Out of all the things that I expected my father to say, him ‘not wearing the badge’ wasn’t one of them.
My father was a stickler.
He loved his job. He hated the hit that the profession had taken lately, and he sure the hell hated more how everything was being handled by everybody else.
His job was his life. Besides us, he’d made it a mission to always be truthful, honest, and hardworking.
For him to ‘drop the badge’ was downright terrifying.
Because this obviously meant a lot to him. And I had a feeling it was due to his daughter’s new man—Bruno—being involved.
The kids being trafficked were very important to him, too. But my dad loved me.
He knew what this meant to me to be helping the man I was beginning to love.
“Noted.” Lynn looked toward Bruno, who was standing at my back, offering me support.
His hand went to my hip and squeezed.
The move did not go unnoticed by my mother, brothers, or my sisters.
Lynn, however, kept talking, turning to Angel.
“Can you give us any information before we go have our talk with Governor Bryan?” Lynn asked.
Angel crossed his arms over his chest and sighed.
“Other than the feeling of him being totally dirty,” Angel said. “I don’t really have much evidence to go by. It’s just a gut feeling.” He paused. “You know when everything absolutely goes wrong, shit hits the fan, yet the one person that started it all always comes out shining and bright with no shit clinging to them? That’s Sander. He’s always coming out shining, no matter what the problem.”
“No reason to beat around the bush then.” Lynn pulled his wrist upward so he could glance at his watch. “I have him at a country club meeting set to start in approximately an hour. All other staff and patrons have been contacted regarding a broken pipe via the emergency alert system thanks to Hunt. He’ll be there alone with whoever he brings with him. Which, according to my sources, are always a couple of bodyguards.”
“Two,” Angel confirmed. “He doesn’t go anywhere without them.”
Lynn nodded once, looking over at the man at my back. “Ready?”
Bruno squeezed my hip.
When I looked up at him, he was already looking down at me.
“If you need me, call,” he ordered.
I grinned. “If I need you, I’ll call. After I handle things on my own first, that is.”
My brothers snorted.
After looking down into my eyes for a few long seconds, he gave my hip one last squeezed before letting me go.
And, before my entire family, he dropped a slow kiss to my lips, unconcerned about the eye killing he was receiving from my brothers.
And without another word, he left, expecting everyone else to follow.
“I honestly thought that he was psychotic or something with the way he never smiled or spoke to anyone with any inflection,” Bourne admitted once everyone left. “I’ve seen him around before, multiple times. And I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“‘That’ being…” I said.
“He loves you, sis,” Booth said. “When a man falls, he can’t help but look at his woman the way Bruno was just looking at you. It’s impossible to hide your feelings. And that man wasn’t hiding shit. He was claiming you in front of your family. Which he knew would piss us off since we don’t know him at all.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I never acted like this when you both found your wives. And if anyone had the right to act crazy, it was me. Y’all were dating twins. Twins that started out with the other brother. I could’ve made your life hell at first. But I didn’t. And you will give me the same courtesy and extend it to Bruno.”