Discovering Daisy (The Protectors 5.60)

I nodded and rubbed her back.

“He was covered in bruises when he got here. But he wouldn’t tell me who did it. He slept for like three days straight. Today was the first day he was able to eat something. He used my landline to call someone,” she said as she motioned to the cordless phone that was lying in several pieces on the floor. “They… they must have been monitoring whoever he called because they showed up a few hours later. This guy – Dylan called him Lee – kept telling Dylan to tell him where it was.”

“Where what was?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Dylan wouldn’t tell him, no matter how many times he hit him.” Tears began to streak down Daisy’s face. “But then Lee looked at me and one of his guys, he… he…”

“It’s okay, sweetheart, you’re safe,” Sage reminded her as he kissed her temple.

She managed a nod. “He hit me and then he grabbed my hair and Lee, he started… touching me. Dylan screamed at him to stop and then promised he’d take him to it as long as they let me go.”

Rage curled in my belly, but I managed to keep my hand light on Daisy’s back. I could see that Sage wasn’t faring much better.

“Lee and Dylan and another guy left. The other two stayed here… I’m sorry, I didn’t know there was a third one,” she said as she looked at me.

“You did good, honey. You did real good,” I reassured her. I stroked her hair, dreading what I had to ask her. “After Lee and Dylan left, did anything…?”

She shook her head. “No, Lee, he said that he… that he’d go first if Dylan didn’t come through.”

I couldn’t stop the rush of air that went through me as I felt the relief in every single one of my cells.

“We’re going to tell the cops it was a burglary,” I explained gently. “Don’t mention Dylan or Lee. Keep it simple and if you’re not sure about something, just say you don’t remember. I’ll take care of the rest, okay?”

Daisy nodded. “What about Dylan?”

“We’ll find him,” I assured her. “Sage and I might be put in handcuffs until the cops determine we aren’t a threat. Just don’t interfere, okay? Ronan and Memphis are on the way. They’ll get everything straightened out.”

Her eyes went wide, but she nodded. I could hear the sirens closer now, but it wasn’t until I heard the telltale signs of squealing tires that I nodded to Sage. I could tell he hated to do it, but he released Daisy and stood. I put both of our guns on the coffee table and Sage and I took several steps back and raised our hands.

“Sweetheart, put your hands up, but stay where you are, okay?” I said. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”

She was so pale that I was a little worried she might pass out, but she did what I said and lifted her hands.

I glanced at Sage and sent him a silent message. I saw his mouth move, but the cops chose that moment to bust into the room, yelling at us not to move, so I couldn’t be sure the words Sage had seemed to say weren’t just a figment of my imagination.

But I held onto them just the same.

Because I’d been waiting what felt like a lifetime to hear them.

I love you, Cash.

Chapter 5

Daisy

I couldn’t stop shaking. It’d been hours, and I still couldn’t stop shaking. Cash and Sage had assured me it was normal.

The cops too.

But it didn’t make it any easier.

I jumped when I heard a car door slam.

“Shhh,” Sage said as his arm tightened around me. “It’s just a car door closing,” he said gently.

I managed a nod, but found myself burrowing deeper into his side.

We were lying on one of the two queen-sized beds in the hotel outside Columbus. We’d been there for almost an hour since the cops had released us, and the sun was just starting to come over the horizon. Sage had tried to urge me to sleep, but I was afraid to close my eyes.

I was also afraid to let him go.

I hadn’t been this off-balance since my mother had been killed. There’d been no one to cling to back then.

I jumped when there was a quick knock on the hotel door.

“It’s Cash,” Sage murmured as he placed a kiss on the top of my head.

“Right,” I said as I forced myself to sit up. The door opened and a rush of relief went through me when I saw that Cash was okay. He’d only gone to pick up Ronan and Memphis from the small airfield where Ronan’s jet had landed, but I couldn’t get past the fear that somehow the guys who’d taken Dylan would find Cash and hurt him.