Lisa Childs - Colton's Cinderella Bride

“I met Juliette before I left Red Ridge,” Blake said—almost reluctantly.

“That was nearly five years ago,” Finn remembered. “How would your paths have crossed? Juliette was working two jobs back then to pay off her mother’s medical bills and put herself through college.” He had a lot of respect for the young woman’s work ethic. That was why he was damn happy to have her as part of his police force.

A ragged breath escaped Blake’s lips. “I—I didn’t know that...”

“So you didn’t know her well, then,” Finn said. Sounded like he hadn’t even known her last name. “What’s with your sudden interest in her now?”

“I—I know she and her daughter are in danger,” Blake said. “And I want to help.”

Finn furrowed his brow again. “That’s not necessary.” A civilian like Blake would only get in Finn’s way. “I’ve got it handled. The little girl is in a safe house with around-the-clock protection—”

“Juliette should be in the safe house, too,” Blake said. “With the child.”

Finn nodded. “I tried that. She refused to go into hiding.” He suspected she wanted to personally catch the killer who’d traumatized her daughter. “I’ll have other officers watching her at all times.”

Blake shook his head. “That’s not enough. With all these murders, the Red Ridge PD is spread too thin.”

Finn couldn’t argue with that. He was damn tired of not being able to find Demi. He would have rather she was the cousin who had paid him this late-night visit, so he could figure out whether or not she was the Groom Killer. He suspected not, and there was a psycho on the loose in Red Ridge.

Then he also had the Larson twins and all the criminal activities he suspected they were behind to deal with, as well. He needed more than suspicions to nail them, though. He needed proof. But the officers he’d put on surveillance of the twins’ real estate company hadn’t come up with anything yet.

“We’re spread a little thin,” he reluctantly admitted. “But we protect our own. Nothing will happen to Juliette or her daughter.” He would make damn sure of that.

Blake shook his head again, and there was a slightly wild look in his green eyes. Fear. He was really afraid for Juliette and Pandora. But why did a woman he’d barely known years ago matter so much to him?

“I’m hiring a private security company out of Michigan,” he said. “I want to have bodyguards backing up the police at the safe house and the car following Juliette around.”

Finn groaned. He didn’t need outsiders getting in his way any more than he needed billionaire Coltons. He already had Blake’s father breathing down his neck to find Demi; he didn’t need Blake breathing down his neck, too. At least his father had a reason; he was worried about his business. Apparently his daughter was supposed to marry a zillionaire to save Colton Energy in a merger. But because of the Groom Killer, Layla Colton’s fiancé had called off the necessary wedding.

What was Blake’s reason?

So Finn asked, “Why do you care so damn much about a woman you must not have seen in five years?”

Blake’s jaw clenched so tightly that a muscle twitched in his cheek—in his left cheek with the deep dimple in it. The same one Juliette’s little girl had.

“She’s yours,” Finn said with sudden realization. “Juliette’s daughter is yours.”

Blake nodded.

“I didn’t know...” Finn murmured. How had the Red Ridge rumor mill missed that juicy bit of gossip? Hell, how had the media?

“Neither did I,” Blake replied.

And Finn flinched for him. Obviously, his cousin had just learned that he was a father—as his daughter was in danger. He reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “I don’t know what to say, man...”

“Say that you’ll accept my help,” Blake said. “These bodyguards are the best.”

Finn sighed.

“And along with the bodyguards, I intend to protect Juliette myself,” Blake said.

Finn snorted.

Blake tensed, looking offended.

“Come on,” Finn said. “You’re no bodyguard.” He was a billionaire.

“The bodyguards will be there, too,” Blake pointed out. “So will your officers.”

“Yeah, so you don’t need to be,” Finn said.

“Yes, I do.”

And from the determination in his cousin’s voice, Finn knew there would be no arguing him out of it. Even if he flat-out told him not to, he suspected Blake would follow her around anyway.

“Why?” he asked again. Blake’s revelation explained why he wanted the extra protection on Pandora but not on Juliette. “Why would you put your life in danger for someone who didn’t even tell you that you had a kid?”

Blake sighed. “This isn’t about me. It’s about that little girl. She can’t lose the only parent she knows.”

Finn echoed Blake’s sigh in agreement. But he had to point out, “She might lose both of you since you’re putting your life in danger, too.”

Chapter 5

“Why can’t you come tuck me in, Mommy?” The question emanated from the speakers in Juliette’s personal vehicle since her cell had connected via Bluetooth.

She wanted more than anything to be with her daughter, to hold her in her arms. She had only missed that first night of tucking Pandora into bed, but Elle had assured Juliette that the little girl had been so exhausted she’d fallen immediately to sleep. That was not the case tonight. Tonight, she was so upset that Elle had had to call Juliette to settle her down.

Pandora seemed to be getting more and more upset. She wanted to be with Juliette as badly as Juliette wanted to be with her. They were all each other had ever had. And it was killing Juliette to be away from her.

Last night Juliette had had a distraction—that meeting with Blake. It had gone better than she’d expected it would. While he had been angry with her, he hadn’t been as furious as he could have been with her, as he probably should have been with her.

But he’d been too concerned about the danger she and Pandora were in to focus too much on what she’d done. On how she’d betrayed him. She had no doubt that, despite her apologies, he hadn’t forgiven her, though.

He had just made keeping Pandora safe his top priority. But what would happen once the killer was caught? What would Blake do then?

He would want to meet his daughter. He deserved to meet his daughter. Yet right now that would be putting her at risk—just like Juliette visiting her would. That was why the chief had insisted that if she was determined to keep working, she couldn’t go to the safe house. They couldn’t risk the killer following Juliette to her daughter.

But when that soft voice emanated from the car speakers, breaking with sobs as she pleaded, “Mommy, come tuck me in...” Juliette worried that she’d made the wrong choice. Her heart ached with missing her little girl.

She’d thought that if she stayed on the job, she would be able to find the killer faster than her coworkers. After all, she’d seen him; they hadn’t. Hell, she’d even hoped to draw him out, so that this would all be over soon. So that she and Pandora could go back to their everyday, perfect life together.

But even after the killer was caught, they wouldn’t be able to do that—because of Blake Colton. No matter what, he would be part of their daughter’s life now. And that would make him part of Juliette’s. He wouldn’t be just a nearly five-year-old memory. Juliette focused on her daughter again. “Sweetheart, I wish I could be with you right now...”

But she loved her too much to put her in any more danger than she already was.

“I’m working right now, though, baby...”

A little hiccupping sob echoed throughout the car. “Did you get the bad man, Mommy?”