Shield of Protection by Dana Mentink

Author:Dana Mentink
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-12-03T15:24:38+00:00

FIVE

Declan braced himself and returned to his boss and Carter.

“You knew her uncle worked for Spade?”

“No, sir. Not until today.”

“I’m supposed to believe that?”

Declan straightened. “All respect, sir, it’s the truth. I didn’t know.”

“But if you had, you’d have done what? Been smart and distanced yourself from her?”

Declan looked at his boots. He’d sure heaped out enough comments to make her keep her distance from him.

This training is everything to me.

I need to focus 100 percent...to show them I’m not my father.

After Paige, I’m done with relationships.

“I... I don’t know,” he said with a sigh.

“You should know. It should be crystal clear in your mind, Maxwell. You, more than any cop, need to keep your nose clean.”

Declan’s blood went molten. He looked right at his commanding officer, fighting to keep his tone level. “I know, and I have.”

“I stuck my neck out, taking you on for training. Your dad hurt the reputation of the NYPD and smeared us all with mud.”

Shame licked at Declan’s soul. Would he ever be seen as good enough? Could he ever see himself that way? But when he thought about April, suddenly his priorities became clear. Just like she’d said to him many times, he was not his father, and he didn’t have to prove it to himself. She believed it. God believed it. So should he.

Carter cleared his throat. “Sir, Declan’s a good cop.”

Farro frowned. “I realized Declan is a friend of the family, but I don’t know that I would agree about the way things were handled today. No backup, a shooting in a public park, knowing full well that Malcolm Spade was involved...”

Declan was about to snap off a retort, but Carter cut him off.

“He didn’t know that, sir, but now he does. He’ll go through the proper channels.”

Farro crimped his lip. “You know I can’t do much here. It’s not up to Vapor Wake to investigate. I’ll send out an alert to the beat cops and fill in Chief Jameson and the detectives. They’ll do some research and turn up the heat on Spade, but the NYPD can’t act on some nameless vague threat given to us by Spade’s former employee.”

Declan pushed out a breath. He was about to step out on a limb that might just snap and send him falling. “Give me tonight and tomorrow morning to work on it, sir.”

“Not your business and you’re scheduled for training.”

“I’ll take personal time.”

“Not allowed. I could drop you from the squad.”

“I understand the potential consequences.”

“And you’re willing to take that risk? For a family friend?”

Declan felt a sense of calm steal over his body, along with the truth. April Reed was more to him than a family friend. Without her, his life was flat and colorless. She believed in him. His world was not his duty, his reputation or even his career. His world was her; his heart was hers, if she’d have it.

He wondered if it was too late to tell her.

“I will risk what I have to,” he said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.