “Andrés is really worth dying over?”

Wiping sweat away from my forehead with the back of my wrist, I grabbed my radio.

“Suspect down. DB in the alley rear of Hawthorn Memorial. Someone call the coroner.”

Fuck.

“You didn’t catch him?” Selena sat on the bed, staring up at me with those big, gorgeous eyes of hers and for a moment, I couldn’t speak.

Selena had taken my breath away earlier that day when she came down to the station and now, being this close to her and seeing such a pained look in her eyes sent my mind into a tail spin.

“No,” I said quietly. “But he won’t be hurting you again.”

“Won’t be hurting anyone again,” Tyler remarked from the doorway.

“How’d he get in?” I asked.

“Looks like he slipped in through maintenance. They’re renovating part of the hospital so security down there isn’t as strict. Plus he had a lanyard so at a glance, no one would have thought he looked out of place,” Tyler explained.

“The Captain will have a field day with this,” I chuckled, dragging a hand through my hair.

“Yeah,” Tyler agreed. “Captain said she’d start scouring for a safe house but no promises she’ll get clearance this late at night. Plus, if we can’t make a concrete connection between Selena and Andrés then we might not even get one.”

“Are you serious?” I snapped. “The guy worked for Andrés, we all know that. From the hit-and-run to Viper attacking Selena… how much more of a connection do they need?”

Tyler shrugged. “Red tape, I guess.”

“Fuckers,” I muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Selena said, and all attention shifted back to where she was huddled on the bed. “But I can take care of myself.”

I rolled my eyes and ignored her. “We need to get her out of here,” I said to Tyler. “Clearly Andrés knows she’s here and he’ll send more and more until the job is done.”

“I said,” Selena piped up again. “I can take care of myself!”

I turned to her and raised a brow. “And how were you going to get that guy off of you?”

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