Page 104 of Trust My Bodyguard

“What?” A frown mars his features.

Just then, the police pounce on him.

“On the ground!” they yell. “Hands behind your head.”

I watch, wide-eyed, as my father is forced to his knees in the snow and handcuffed. People close enough stop to watch what’s happening.

Brody comes straight for me. “You okay?” He searches my face and looks down at my body.

“I’m fine.” Almost unbelievably fine. For a man who I thought was determined to see me dead, the worst he did was yell.

“Good.” Brody takes my hand and pulls me along, so we follow the cops as they cart Luke away.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Brody

The cop before me takes my statement, his pen scribbling as I speak. My eyes keep wandering to where Ivy stands by the police vehicle, giving her statement, too. Her hands are wrapped around her middle like she’s giving herself a hug.

I haven’t had the time to talk to her properly. When we left the park, the cops interviewed us.

For once, I’m irritated by how thorough they’re being. But I keep my feelings to myself. They need every word to build a case against Luke Ross. I find the man of the moment in the back of the police car with his head bowed. He has been that way since he was caught.

He’s been caught. Finally, the girls are free. Ivy is free.

After the ups and downs to get here, the relief is immense.

“And you followed her vehicle,” the cop repeats my last words.

“Yes. The vehicle doesn’t belong to her. It belongs to Sera, my employee.”

“Right. Then what happened?”

I narrate the arrival and the waiting. As much of the conversation as I can remember. I was on edge, ready to bolt at the first sign of something going wrong.

Nick kept his hand locked on my shoulder, keeping me still. Until Luke yelled, and I couldn’t hold back any longer. He might as well have hit her. I couldn’t wait for a confession. Whatever the cops needed, they’d get it in the interrogation room.

Finding her there, looking hurt and broken, cracked something inside me. I wanted to keep her safe from him. Safe from whatever or whoever would hurt her. No matter the relationship with her.

The cops went easy on Luke. It helped that he didn’t resist. The judge won’t care about his cooperation, though. He tried to murder Ivy. That would earn him a well-deserved harsh sentence, and I will lend a voice to making that happen if needed.

I give the cop the rest of the details leading to his arrest.

The man snaps his notepad shut. “Crazy case.” He glances at the vehicle where Luke is holed up.

“Has he said anything?” I ask.

“Plenty. He says he didn’t come after them. Keeps insisting on his innocence.”

“Why wouldn’t he? He can’t deny the money, but he knows we don’t have enough to hold him on attempted murder. But now he’s in custody, I have no doubt he’ll sing soon.”

“Certainly. He’s even revealed where the money is hidden, in his panic.”

“That was easy.” I mull over that. If he believes we already knew it, there’d be no use hiding it.

“To want to kill your daughter for it? I can’t imagine it.”

“I can imagine it. Especially from a thief’s perspective. He must protect his hoard, and he doesn’t mind removing them to get his way.”

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