Page 42 of Queen of Blades

“Hey, Dad.”

“Harper?” It was a cross between an exclamation and a question.

“Yeah.” She grinned.

“What happened?” Maybe he knew something after all.

“I’m okay.”

“Where are you?”

She glanced over her shoulder and found Paul staring at her with hard, narrowed eyes. The same look he wore when he was security at the laundromat.

Shaking her head, she dismissed it and shifted her focus back to her call. “Don’t worry about that. I’m safe.”

“Who has you?”

“A friend.”

“Who?” he demanded. “Not the cops, right?”

Her shoulders slumped in disappointment, but she wasn’t sure in who. “No,” she muttered softly. “Not the cops.”

It was a fair assumption on her father’s part. Any rational person would’ve gone to the cops when people were shooting at them. Especially a prosecuting attorney. She should’ve done that, but she’d be lying if she said that’s where she would’ve gone if Paul hadn’t been there. She would’ve gone to her father.

So much for being on the right side of the law.

“Where are you, baby?” His tone had shifted to be much softer, tender, almost caring.

“I’m safe,” she reiterated. “You don’t have to worry.”

“You didn’t go home, did you?”

“No. I’m still here.”

Paul snapped his fingers and drew her attention. His icy glare cut through her, but she knew it wasn’t about her. He shook his head slowly back and forth.

She nodded. She wasn’t supposed to say where she was.

“I want to come get you. You’re my daughter. No one can protect you like I can. We’ll keep you at the clubhouse until we get this all figured out. Come home.”

And there it was—her conflicted feelings. No matter what, he was her dad. There was no doubt in her mind that he’d do his damnedest to keep her safe, but she doubted it’d be enough. If it had been, she wouldn’t be holed up in this off-the-grid house with Paul in the first place. Paul would’ve never been able to get to her if her father couldactuallyprotect her.

Hanging her head, she wallowed in that unfortunate reality. “I can’t.”

The words were barely audible. It crushed her to admit them, but he wasn’t capable of keeping her safe.

“Harper?”

Tears welled in her eyes. Biting her bottom lip, she let them fall down her cheeks. She’d grown up having loyalty beaten into her head. The most important thing in life was loyalty. It could save your neck, but if you lacked it, you’d get killed. It broke her heart knowing that staying with Paul would be seen as being disloyal by her father, but it was the only way she would survive this.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Harper!”

Paul snatched the phone out of her hand, and with it went the weight of having to explain to her dad why she couldn’t trust him with this. She should’ve been pissed that Paul grabbed the cell, but relief was all she felt.

As he brought it to his ear, she threw herself against him, wrapped her arms around him, and cried into his chest softly. He hugged her against him and rubbed her back soothingly.

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