Unexpected Father

“Please tell me you have answers,” he said to Detective Mack O’Reilly. Jason kept his voice low so he wouldn’t wake Lilly. To get her to fall asleep, it’d taken nearly a half hour of questions and assurances from him that she was safe. Jason didn’t want to go through that again until he could make good on those assurances.

If that were even possible.

O’Reilly shrugged. “I have answers, but I don’t think you’ll like them. There’s only one surveillance camera in or around this entire place. It’s in the parking lot and static, fixed in only one direction.”

Jason tried not to curse. “Let me guess—the wrong direction?”

“You got it. It was aimed at the center of the parking lot. Someone came up from the side and, while staying out of the line of sight, smashed the lens with a rock. All we got for a visual was a shadow. The crime-scene guys are dusting both the camera and the rock for prints, but it looks clean. Whoever it was probably had on gloves.”

Definitely not good. Jason had hoped for a sloppy crime scene, even though deep down he’d known it wouldn’t be. Whoever was behind this was brazen. Yes. Determined—that, too. Maybe even downright desperate.

But not sloppy.

Jason had personally gone over every inch of Lilly’s room and hadn’t found even trace evidence.

“How about the rookie guarding Ms. Nelson’s room?” Jason asked. “Did you find him?”

O’Reilly nodded. “He was in the utility closet at the end of the hall. Duct tape on his mouth, hands and feet. He has a goose-egg-size lump on his head, and someone had used a stun gun on him, but he can’t remember being knocked out.”

Probably because the guard had fallen asleep.

This time, Jason didn’t even try to contain his profanity, but it was aimed just as much at himself as it was at the guard. When Jason had checked on him about a half hour prior to Lilly’s attack, the guy had looked a little drowsy. Jason had asked if he’d wanted to be relieved, but he’d said no, that the double espresso he was sipping would keep him awake all night.

Yeah, right.

Jason wanted to kick himself. Hard. How could he have let this happen?

He’d been positive that nineteen months ago someone had tried to kill Lilly. That’s why he’d had a guard assigned to the convalescent hospital in the first place. What he should have anticipated, however, was that one guard wouldn’t be enough. After all, the person responsible for this latest attempt on Lilly’s life had no doubt been the one who’d forced her off the road and left her for dead.

Getting past one guard in the middle of the night obviously hadn’t been much of a challenge. Murdering Lilly wouldn’t have been a challenge, either, if Jason hadn’t returned to the hospital to talk to Lilly’s doctor about additional security measures for the facility.

Ironic.

While he’d been discussing the need for extra security, someone had been breaching it. And Lilly had nearly paid for that breach with her life.

“So far, no witnesses,” O’Reilly continued. “But we’re canvassing the neighborhood. Something might turn up.”

Not likely. It was late. Midweek. The small downtown hospital was surrounded by specialty shops that mainly did business from ten to six o’clock. That meant there probably weren’t a lot of potential witnesses milling around to see someone escaping through a window.

“I gave one of the detectives the names of two suspects, Wayne Sandling and Raymond Klein,” Jason explained. “Both are former attorneys. About two years ago, Lilly uncovered some information that caused them to be disbarred.”

What she’d uncovered, though, wasn’t an offense that would have earned them jail time. While Sandling and Klein had been working as advisors to the city council, the two had somehow managed to get a construction company a lucrative contract to renovate historic city-owned buildings. The problem? The owners of the construction company were Sandling and Klein’s friends. A definite conflict of interest. That suspicious contract wasn’t enough for an arrest and, coupled with other similar unethical activity, it was barely enough to get them disbarred and fired as city council advisors.

But Jason knew there was more.

His brother, Greg, had even suspected it. After dealing with Sandling and Klein on a city contract deal, Greg too had noticed inconsistencies with bid dates and altered estimates that had ultimately cost him a contract to do auditing work for the city. Greg had been more than ready to request an investigation into the two attorneys’ dealings. It hadn’t happened, of course.

Because Greg had died in the car accident.

“Sandling and Klein have already been contacted,” O’Reilly assured him. “Neither seemed pleased about that.”

“I’ll bet not. I want them questioned—hard.”

“Absolutely.”

Not that it would do much good. Questioning them hadn’t been effective nineteen months ago. Jason had no doubts about Sandling’s and Klein’s guilt as far as unscrupulous business practices, but what was missing was solid proof that their unscrupulousness had gone much deeper than what the police had already found. There was no remaining evidence since the files that Lilly had copied from her computer had disappeared the night she’d been run off the road.

Jason knew that wasn’t a coincidence.

Detective O’Reilly craned his neck to peer over Jason’s shoulder. “By the way, how’s Ms. Nelson?”

