Dangerous Protector (Red Stone Security #14)(6)
Aaron was a little surprised she’d asked, but thankful. He figured she’d need some support and he wanted to be it. He knew what it was like to be laid up in a hospital room, alone with no one there when he woke up. Not even remotely the same circumstances, but he simply couldn’t leave her now. As far as he knew she didn’t have any family here. Or any family at all, really. He’d asked his brother, who was friendly with her, and Callan had seemed to think she was alone.
Aaron had already called work to let them know he wouldn’t be in today and he’d asked his brother to pick Dillon up from school so there was nothing dragging him away from her bedside.
“He can stay as long as you want him here.” Carlito’s voice dropped to a softer, speaking-to-a-victim tone, and for that Aaron was grateful.
When he pulled up a chair on Tegan’s other side, Aaron did the same with a rolling stool and sat next to her. He had the most irrational urge to take her hand in his, but resisted.
“As you can imagine, I’ve got some questions for you. I’ve already spoken to some of the eyewitnesses, but I need to confirm that your vehicle was the one that exploded.” Carlito rattled off a license plate number and held out a digital camera. The screen showed a picture of her mottled, ruined car, pieces of it strewn across the street and sidewalk.
She wrapped her arms around herself as she nodded. “Yeah, that’s it. It exploded when I pressed my key fob to unlock it. I’d come outside to give Aaron part of his order he forgot, and on my way back to the shop I decided to grab my sweater since a jacket would be too heavy. And…I’m rambling. Yes, that’s my car.”
“You’re not rambling. I want as many details as you can remember. Is it normal for you to go to your car during the day?”
“No. I almost never leave the shop when I’m working. But we don’t get our rush until about eight, so…” Her face grew even paler. “I was supposed to leave around noon today during the shift change. That’s one of the busiest times downtown.” Tegan started to breathe harder, wheezing in and out in a panic, so Aaron slid a hand behind her back and started rubbing up and down in a soothing motion.
Her gown only tied at the neck so all he felt was smooth, soft skin. No bra, something he didn’t want to be noticing.
“Do you want a glass of water?” Carlito asked as she started to get herself back under control.
Aaron still didn’t remove his hand and she didn’t seem to want him to. Touching her was stupid for his sanity, but he didn’t care. She needed comfort right now.
“No, I’m good. I want to help you find who did this.”
“I’m going to start with the obvious. Do you know of anyone who could have wanted to harm you? Any enemies, ex-boyfriends? From what I heard from some of the eyewitnesses, you’ve done a lot of design work for the shops downtown, so what about other freelance work? It’s a stretch, but any contracts that didn’t work out? I want the names of absolutely anyone you can think of.”
Chewing on her bottom lip, she flicked a wary glance at Aaron before she looked back at the detective. “There’s only one person I can think of who would want to hurt me enough to kill me, but he’s dead.”
Aaron almost jolted at that, but remained where he was, his palm on her back. Her heartbeat had evened out now. What the hell? The thought of anyone trying to hurt her made all his protective instincts rise up.
Her gaze dropped to her lap. “Have you ever heard of a man named Enzo De Fiore?”
It sounded vaguely familiar to Aaron, but he couldn’t place it. Duarte seemed to be having the same issue. “That sounds familiar.”
“He is—was—a gangster in Chicago. Before he died eight months ago, he was convinced that I helped my brother steal a bunch of diamonds from him. Diamonds that he already stole from someone else. I didn’t take them, but that didn’t matter to him. Before I settled here I was on the run for two solid years because he was convinced I knew something.” Her cheeks flushed a delicate shade of pink. He couldn’t be sure, but she looked almost guilty as she continued.
“I didn’t take his diamonds, but…I did steal his dog when I ran.”
Chapter 3
Enzo slammed his fist against the steering wheel but it didn’t make him feel any better. Nothing would make him better until he got his f*cking diamonds. He’d been watching that little bitch Tegan for a few weeks now and her lifestyle wasn’t like someone who had a stash of millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds at her disposal.
He’d have gone after her sooner but he had other shit to worry about—like the Feds not believing he was really dead. Coming after Tegan and potentially showing his face in Miami eight months ago would have been stupid. Especially with all the CCTVs they had in the city. So he’d done what he had to do. He’d lain low in a backwoods small town in the middle of nowhere until the time was right. He hadn’t been in the news lately so he’d sent his partner ahead to get a place ready for him, a place close to Tegan.
Ever since, he’d been watching and waiting for the right opportunity to make a move.
Then she’d almost gotten herself killed in town today. So now he was sitting in the hospital parking lot while she was inside hopefully not f*cking dead.
He wasn’t sure who would want to kill her—other than him, of course. Maybe she’d double-crossed a partner when she’d taken his damn diamonds. And deep down he knew she had to have had a partner. Probably her brother. Though that f*cker was a ghost, long gone. Enzo hadn’t even gotten a hint of where he might be. He didn’t think her brother would try to blow her up though…no, there had to be someone else involved with her. Or maybe she’d stolen from someone else after him?