Page 4 of Cruel Savior

His face paled and his lips compressed into a grim line as he pulled his phone out of his front jacket pocket and swiped his finger across the screen. "I can show you."

He handed the phone over to JD.

"Holy, fuck. Is that—" JD touched the screen with two fingers and zoomed in on the image. "Who is it?"

I couldn't take it anymore and I stood to round the table.

"A former coworker of my daughter."

I froze mid step, changed course, and retook my seat. Those were not the words I’d wanted to hear. Only my respect for my president kept me from walking straight out the door. JD gave me a warning look and handed over the phone.

Jesus hell. Good thing I had a strong stomach. Based on the conversation thus far, I don't know what I'd expected. But a bloody severed head in a box was definitely not it.

"Who delivered it?" I zoomed into the picture as well, only I wasn't trying to examine the head, I was looking at the surrounding area. There were bloody footprints, possibly some blonde hair stuck in some of the blood. Probably fingerprints mixed in too.

"Camera footage shows a private delivery company brought it in. Our usual guy, too. Nothing out of the ordinary in that respect."

I glanced up at Turner. "This looks pretty out of the ordinary."

He frowned. "I meant the delivery guy. The head in the box? I don't even know what to say. My wife has been practically catatonic since it happened. My daughter is refusing to talk about it, which is par on course with her behavior since we got her back. She never fucking leaves the house. But is this some kind of death threat?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

I placed the phone down on the table and slid it a little too hard in the direction of Turner. He caught it, although barely.

"I'm going to take a guess and say this is probably something the FBI should handle. Can't yourdaughtercall them and get them to take care of this?" The word daughter barely made it past my lips, and I was well aware it sounded about as eloquent as rocks going through a blender. "If this is her co-worker, they will want to handle this. You probably won't even need to involve the Sultan police."

He shook his head. "After she was shot on the job during her last case, Amanda was put on medical leave and expects to be terminated as soon as that officially ends. Those assholes won’t even take any of her calls. Since then, she's all but stopped talking to anyone."

"No one here gives a shit about her employment status." The words slipped out before I could stop them. I glanced at both Turner and JD to find them both watching me intently.

"I get that you don't appreciate how the last job I hired you for turned out. However, I did fairly compensate you for all your work.Morethan fairly. No one knew in advance exactly what we were getting into, but that's why people come to you in the first place, isn't it?

"Yes." JD answered gruffly, cutting off my sarcastic response. "But I have to agree, the investigation of this guy's death should be handled by the FBI."

"And it will. I’ve called in a few favors,“ Turner responded."But what I won't get from them is any help protecting my family. And I have a gut feeling that my security team isn't equipped for this kind of trouble either. Hence why I'm darkening your doorstep again. Trust me, I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here."

That last bit had been directed at me and I almost snarled. At least we could agree on one thing. "Then maybe you shouldn't have come."

"Let's talk about what you want from us," JD interrupted again. I was going to catch hell later for him having to play referee between me and Turner. It was bullshit for me to hold a grudge against the man simply because he was Amanda's father. But there was a lot of water under that bridge and I couldn't look at him without feeling like I was going to drown in it.

"First, I'd like to keep my family safe. With my own security team looking over their shoulders every second, I don't have a lot of confidence."

"Then hire another one."

He nodded. "I will. But that's going to take time, and they won't know this town. Your club does. Anyone who's been here as long as you all will know when a stranger is in town. Until I have time to get a secondary team in place, I need your help."

"I can certainly handle putting a few extra guns out at your place. And I can have Tel make sure your electronics are up to snuff. There's no one better than him."

"I'd really appreciate that. I think I'm going to have to send my wife off to her family in California until this blows over. But Amanda, on the other hand, she's not handling this very well. I'm concerned."

My gut twisted at his assessment of his daughter. Did anyone really know what went on with her? At one time I'd thought I did and she'd proven me wrong in about the worst way possible.

"Are you saying she needs a bodyguard?"

The air in the room felt like it got sucked out by the tension now filling it. I even caught myself holding my breath. I didn't want him to say the words and I didn't want JD looking to me like I wanted to do something about it. He would be wrong. They were all wrong about me.

I did not carry a torch for my ex.

A lot had changed in ten years. I wasn't the same kid who'd thought having a baby with my teenage girlfriend was my ticket to proving I would be a better old man than mine. Or that getting her pregnant in the first place was a goddamned turn on. I'd been a foolish fucking idiot.

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