“Other than a few bruises, she wasn’t hurt physically.”

He couldn’t say the same for her mental health, though. Here she was, only hours out of a coma. Hours where she’d learned she had a daughter that she hadn’t even known she’d conceived. That in itself was enough trauma to face, but Lilly now had to deal with the aftermath of an attempted murder and a full-scale police investigation.

Jason looked back at Lilly, as well, and saw that she was in the exact place he’d left her. Well, sort of. She was still in the hospital bed. Still asleep. But it wasn’t a peaceful sleep by any means. Her arm muscles jerked and trembled as if she were still in a fight for her life.

Which wasn’t too far from the truth.

Someone wanted her dead, and wanted it badly enough to have tried not once but twice. Jason had been a cop for nearly eleven years and had learned a lot about criminal behavior.

This guy wasn’t going to give up.

But then, neither was Jason.

It’d been a mistake not to beef up security, a bigger mistake to let down his guard, and he wouldn’t do that again.

“Who knew Ms. Nelson was out of the coma?” O’Reilly asked.

It was a question Jason had already asked the hospital staff, and he’d gotten answers that hadn’t pleased him. “Too many people. One of the nurses called a few friends to tell them the news. Another nurse called Lilly’s former secretary—again, to share the good news. The doctors spoke to colleagues. Even Lilly’s insurance company was contacted.”

Jason couldn’t consider himself blameless, either. He’d told Megan’s nanny, Erica, though he didn’t think Erica would pass on the information to anyone. And of course, there’d been paperwork processed at headquarters to assign the cop to security detail outside Lilly’s room. In others words, at least several dozen people had learned that Lilly was no longer in a coma, and obviously one of those several dozen was someone who wanted her dead.

Lilly stirred again, and this time her eyes opened. In the same motion, she sat up, spearing him with her gaze. Her eyes were wild. Her breath, racing. She scrambled back toward the wall, banging into it with a loud thud.

O’Reilly immediately stepped away. “I’ll let you know what the crime-scene guys say about the security camera.” With that, the detective made a hasty exit, leaving Jason to deal with Lilly.

There was just one problem. Jason didn’t know how to deal with her.

Seemingly disgusted with herself, she shook her head. “I keep dreaming.”

Nightmares, no doubt. Jason wanted to tell her that they would go away, but he’d fed her enough lies tonight. Reassurances that she was safe didn’t contain even a shred of truth.

Not yet, anyway.

Jason eased the door shut and walked to her. He had a ten-second debate with himself before he moved even closer and sat beside her on the bed. Yes, there was plenty of bad blood between them, but he would have had to be a coldhearted jackass not to try to offer some comfort.

“You have more bad news?” she asked, her voice cracking on the last word.

She was trembling all over, and he reached out. He pushed aside any doubts he had about what he was doing and pulled her into his arms. Lilly stiffened at first. Not a little stiffening, either, but a posture change that affected practically every muscle in her body. Probably because she was shocked by his gesture. Or maybe even appalled. But by degrees, she soon settled against him, as if she belonged there.

Jason quickly dismissed that last thought. Lilly didn’t belong in his arms. She didn’t belong this close to him. This was an anomaly. An emotional blip created by the dangerous situation that had forced this temporary camaraderie between them.

Then he felt her warm breath brush against his neck. He took in her scent. The logic of emotional blips and anomalies flew right out the window.

Hell.

What was going on here?

The confusing yet tender episode lasted only a few seconds—thank God—because Lilly pulled back slightly and looked up at him. She squinted her eyes and appeared to be as thunderstruck as he felt.

Jason totally understood her dumbfounded state. Twenty-four hours earlier if someone had told him he’d be holding Lilly, and reacting to it in the most basic way a man could, he would have never believed it.

She swallowed hard and inched back even farther. The confusion in her eyes faded, and in its place came the uncomfortable realization of what had just happened.

Oh, yeah. They were on the same page.

Lilly cleared her throat, reached for the blanket and gave it an adjustment that it in no way needed. “You never did say—why were you here at the hospital tonight?”

Blind luck. But Jason kept that to himself. “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to drop by to check on the guard,” he said, thankful for the conversation. It would hopefully take his mind off that basic male reaction he was still having. “When I saw Dr. Staten was still here, I went into his office to talk to him.”

She paused. “Well…thank you.”

Her thanks was genuine. Jason didn’t doubt that. But he also didn’t doubt that it hadn’t been an easy thing for her to say to him. Civility of any kind was tricky between two battle-scarred enemies.

“I’m sorry,” Lilly whispered, pulling away completely from him.

Jason immediately felt the loss of her body heat. A sensation that surprised and sickened him. Sheez. What the heck was wrong with him, anyway?

