Page 338 of The Trouble With Bad Boys

His lips softly brushed her cheek. “I know you must be exhausted from everything you’ve been through today. The hardest part is almost over. Let’s get back inside so we can finish this.”

Dominic tucked her against him and led her back through the station doors.

Three

Once they were back inside the station, Dominic approached Rally, who was pacing in furious disbelief while the station attendant brought up the external camera footage.

“I need a first aid kit, and you need to trace this license plate,” Dominic told the detective, handing over his phone with a clear picture of the truck’s plates.

“On it.” The detective nodded. He went behind the front desk area and returned with a first aid kit. “Quick thinking to snap a pic of the plates.”

“Possibly.” Dominic wasn’t convinced it would help. No criminal worth hiring would roll up to a police station in a legit vehicle.

However, the scenario did confirm his belief that someone had hired a hitman—possibly more than one—to silence Lara.

Tonight’s events made a stellar circumstantial evidence case against her boss. Surely video cameras from the strip mall caught the first perpetrator, and the station’s cameras caught the second, with her as the intended target of both crimes.

Whatever the Feds had on her boss, the string of evidence could potentially pin him with assault, attempted kidnapping, possibly attempted murder. This Mark Landon guy could go to prison for years on those charges alone.

Despite her harrowing ordeals, Lara could take some solace in the belief that the diabolical bastard behind these threats would pay one way or another. But right now, she had more pressing concerns. Like staying alive. So far, she’d remained resilient, and he admired the hell out of her for it.

Dominic popped open the latches on the plastic first aid case and rummaged around until he found alcohol wipes. He dabbed at the dried blood from a small slice on her lip and the swelling bruise on her forehead. He couldn’t help thinking how much he wanted to press his thumb to her lower lip and plant a reassuring kiss on her beautiful mouth. He reined in that base instinct, recognizing that she needed his comfort, not his advances. He hadn’t expected their contact to reignite such fierce temptation.

Minutes later, Detective Rally strode up to them in the waiting area. “Bad news.”

Lara’s shoulders drooped and Dominic folded an arm around her.

“That truck was reported stolen two days ago from one of the run-down towns in Prison Valley.”

Dominic muttered, “I figured as much.”

“I thought moving to a small, quiet town in Colorado would be my escape from crime in a big city like Las Vegas,” Lara muttered. “Instead, I landed on the border of a collection of prisons. Their barbed-wire restraints can only keep people safe for so long.”

Detective Rally raked his hand over his bald head. “Yeah, crimes creep into the surrounding regions from that notorious area. An unfortunate blight on our beautiful state.”

Lara’s eyes narrowed and she frowned as though deep in thought. “What about that P.O. Box, and that transaction Mark had me make right before all this happened?” She sent a hopeful glance to Rally. “Can you find out what was in that box? Is there a way to get a warrant to search it? There must be cameras in the post office catching him there. What if Mark also visited a prison in the region in the past few months? Wouldn’t his name show up on a visitor’s log?”

Detective Rally whipped open a slim notepad and took down her thoughts. “All great leads. I can start following up on those.”

Then she grasped the arms of her chair. “Wait. I recall scheduling several phone conversations on his calendar with Mrs. Swall. That stood out to me, since she’s a single older woman of meager means who didn’t match his usual clientele. We all know her son’s been in and out of prison for decades. Maybe he was recently released?”

“Good thinking, honey,” Dominic encouraged.

The detective jotted that down, too, before he closed his notebook with a grim expression. “I’ll tell my wife to save leftovers from dinner. Looks like this will be a long night.”

“Thanks for following up on these leads.” Dominic stood. “Right now, I need to get Lara someplace safe, where she can get some rest after everything she’s endured.”

Where she can fall apart. Cry. Rage, if she needs to. Feel vulnerable and safe with someone she trusts watching over her.

Dominic was just the man for that job.

Rally glanced at her with compassion. “You’ve been through a lot,” he agreed. “Stay safe. I’ll be in touch if there’s any news I can share.”

Lara’s hand trembled as she reached out to shake Detective Rally’s hand. Trauma expressed itself in unexpected ways. Dominic would be there to support her through anything.

Dominic chose not to tell Rally where he planned to take Lara. He wasn’t sure about the extent of her boss’s conspiracies or influence. The man could potentially reach out to someone like Rally, tempting him with false promises of safeguarding his grandparents’ life savings in exchange for information on Lara’s whereabouts.

“You have my number,” Dominic said. “Call me with updates.”

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