Serve ‘N’ Protect by Tee O’Fallon

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Markus hefted the box into the back of his SUV, disrupting Ghost, who’d been snoozing happily while he’d been inside the store. Flowers weren’t enough, and he’d already gone that route. Considering what had happened between them, jewelry was too presumptuous.

He patted the top of the box and grinned. As grand gestures and peace offerings went, this was unusual but perfect. It wouldn’t mean squat to just anyone, but to Cassidy it would mean the world and that was his intention. She’d know it came from the heart. His heart, which was exactly what he wanted to offer her. If it wasn’t too late. If it was, he’d spend his last breath convincing her it wasn’t.

Ghost inspected the box excitedly, his thick white tail dancing in the air and his nostrils flaring as he sniffed all four sides and the top.

Markus pointed to his dog. “Not for you.”

Ghost uttered a discontented whine then lay back down with his snout between his paws.

As he closed the tailgate, the difficulty level of this mission seemed to jump a few levels into the danger zone. Compared to what he was about to do, protecting the President was a cake walk.

He drove back onto the highway, his thoughts going in another grim direction. It had taken the one person who’d let him down and hurt him most in the world to die for Markus to learn the most important lesson he would ever learn: Life was too short to give up the best thing that had ever happened to him. If this ended in disaster, at least he’d go down knowing he’d tried.

Ten minutes outside Leonardtown, his phone rang with a number he didn’t recognize. “York,” he answered.

“Markus, this is Ian Morgan.”

Even if Cassidy’s father hadn’t given his name, he would have recognized the man’s Irish brogue anywhere. Cassidy must have told him what a jackass he’d been, and Ian was calling to chew his ass out.

“What can I do for you?” he asked, tightening his fingers around the steering wheel as he braced for the verbal impact.

“I’m calling for two reasons.” The sound of someone yelling for a pound of masonry nails told Markus that Ian must be at the hardware store. “First, Cassidy wouldn’t discuss the details of why you’re not together anymore. The fact that she won’t tells me how much she still cares about you and from what I witnessed on Christmas, I was under the impression that you felt the same way. Was I mistaken?”

“No, sir.” He flipped on his turn signal to take the Leonardtown exit. “In fact, I’m on my way to her house to rectify the situation.” He hoped, anyway.

“Good. She’s better with you. Smiling. Happy. We all see it. But she’s not at her house,” Ian added. “She’s been staying with us for the last week.”

“Why?” Markus pulled off the road and parked in the gas station. Warning bells began clamoring in his head. Cassidy loved her family to death but had made it clear how much she cherished her space. If she was staying with her folks, something was wrong.

“That’s the second reason I’m calling.” Ian’s deep intake of breath came through over the phone, making those warning bells in Markus’s head ring louder. “For her safety,” Ian said. “Yesterday, she was nearly killed.”

“What?” Markus jerked his head up. “Is she okay? What happened?”

“A hit-and-run driver almost ran her down in the grocery store parking lot.”

“Jesus.” He ground his teeth so hard his jaw popped. “And she’s okay?” The thought that she could have died and he never would have known gutted him.

“Yes, she’s fine. Just a little bruised and scraped.” Ian paused. “But the police don’t think it was an accident. They think it was intentional.”

“Intentional?” Markus bellowed, awakening Ghost who rose to stand behind the headrest and snort warm breath against the back of his neck. “Why do they think it was intentional?” He ran through everything he knew about Cassidy, trying to understand who would want to hurt her and why and coming up blank. Except for her ex-fiancé.

“According to witnesses,” Ian continued, although Markus was having a hard time hearing the man with all the shouting in the background, “the pickup truck swerved directly at her. There’s video footage showing the driver waited for Cassidy to leave the store then intentionally tried to run her down.”

“Did anyone get the tag off the truck? Did they find the driver?” A hundred other investigative questions came to mind. For now, he’d settle for the bare facts. Later, he’d badge his way into the state police barracks and read the reports himself.

“The truck was stolen.”

“Did they dust it for prints?”

“The only fingerprints belonged to the owner of the vehicle. The police think the driver may have been wearing gloves.”

Like the guy who broke into Cassidy’s house. The bad feeling he’d gotten that night intensified, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straighter than a flagpole. First a burglary and now attempted murder? What the hell was really going on here?

“What about her ex-fiancé, that doucheba—er, Hugh?”

When Ian chuckled grimly, even his laugh had a brogue. “Trust me, son, I share your thoughts regarding Hugh, but he has an alibi. The state police said he also has an alibi for the night of the burglary. As of now, they have no suspects for either crime.”

Markus tapped his fingers on the wheel. He would have bet money that Hugh was behind the burglary and the attempt on Cassidy’s life. If he really wasn’t, then who the hell was? He’d bet his ass the same person was responsible for both.

“I’m on my way to your house.” He backed out of the lot and turned the SUV in the opposite direction, toward Ian and Fiona’s house. “Who’s with Cassidy now?”

“Her mother. We made a schedule. The whole family’s been taking shifts to make sure someone is always with her.”

“Good.” Cassidy must have hated that, but he was glad for how the family had rallied around her.

“And Markus?”

“Yeah.”

“I just thought you’d want to know.”

“Thanks.” He ended the call.

Damn right I’d want to know. Someone had tried to kill Cassidy—the woman he loved with every cell in his body and every breath he took.

He pushed the SUV as fast as he dared, zigzagging in and out of traffic on the busy local road. Cassidy was safe. For now. But he couldn’t put his finger on the growing sense of urgency gripping him.

The state police wouldn’t have the manpower to provide 24/7 protection for Cassidy, but he could. Protection was his thing.