“What are you sorry for?” he managed to ask just to keep the discussion going.

“For borrowing your shoulder to cry on.” She dusted her fingers across his jacket as if to remove any evidence of herself.

“After the scare you had, you deserve a shoulder, and the crying.”

She stared at him. Paused. Stared at him some more. “You’re being nice to me.”

True, and he wasn’t exactly pleased that she’d pointed it out. “Blame it on the adrenaline and fatigue.” He groaned softly. “Don’t worry… I’ll be back to normal in no time.”

“Good,” she concluded. “Because it’s easier that way.”

Jason nodded, understanding. They had enough to deal with without bringing Greg’s death and all those unresolved issues to the table. Unfortunately, one of those issues now seemed to be this bizarre attraction, or whatever the heck it was, that he felt for her.

Lilly leaned back, rested her head against the stack of pillows. “I wish I’d at least gotten a glimpse of the person who tried to smother me. Maybe I would have recognized him so you could arrest him.”

Jason almost blew out a breath of relief at the change of subject. The right change. Too bad he hadn’t thought of it sooner. Which only showed how dangerous distractions could be. Instead of pondering the effect of his hormones, he should be questioning her and digging for any clues to help them find the perp.

“A visual isn’t the only way to recognize someone,” he reminded her. “Was there anything familiar about his scent or his clothes?”

She immediately shook her head. “No.”

Jason continued to press. “How about his voice? Did he say anything?”

“No to all of those. No scent. I wasn’t able to touch his clothes. And if he said anything, I didn’t hear it.” Lilly paused a moment. “I can’t even be sure it was a man. All I know is the person was a lot stronger than I am.” She flexed her eyebrows. “But then, I’m not exactly a menacing threat with my superheroine strength, am I now? It didn’t take much to subdue me.”

So they weren’t necessarily looking for a male, strong or otherwise. Just someone who had a reason to kill her. And Jason knew for a fact there were people who fit right into that category. “This has to be connected to your father. To his dirty business dealings.”

“I agree. He was involved in so much. Falsifying paperwork and bids so he’d get contracts for services that he then only partially provided…if at all. He scammed a lot of people with bogus agreements to do everything from audits to major construction.” Lilly grabbed a handful of the blanket and fisted it until her knuckles whitened. “He’s been dead for two and a half years. You’d think the fallout would be finished by now.”

It wouldn’t be finished until this SOB was caught. “We still have the same suspects. Names we’ve gone over hundreds of times.”

“And it could also be any one of the dozens of former business associates that my father scammed or involved in his illegal schemes. Once I’m back on my feet, I want to go through my office and my house—” Her eyes widened. “I still have an office and house, don’t I?”

He nodded. “Your attorney’s been taking care of that with money from your personal and business accounts. But it probably won’t do any good to visit your house and office. The police went through them and didn’t find anything.”

“Maybe they missed something.” She froze, and her gaze whipped back to his. “Oh, my God. Megan. What if this person tries to go—”

“There’s a cop at my house.” One he could trust not to fall asleep. He wasn’t about to risk Megan’s life.

Lilly’s breath was racing now and she placed her hand on her chest. “Thank you, again.”

Jason decided it was a good time to get to his feet and put some distance between them. Unlike Lilly’s other thanks, this one didn’t feel so warm and fuzzy. Nothing he did for Megan required gratitude. What he did for her was totally out of love, and it riled him that Lilly even felt that she had a right to thank him.

Yes, it was stupid. Petty, even. But every paternal instinct in his body screamed for him to latch on to Megan and not let Lilly anywhere near her. He would have to override his instincts, though.

His lieutenant hadn’t given him much of a choice about that.

“I’m making arrangements for you to be transferred to another hospital,” Jason advised her. “Logistically, this one just isn’t that easy to secure.”

“And then what?” she asked, her voice thin. “I’d planned to be discharged in a day or two.”

He’d already considered that, along with the lieutenant’s order. “Once the doctors release you, you’ll be placed in protective custody. My protective custody.”

“Oh.” Something flickered in her eyes and she stayed quiet a moment. “Let me guess—that wasn’t your idea?”

“My lieutenant’s,” he admitted.

Another Oh. “How in the world did he convince you to agree to that?”

“Quite easily. He reminded me that Megan might need protection, as well, and that I’d no doubt want to be the one to provide it.”

She examined him with her firm gaze. “This way, you kill two birds with one stone.”

The word “kill” turned his stomach. “I don’t like that analogy.” But to protect both Lilly and Megan and to minimize the disruptions to Megan’s life, the thing to do was for Lilly to move in with him.

It was logical.

Mercy, he hated that frickin’ word.

