Page 5 of Wild Justice

He sounded petulant, and he didn’t care. This wasn’t a stranger; this was his daughter.

“I don’t either, but I believe in Lulu. She wants this, Seth. I can see it in her eyes. She’s a passionate person, and I can see that this challenge just lights her up. We haven’t seen that in a few years.”

“Wanting something doesn’t make it a good decision.”

“Seth, you were her age when you took this job,” Presley reminded him. “Is it because she’s a woman? I’ve always thought better of you.”

He’d thought better of himself, too. He didn’t have an issue with her being female. His issue was that she was his baby girl.

“If something happened to her, I don’t know how I would go on,” he confessed, his voice tortured. His lungs burned and his heart hurt. He could barely take a breath. “What if something happens to her? How can you be so calm? Why aren’t you terrified?”

Presley wrapped her arms around his middle as she gazed up at him with so much love in her expression, he could barely comprehend it. He only knew that he loved this woman with every fiber of his being. In this life and into the next. There would never be anyone else for him.

She was the one.

“I’m going to tell you a little secret,” she said. “I’ve been terrified since the day I found out I was pregnant. With all of them, not just Lulu. All of the sudden, my very happiness and heart were bound up in another human being. I stayed up and watched them while they slept because I was sure they were only breathing because I willed them to. If I stopped, what would happen? Every single day, I’ve fought the battle of wanting to tuck them under my wing and keep them safe from harm. I never wanted our children to know one day of heartbreak or pain. Doesn’t that sound a bit unhinged? But I also knew that wasn’t our job. We were supposed to raise them not to need us anymore. Good parenting means you make yourself obsolete. It’s a sucky profession, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Look what we got…three amazing kids who are going to do wonderful things.”

She was right. He knew she was right. He wasn’t supposed to have any favorites - and he loved all of his children more than he could have ever imagined - but somehow his little Lulu could wind her way through his heart so easily.

“I thought it would be Ben.”

There. He’d said it. He’d thought it would be Ben that would follow in his footsteps. He still would have worried, but Ben had always seemed so calm, so solid, so…damn dependable.

Presley, however, appeared surprised. Her brows had shot up, and she was almost laughing.

“Ben? How could you ever think that except maybe when he was a kid and played sheriff with his friends? He’s wanted something bigger than this town for a long time. I think we always knew that he’d leave as soon as he finished school. And don’t start with Chase, either. He’s wanted to run the coffee shop since he was a kid and used to help me behind the counter. The customers adored him. Still do. No, if it was going to be anybody, it was going to be Lulu. My god, Seth. Can’t you see it? She’s just like you. According to your parents, she’s exactly like you.”

Her words hit him right upside the head, sending him to a spin. Yes, he’d seen it. He’d tried to ignore it, but how could he? Lulu was so much like him.

I love her so much. I love all of them so much. How did I get so scared about losing it all? Is it because I don’t have forever left? I’m beginning to feel my age? Getting old sucks. But I can’t put my fears on her.

When he was young, he’d felt immortal. Nothing could touch him. He could overcome anything and anyone. He’d thrown his heart and soul into protecting this town, and later even more people, when he’d helped go after two serial killers. He’d been scared during those times, but never for himself.

I know how you feel, Lulu. And I know what you need from me. I understand.

“I’ll make this right,” Seth said. “I’ll talk to her.”

He should have seen this day coming a mile away, but he’d deliberately closed his eyes. Not anymore.

He would make sure Lulu knew how much he believed in her.

2

The sheriff’s station was only a few doors down from the newspaper office where Kai Oliver produced the once-a-week paper that his grandfather had run for over fifty years. Back then, it had been printed every day, of course, when people read newspapers in the morning with their coffee. Kai didn’t know how his Grandpa Mitch had found enough news to fill a daily paper, but somehow he had, from all around the area.

Kai, on the other hand, struggled to fill the weekly issue with enough pertinent news to keep people buying it. Which was why he was standing in the middle of the sheriff’s station. It was the first day for the new sheriff of Harper, and everyone was talking about it. Once again, the Reilly family was smack-dab in the middle of the gossip mill.

Yesterday, Kai had attended the retirement ceremony for Seth Reilly. The retiring lawman had been given a gold watch, a party, and several send-off speeches praising their longtime sheriff. Considering Seth Reilly had been instrumental in capturing not just one, but two serial killers, he could have left this little backwater town a long time ago for greener and more lucrative pastures. Many of his friends had, but Seth had always said that his roots were here. Now his young daughter was taking over.

Lulu Reilly.

When Kai had visited his granddad in the summers, he had a few memories of Lulu when she was much younger. Even then, she’d been a force of nature, somehow organizing all the neighborhood kids into doing whatever she wanted - hide and seek, kickball, or hanging out at her mother’s coffee shop and eating free cookies.

Kai had seen that Lulu was a born leader who didn’t have a fearful bone in her body. She walked through life supremely confident, and damn, if things didn’t usually work out for her. Now she was the new head lawperson in Harper, without any experience at all.

Unless he counted her being the daughter of a legend. Did that count? He wasn’t sure. Either way, he was here to see if she would agree to talk to him for an article in the paper. Sort of a way to introduce herself to the town, not that she needed any introductions. He was planning a light piece, maybe talking about any plans she had and how much she loved the town. Something feel-good that would have a positive tone.

There were already a few voices that weren’t happy about her new job.

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