Page 68 of Mine to Protect

Her heart hammered in her chest. “I think it’s too soon to make that call. However, I believe it’s safe to say I’m going to be making a lot of trips down here in the near future.”

Chris jerked his head. “Speak of the devil. Here he comes.”

She glanced over her shoulder.

“I hate to break up this party, but Miles needs to get Chris to the station. My mom needs to take his statement.”

Chris jumped to his feet. “I want to thank you for everything.” He stretched out his arm.

“You act like I’m not going to see you in a few hours.” Rhett shook his hand. “Miles will bring you and your family back here after my mom and the feds are done. Hopefully, it won’t be too late. I’ll grill up some steaks. We’ll have some drinks at the tiki bar. I’ll make sure all the guest rooms have clean sheets. And—”

“I don’t want to put anyone out. We can stay—”

Rhett cut Chris off. “It’s done. Now, get out of here. My mom doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

Chris smiled. He turned on his heels and headed inside, where Miles waited.

Rhett sat down next to Shelby and kissed her cheek. “Did you have a nice chat with your brother?”

“I did. Thank you for giving us a little time to talk.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

“What’s going to happen now? I’m not sure I understand everything. Like who was after them and why.”

“You didn’t ask your brother?”

She shook her head. “We talked about other things.”

“I see.” Rhett leaned back, resting on his hands. “There are things we’re never going to know, but when Joe and Albert devised their escape, they set up an insurance plan, but that was interrupted when they believed that Tony Gorga knew about what they had done. Only it was Hector Mortelli who made them believe it wouldn’t ever be safe for them to be reunited. Of course, Hector had another reason to be worried.”

“What’s that?”

“Albert and Joe have him on tape admitting to betraying Tony Gorga. That was why he believed he was working with Gorga when Cole Laurita was in prison, when it was actually more of Mortelli’s people. This whole thing was about Hector getting his revenge for feeling as though he’d been snubbed by the Gorgas. With the help of the feds, my mom’s been able to arrest sixteen people in the Mortelli organization. All thanks to Joe and Albert. And, of course, your brother and Jackie. Sadly, Tony Gorga and those of his organization in New Jersey won’t do any time since he’s cooperating, and the feds don’t have anything on him that would put him away long term. But for now, the Mortellis and the hold they have in south Florida has come to an end.”

“Are my brother and Jackie safe?”

“I haven’t had more than a few texts with my mom, but yes. She believes that this has been contained.”

“Even with this Gorga guy in New Jersey?”

“According to her contacts, he’s been trying to legitimize his businesses for the last ten years. No one is after Chris or Jackie or anyone in her family. They can start over wherever they want.”

“You have no idea what a relief that is.” She sighed. “I can’t believe my baby brother wants to be a cop.” She shook her head. “He’s always been fascinated with police shows and shit like that. But I never, in a million years, thought he’d pursue something like that.”

“Based on what I’ve seen, he’ll make a fine one, and this town could use a few more of them.” Rhett sat up taller, looping his arm around her waist. “Which brings me to a very important discussion we need to have.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” The way he smiled at her made her pulse soar.

“I thought I’d take some time off work. I understand you might not have any more days off, so I can come up to Jacksonville and hang out for a while if you’ll let me. I just think we need to spend some time together.”

“I’d like that very much.” She leaned into him. “I look forward to us spending a lot of time together.”

“I know long distance can be hard, but I’m willing to put the time in. I want to see where this takes us.” He kissed her cheek. “Is it too soon to say I’ve fallen in love with you?”

“That happened five years ago to both of us.” She smiled. “But now we need to slow down and enjoy what that means and really get to know each other. I mean, I don’t even know your favorite color.”

“Blue. Like your eyes.”

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