The move was logical, but nothing else about this was. This was the next step in the nightmare he’d dreaded since the moment he’d heard that Lilly had come out of the coma.

He would literally put Lilly under the same roof with the daughter he loved more than life itself.

The daughter she’d no doubt try to take from him.

Lilly shook her head. “You know this protective custody won’t work, right?”

Jason shrugged. “We don’t have a choice.”

“Maybe we do. I could always use a private bodyguard.”

Jason was about to give her an opinion on that, and it wasn’t a good opinion, but something—or rather someone—stopped him.

“I will see her now!” someone yelled from the hall. It was a man’s voice. One that Jason didn’t immediately recognize. That angry shout had him moving and reaching for his weapon.

“Take another step,” he heard Detective O’Reilly warn, “and I promise you’ll regret it.”

With his gun ready and aimed, Jason hurried to the door and looked out. Hell. While he hadn’t recognized the voice, he certainly recognized the man.

Wayne Sandling.

The former prominent attorney who’d done business with Lilly’s father. Lots of business. And it hadn’t all been aboveboard, either. Sandling was the last person on earth Jason wanted near Lilly.

“He barged his way in through the front desk,” O’Reilly told Jason.

That didn’t please Jason, but he would deal with the lax security once he’d finished with Sandling. “What are you doing here?” Jason demanded.

Sandling obviously recognized him, as well, because the man’s mouth practically curled into a snarl. “Detective Lawrence. Long time, no see.”

It wasn’t nearly long enough.

Though the former attorney had no doubt climbed out of bed to make this visit, he somehow managed to look as if he were ready for the courtroom. He wore a navy suit, complete with a tie. A tie! At this hour of the morning. His ink-black, conservative-cut hair had been combed to perfection. Not even a hint of sleep was in his eyes. For someone that meticulous, it made Jason wonder how he’d managed to get caught doing anything illegal in the first place.

“You didn’t answer my question, Sandling,” Jason pointed out. “Why are you here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Not really.” Jason used his best badass-cop voice and added a glare. “Clarify it for me.”

If Sandling had an unsavory response to Jason’s tone and glare, he didn’t show it. “One of your fellow officers called me tonight. About an attack on Lilly Nelson. He wanted to know if I had an alibi.”

“Do you?”

“That’s not the point. The point is I was awakened and questioned.” His cosmetically perfect teeth came together for a moment. “I don’t like that.”

“Well, I don’t like someone trying to kill Ms. Nelson.” Jason stepped closer, making sure he violated Sandling’s personal space. “So, where were you tonight?”

“Home, in bed, asleep. Alone,” he added. Sandling came closer, too, violating Jason’s personal space. “And I won’t be questioned about my every move, either.”

“You don’t have a choice about that. You have motive and that gives me the right to question you about your every move.”

“Is that Wayne Sandling?” Lilly called.

“Don’t you dare try to get out of bed,” Jason warned her without taking his eyes off the man. He didn’t want Lilly to have to confront Sandling. That didn’t mean she’d agree with him, and she would probably go so far as to try to get up and make her way into the hall.

That wasn’t going to happen.

Jason decided it was time to put an end to this spur-of-the-moment conversation. “Detective O’Reilly, escort Mr. Sandling out of the building. If he puts up a fight, arrest him.”

“I won’t let the cops and Lilly Nelson try to pin trumped-up charges on me again,” Sandling insisted. “Find another scapegoat, Detective Lawrence, and leave me the hell alone.”

And with that, Sandling turned and walked away. His hand shot up, to give O’Reilly a back-off warning when the detective tried to take hold of his arm. O’Reilly’s escort duty wasn’t necessary; Sandling left on his own, practically gliding down the hall. Jason kept his gaze fastened on him until the man was out of sight.

“Make sure he doesn’t come back,” Jason instructed O’Reilly. He turned to Lilly, who was indeed trying to get out of bed. “Stay put. He’s gone.”

Huffing, Lilly sank her head back onto the pillow. “Well, that was a special ending to a special night.”

It was indeed. “I’ll beef up security at the nurses’ station and the front door.” Just having to say that riled him, because until Sandling’s impromptu visit, Jason thought he’d already done that. Which only proved just how dangerous this situation was. It was next to impossible to secure the place. He needed to have her transferred to the other hospital immediately.

“Sandling wouldn’t dare try to come back tonight,” Lilly said under her breath.

It seemed as if she was trying to convince herself.

“Are you still having doubts as to whether you need protective custody?” Jason didn’t wait for her answer. “Then think again. Because I’m going to protect you whether you want it or not.”

It was an order. Solid. Forceful. Certain. But Jason had his own doubts about the certainty. With everything that’d happened, he had to wonder. Could he do his job and keep Lilly alive?

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