Page 72 of His Reluctant Savior

“I’m not,” I said, but I didn’t elaborate.

“We aren’t safe here,” Savannah whispered as a tear slipped out.

“Youaresafe.”

“You both said we were,” Mason snapped, pointing a finger at me. “But we weren’t!” He winced and rubbed his temples, no doubt suffering from a headache like Dalton was.

Dalton couldn’t look at them as the guilt consumed him. I knew this had to be killing him.

“Dalton and I did our best to mitigate the risks. But we couldn’t go on the run with a five-year-old. The fact is some bad people want Dalton dead. We’ve been trying to gather all the evidence and details to get this under control while keeping everyone alive. This is huge. It’s explosive. But bringing Owen here had been a good plan. At the end of the day, this case took too long,increasing our risk of exposure. I’m truly sorry it came to this and that you all were threatened, but it’s over now.”

I stood, looked around their cabinets, and found a glass. I filled it with water from the faucet and chugged it down.

“After my… interrogation, there are two organizations left who are hunting us down. By organizations, I mean hired killers. I belong to one of them, and I’m about to put an end to it. I left them to protect Dalton, even though he was on our hit list, and I’ll make sure they stop hunting him and keep you out of it. I used to belong to the other organization, so I’m going to do my best to put a stop to them, as well.”

“How?” Mason asked, unbothered by what I’d just told him, probably because he’d already figured it out. Savannah, on the other hand, inched her way closer to her husband with even more fear on her face. I couldn’t blame her.

“It doesn’t matter how. All you need to know is that everyone else who’s been hired to take out Dalton is done. I will make sure of it. Regardless, you will have my protection for as long as I live. No one will harm you again.”

They didn’t say anything, processing my words and all that had happened.

“Why didn’t the police come?” I asked.

“Th-they made us call them off. Th-they had a gun pointed at…” Savannah glanced at Dalton before looking back at me, assuming she meant Owen. “We had no choice but to say it was a false alarm.”

I stepped up to Dalton and squatted in front of him, pressing my hand to his cheek. “Let’s get Owen and head back to the hotel. Tomorrow, I’m going home to end this once and for all.”

He looked up wide-eyed and shook his head. “No… they’ll kill you.”

“They won’t.”

“You don’t know that!” He said before wincing from his head injuries.

“There are no guarantees in life, Boy Scout. The only certain thing is how I feel about you.”

Dalton sagged in his chair. “God, why do you say things like that? It feels… so final.”

I pressed my lips to his forehead. The bruises and swelling on his face made me nearly ballistic again, but I had no one left to kill for now. I wanted to go over to those corpses in the garage and fucking mutilate them until they were unrecognizable. I swallowed the rage and pressed my hand to his face. “Go get Owen’s things. I’ll grab him, then we need to go.”

I stood and looked at the Duvalls. “I realize I’m not your favorite person right now, but I’ve got people on the way to… clean up the barn, so you don’t have to. Please don’t go in there or shoot them. They’ll be in and out. By the time they’re done, it’ll be like nothing had happened in there.”

Savannah stood and smoothed out her sweater. “We’llalwaysknow. That’s not something one forgets,” she said to me before stepping up to her friend. “I’ll help you pack up, Dalt.”

When they left, I stood straight, but before I could go off to grab Owen, Mason pulled me aside.

“I have a better grasp of who and what you are. While that’s… disturbing, you saved our lives. Yes, we’re angry you both put us in this position in the first place, risking our children’s lives, but you came through, and for that, I’m grateful.”

I simply nodded before heading toward the living room. I lifted a sleeping Owen and held him against me. His head rested on my shoulder, barely stirring awake. He was so small and light, a reminder of how vulnerable children could be… how vulnerable I used to be.

Fuck, I had a lot to think about, and Dalton and I had a lot to talk about.

Dalton slowly walked down the stairs, holding Danny the Dino and Owen’s bag. When he reached the last step, he stopped to look at me, holding his son. His dark eyes were filled with worry and stress, but they held something else… love? Perhaps I was projecting because it was something I desperately wanted from him.

Regardless, things were about to change, and I may never get to have that love.

It was nearing one in the morning by the time we dragged our exhausted bodies back to the hotel. Well, I was exhausted, in pain, and overly emotional.

Sid laid a sleeping Owen down in the bed as I gently pulled the covers over him and tucked Danny in with him. He instantly rolled over, hugging his dino tighter.

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