Page 27 of Stilettos & Whiskey
“I’ve come to Frank’s rescue a couple of times and he never gets pissy about it.”
“Frank isn’t a sociopath.”
Ugh. My lower lip was throbbing, and I had the headache from hell. “No, he’s a damn good cop and friend.”
“Time for your meds.” Lucas took a pill bottle off the nightstand and gave it to me.
I read the label. Tylenol 3. One every four hours.
“From one to ten, how bad is your headache?” Lucas handed me a glass of water.
“About an eight.” I popped a pill in my mouth and drained the glass.
Lucas took the water glass from me. “How did Evans manage to get the drop on you?”
“I wasn’t expecting a fellow officer to try to kill me,” I snapped.
He shot back testily, “You’re an Alpha Dog and you’ve been trained to deal with the unexpected.”
“It happened so fast. One minute the paramedics were treating Roger’s head wound, and the next he was shoving me off the edge of the ravine.”
Nate strolled in and sat next to me on the bed. “I just watched all the body camera videos and Julie never had a chance to defend herself. Evans would have shot her too, if it wasn’t for Captain Smith and Frank.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “You’re lucky to be alive, squirt.”
“I know and what’s up with this inappropriate sexual conduct charge?”
Lucas and Nate exchanged glances.
“Oh, my, God. How bad is it?”
Lucas blew out a long breath. “It’s an AI-generated video of you pleasuring yourself and begging Evans to have sex with you.”
“What?” I felt the color drain from my face.
Nate hugged me. “It’s badly done, and the woman looks nothing like you.”
“Dad removed the video from the internet,” Lucas quickly added.
“I want to see it.”
Nate shook his head. “No, you don’t.”
“Where’s grandpa?” I knew he would show it to me.
“At the Vulture Mine Command Center,” Lucas answered.
I shot to my feet. “There’s already an assault team ready to breach the compound?”
“Yes,” Lucas replied.
“Why aren’t you there?”
Nate pulled me back down on the bed. “We’re guarding the ranch and you.”
“Who is manning the command center?”
“Devon’s at the command console and Jacob is flying the drone.
I grabbed a pair of shorts out of a drawer and pulled them on. “I want to help.”
