Midnight Hour (Shadow Falls: After Dark #4)(118)

This could be dangerous.”

“You said the babysitter left the country,” Burnett said.

Perry nodded. “He suspects the babysitter took him. He’s found some info on her family in Mexico. He has contacts checking if she’s there.

If he thinks she is, he’s sending me and another guard there.”

“I don’t care.” Holiday looked at Burnett. “He stays here.” Then she exhaled, still looking at Burnett. “Can I ask now?”

Ask what?

Burnett nodded and Holiday refocused on Perry. “We wanted to ask if you’d mind if Burnett and I adopted your nephew. We’ve fallen in love

with him.”

Perry’s chest tightened, leaking out some of the bad he had dwelling there. “You have no idea how much that’d mean to me.” He looked at

Burnett.

Worry wrinkled the vampire’s brow. “We need to contact the babysitter. If one of Caleb’s men catches her…”

“I already called her. The only family she has in Mexico died a few months ago, but she’s scared. I told her if she’d come back to the

States we’d make sure she’s safe.”

“Does she have tickets yet?” Burnett asked.

“No, I said I’d let her know as soon as I spoke with you.”

Burnett did a short lap around the office then stopped. “Give me her information. I’ll have someone make her a ticket under an alias.

They’ll meet her at the airport with a fake passport and fly back with her.”

Perry nodded. “Thank you.”

“Now, what’s the other thing?” Burnett asked.

Perry hesitated then dropped the heavy, dirty pillowcase on Holiday’s desk. It landed with a dead thump.





Chapter Thirty-four

“What’s this?” Burnett asked.

“Seven hundred thousand dollars,” Perry answered. “Payment for taking care of Caleb. I didn’t want to take it, but it would’ve been

suspicious if I didn’t.”

Perry sat down. “I figured we’d turn it over. For evidence. Then I remembered what you said. That the FRU already had enough evidence to bury

Jax from his previous crimes. I considered dropping it by a homeless shelter. But I didn’t know who’d find it.”

Burnett looked puzzled.

“I don’t want a dollar of this money, and if you need it to make a case, by all means, take it. But if not, maybe it could go to some good

use. Maybe half of it to help straighten out the FRU’s foster program.” He looked at Holiday. “Burnett told me that you two bought the

property next door and were trying to get a loan to build cabins. Why not use this?”

Burnett sat back down on the edge of his wife’s desk and looked at her as if asking for advice. She shrugged.

He looked back at Perry. “Because you aren’t officially working for the FRU right now, you aren’t required to turn it over. But…”

“No buts then,” Perry said. “Jax would have a shitfit if he knew his money was going to some common good. That makes it all that sweeter.”

Perry stood there, still feeling emotionally numb. “I guess it’s time to go to plan B.”

“What’s plan B?” Holiday asked frowning.

“Arrest Jax,” Burnett answered and looked back at Perry. “The Galveston FRU is lead agency because it’s their territory, but our Fallen

team and the Houston team are all in. They’ll call when they have everything in place. It will probably be tomorrow.”

“I don’t like this,” Holiday said, and Perry agreed with her. He could not let his half brother, whom he shared no love with, hurt anyone at

Shadow Falls, who had become the family of his heart.

*

Miranda rested back on the blanket and stared through the trees to the stars twinkling in the sky. The weight of the cast rested on her

abdomen, the weight of her worries were lighter. Being with Perry and being amongst the trees was like an emotional hug.

Perry shifted. “Why did you want to come out here?”

“I like the trees,” she said.

“Didn’t you tell me you were afraid of them?”

“Not anymore.” She slipped her hand in his. She could feel his pain, but she also felt the healing properties the trees offered her. She

wished she could share that with him.

Tightening her grip, she said, “Are you ever going to tell me what’s happening? What’s hurting you?”

He dropped his right arm over his eyes. “Not now. It’s so ugly.”

She leaned up and looked down at him. He moved his arm. Their gazes met. He was her true love. He was hurting. Not being able to console him

was like not breathing.

She swallowed. “Yeah, but when you share things like that sometimes it lightens the load on you.”

He caught a strand of her hair in his hand. “The last thing I want to do is put these things in your head just to make me feel better. You’ve

got enough crap on you already.”

“I can handle it. I feel better about things.”

“How about I promise that when it’s done, I’ll tell you everything.”