Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Was she an idiot? Now, he was going to want details and what did she have to tell him?
The truth. You could try the truth.
“Who is it?” he asked in a dark voice. “A cop is threatening you? Is it Vince?”
Wait. How did he know that?
“It is Vince,” he said. “I can tell by the look on your face.”
“How do you know it’s Vince?” she asked.
“From the way you didn’t want anything to do with him today,” he said. “I heard you when your father suggested that he stay with you.”
He’d heard that? He hadn’t been in the room, had he?
“We were standing just outside the room,” he explained. “Did he do that spray paint job on your garage?”
“I think so. I had a . . . run-in with him last week. And a while ago we went on a date. He didn’t appreciate it when I wasn’t interested in fucking him.”
“That fucking bastard.” There was pure venom in his voice and it took her by surprise. “I’m going to kill him. Did he try to force you?”
“N-not exactly. He just got a bit . . . handsy.” She was staring down at her lap as she whispered that.
“Fucking asshole. I’ll teach him to get handsy. That is not okay and I do not like it.”
Did he think she did? She didn’t. And what was worse was that he was now holding a grudge. Vince was a man with a huge ego, who thought he was invincible, untouchable, and he held a huge grudge against her.
That didn’t make her feel good at all.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let him hurt you. And I will make him pay for the way he has treated you.”
She frantically shook her head and glanced up at him. “You can’t.”
“Why not?” he asked, sounding incredulous. “Why haven’t you gone to your father?”
“Vince is vindictive. He’ll retaliate. And my father . . . he’ll believe whatever he says. There’s no way he’d ever believe me over Vince.” She shook her head. “Not a chance in hell.”
“Why?” he asked.
God. Why was he asking this? Why did he care?
“Because my father sees Vince as a son.”
“And you are his daughter.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “Not one he seems to want. He has my brother and sister. What does he need me for? I’m not important.”
“And yet here I am. He hired me to protect you.”
She clenched her hands together. She wanted to believe her father had done that because he cared. But she wasn’t sure that she could. “It’s probably about appearances. If something happened to the chief of police’s daughter and he’d done nothing to protect her when he’d known about the threat . . . yeah, that wouldn’t go down well. Not that he ever seems to care much about what anyone else thinks of him. He thinks he’s all powerful and so do his favored cops. Like Vince.”
“Vince is just a man. A dirty cop can be taken down just as easily as anyone else. I’m going to take care of Vince.”
She managed to stare at him again. “I don’t want you to get hurt trying to protect me.”
“Gonna take a lot more than some power-drunk cop to take me down, trust me,” he told her.
That was the issue, wasn’t it? Trust was difficult for her. Could she trust him?
She just didn’t know. But there was a growing part of her that was screaming that she could.
“I’ll try.”
“Good girl,” he told her. “I know it’s hard. But I do need you to trust and listen to me. I’m not going to give you a bunch of rules because I’m on some power trip. I promise. They’re there to protect you.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like telling me if there is a threat to you. Like the one on your garage door. And definitely telling me if there is a stalker.”
“Ryan really is harmless.”
“A stalker that is harmless,” he said. “That is the first time I’ve heard that.”
“You can come speak to him with me,” she said. “He’ll probably do another drive-by in about an hour. I doubt he was there when Vince spray-painted my garage door. Ryan tends to head home around ten-thirty, maybe eleven.”
“This is so bizarre,” he muttered. “I cannot believe we are talking about your stalker and you’re so . . . blasé about him.”
“Ryan really is harmless. I mean, he was a dick of a boss. That’s part of the reason why I left even though it was quite a well-paying job. I worked as his assistant. But when he wasn’t being an asshole, he would stare at me weirdly. He would stand too close and stare at my boobs. I learned not to wear low-cut tops.”
“That fucking bastard. And you think he’s harmless? Just because he hasn’t done anything yet, doesn’t mean that he won’t. He could escalate at any time.”