Page 24 of Mine to Protect

And that was the love between mother and child. And Dalton, Rhett’s father, was the kind of man—at least, according to Rhett’s mom—that not only loved with his entire soul but captured the essence of a person’s heart. She’d told him that she’d stayed so long with his dad because he was the best father any child could ever ask for.

And she was right.

Only his mom had screwed up royally when she’d had an affair that’d created his baby brother, Jamison. When the truth came out, it’d nearly destroyed his family, and Jamison had had to deal with the fact that he wasn’t Dalton’s biological son. However, the love that Dalton had for Jamison had never wavered. Not a smidge. It’d taken time for Jamison to accept his biological father, Steve, but he eventually did.

Everyone welcomed Steve into their lives—in part because they had to. He wasn’t going anywhere. Their mother had made that clear.

But when Steve and his mom walked into a room, their love for each other was palpable. He couldn’t put what he felt into words, and he knew that Steve would never leave his mother’s side again. That their kind of love was what fairy tales were made of.

He knew that was what he felt for Shelby.

And, right now, that sucked. He couldn’t turn his emotions on and off.

His cell buzzed. He glanced at the screen and chuckled. It was as if his mom had a sixth sense.

“Hey, Mother.”

“I hate it when you call me that. It sounds like you’re pissed at me or something.”

“Sorry,” he said. “How are you this morning?”

“A little concerned about you.”

He pushed himself to a sitting position and crossed his ankles. A few kayakers paddled by. He smiled and waved. This had to be his favorite part about living on the water—the peacefulness of it all and the way it calmed his nerves. Just sitting in this spot on his boat gave him the ability to focus.

Somewhat.

“And why is that?” he asked.

“I know you have feelings for this woman, but I’m not sure what to believe in this case.”

“Neither do I,” he admitted. “She’s going through Chris’s and Jackie’s things. I’m going to have her go through his texts with me later and see if I can gain a different perspective on where his head was at. From there, I’m going to probe into what she knows about Jackie. I might even suggest a trip to Jacksonville.”

“I don’t think I want you doing that,” his mom said.

“Why not?”

“I want you to keep her here for now. At least, until I can get that warrant, which isn’t going to happen until after banking hours today.”

“Again, I ask. Why not?” He chuckled. It seemed that was the go-to question with his mom.

“The judge we want has a full docket today, and I don’t want to push my luck with her. This warrant is thin, and if it were me sitting on that bench, I might say no.”

“That’s fair.”

“So, I need you to find a way to keep Shelby in town for at least another twenty-four hours.”

He rubbed his forehead. “That shouldn’t be that hard.”

“There’s more,” his mom said. “I believe this counterfeit money is connected to Cole Laurita and the drugs that washed up on the Lighthouse Cove beach.”

A dull ache formed in the back of his skull and moved across his head. “Why do you think that?” It was kind of a dumb question because no one in his family, not even his full-time mechanic and part-time private investigator brother, Miles, believed in coincidences. And there were too many of those for all of itnotto be connected.

“Preliminary labs on the counterfeit money show it was made on the same paper. The state lab believes the ink is the same. They have more tests to run, but I’m confident it came from the same place.” She let out an audible breath. “How the hell does a guy who drives a limousine in Jacksonville get the same counterfeit money as a known drug dealer living in Lighthouse Cove?”

“That’s a head-scratcher, Ma.” He understood that his mother wasn’t looking for him to pull a theory out of his ass. They didn’t know enough about Chris, which was the next step.

A total deep-dive, and it wasn’t going to make things easy with Shelby. He would have to ask some tough questions. Dig in some dark places. And not just in Chris’s life but also in Jackie’s and how it all tied into Shelby’s, as well.

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