Page 49 of Free to Judge
Security my ass, I had them sign away their rights for open surveillance.
One night, my legal mind saved me from being taken out by Jack Marshall himself. I tried to get him to admit to selling his child for profit and leaving Mildred Lockwood holding the bag. He raised a gun to my head, demanding, “Why should that matter to you?”
I lifted my hands in the air and lied. “I just want to know who to go to if I need…assistance…in the future.”
The tension in the room dropped when Jack pulled the gun back. “Don’t worry about it,boyo. If there are problems in your future, we’ll be well ahead of them.”
Christ, no wonder Keene wants to eliminate his father once and for all.
After the ease at which Jack held a gun to the center of my head, my senses told me he knew more about Tanya’s disappearance than I could prove. I became more dedicated than ever to taking the Byrnes out.
Still, they threw a wrench in the works when they loaned me to the Tiberis for the purpose of getting key members of their family out of jail. I have to find out the truth about why, even as I utilize the weaknesses in our court system to delay their trials. A part of me welcomes the finality, where I no longer have to be this person. I can’t imagine who I’ll be after this nightmare is all over, but living the life of anyone else has to be preferable to standing in the shoes I’m in right now.
A flash of Kalie’s gorgeous face comes to mind. My heart thumps once. Painfully. I’m terrified to let myself feel anything for her—especially while I’m entangled with people who are targeting her. Besides, letting anyone close isn’t a good choice right now.
It leaves me with a vulnerable spot for the Byrnes to strike.
But how can I resist a woman who has no qualms about standing up for…how did she put it? “Truth, justice, and the Hudson way?” I chuckle, the sound rusty in the empty room. Kalie hit me, both literally and figuratively. She’s fiery, fearless, and stronger than most men I know. She grew up wrapped in resilience and honor.
Still, it’s the compassion she offers me that terrifies me the most. She already has me questioning if I’m truly so irreparably damaged I can’t change.
No, I can’t let her end up like Tanya.
In the end, I’ll do anything to protect her. I won’t let the Byrnes harm Kalie. I slip the photo back inside the desk drawer and close my eyes. “I just wish I could have saved you.”
I can’t have another woman’s death on my conscience. My jaw clenches, knuckles white on the glass. For a woman who grew up with a family like hers, her lack of self-awareness when it comes to danger is infuriating. Her actions have already drawn the wrong attention.
I wonder what made her so fearless. I wonder what gave her that confidence.
These questions are the bare minimum of what I want to know about her. Still, I cannot, will not, let what I’m beginning to feelfor Kalie derail me from my objective—taking down the people who killed my partner. Nobody will stop me.
As much as I yearn for answers and a potential glimpse into the future, I need to tamper my urges about Kalie down. It may be next to impossible since it feels like the barn door’s already been shut and Kalie’s trapped inside.
Right next to me.
Which scares me to no end.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
I dreamtfor the first time in longer than I can remember. A true dream, not one of the nightmares I’ve suffered of Tanya’s headless bride ghoul-like impression.
I wrap Kalie in my warm embrace, resting my head against her shoulder, nuzzling her soft hair. Then, I pull back and stare down into her exquisite face.
She cocks her head to the side. I lean down while my heart thunders. My cock aches. Every part of me calls out to her, no pleads.
Don’t leave me.
In the trancelike way dreams have, every moment was sluggish as I lifted my hands and cupped her chin to hold it in place. Even as I fell headlong into pools of dark blue instead of drowning in a sea of regret, I knew this was where I was meant to be—with her.
That’s when my traitorous alarm blasted me awake by playing the theme song to the Sopranos.
I shudder in agony as the song’s blues and grittiness screamed through my bedroom. My dick is hard as a spike. I roll onto my stomach to ease the agony of my morning wood and bemoan fate. “I was about to fucking kiss her. You couldn’t even let me have that?” I rail at God.
After a few moments where I question a god who decided men should have an appendage that causes more agony than pleasure, I swing my legs over the side of the bed and pad naked into the shower. As much as I want to sink back into the pillows and give my dick the desperate release it needs, there are more important things to do that morning other than mooning over Kalie.
Like ensuring she’s safe by guaranteeing her protection detail is topnotch.
Under the spray of the shower, I curse my weakness. I want to fall back into my dreams so I can meet her where there’s no enemies chasing us, where no barriers exist to keep us apart.
