Safe in His Sight (22 page)

“Come over here, Julia.” Grant tried again to take her away from the fire.

“No.”

“Leo Falk is dead,” he said.

The news took a while to register. No trial or just punishment, but his victims had closure. That was probably better for all concerned, unless they tried to blame Mitch. She turned to Grant. “How?”

“I’m no doctor, but he has a chunk of glass embedded in his arm. They found him around back near a blown-out window. Between the cut and the smoke...” She stopped listening. If they charged Mitch with any crime, she would oversee his defense. All that mattered now was that he came out of that fire alive.

At last another firefighter appeared, arm around Mitch, and his oxygen mask pressed to Mitch’s face. Julia raced forward to shore up his other side, ignoring orders to stay out of the way. She was less than effective, being smaller than him, but she wasn’t about to leave him.

“Thanks, Jennings,” Mitch rasped as the firefighter handed him off to paramedics.

Julia ran her hands over him, seeking any injuries. “He was in a fight. There was a knife,” she explained to the paramedics. She stayed at his side while he was treated with more oxygen and his minor scrapes were addressed.

“I’m okay.” He reached for her hand, giving it a squeeze. “Tougher than I look.”

“Don’t talk,” she ordered. “Just...just breathe.”

He nodded and laced his fingers through hers. She brought his battered knuckles to her lips, kissing every abrasion. He’d saved her. Not just from Falk. In sheltering her from a stalker, Mitch had irrevocably changed her life. He’d saved her from her old fears, giving her the courage to let go of those burdens and be her best self.

Tears welled in her eyes, but she wouldn’t cry. Not out there. As soon as he was feeling better, she’d cook him dinner and thank him properly for setting her free, for loving her enough that she knew how to love him back.

He pulled the oxygen mask down and gave her a devastating smile. “I’m okay.”

“I can see that.”

“Can you?” He sat up, swinging his legs to the side of the gurney so his face was only a few inches from hers. His lower lip was split from Falk’s lucky punch and there was probably a black eye welling under the soot stains.

She nodded, though it felt shaky. “I love you,” she whispered. So much for waiting for the proper setting. She kissed him, carefully avoiding the injured spot. “You’re stuck with me now.”

“Promise?” Joy and love radiated back at her from his gorgeous brown eyes. “Don’t tease me now, Julia.”

“I promise.” She swallowed another swell of tears and gripped as much of his big hands as she could hold. “Don’t let go. Please.” She’d flounder without him.

His laughter was rusty from the smoke as he pulled her into his arms. “You’ll have one hell of a challenge finding any quiet time again,” he said, raising his chin in the direction of his family, already trying to talk their way past the line of first responders blocking the street.

“I’m up for it,” she said. “Together we can tackle anything.” She ran her hands over his face, reassuring herself he’d really survived. They’d survived.

“You say that now—”

“And I’ll say it fifty years from now. Mitch, do you think we could—”

He held her at arm’s length, eyes wide. “Don’t you dare propose to me here.”

She bit her lip, trying to hold back the sudden ache around her heart. “Too soon?” Love took time. Just because she’d gotten there first didn’t mean he wouldn’t. Eventually. “Okay. I get it. We can—”

“Julia, hush.” He laughed again, hard enough this time to start coughing. A paramedic pushed an oxygen mask over his face. Mitch shoved it away. “You’ve got your heart on your sleeve, sweetheart.”

“Only for you,” she admitted. “No one else can see it.”

“I know.” He drew her close to stand between his knees. “It’s safe with me.”

She leaned against the gift of his calm strength, accepting the unconditional support she’d longed for her entire life. “I love you,” she whispered again.

“I love you, too, Julia.”

The sweetest words she’d ever heard fell like a soft rain over her head, sinking in, a soothing balm over scorched nerves.

“Call me traditional,” he said, “but when
I
propose to
you
, it won’t be in front of a crime scene.”

She leaned back, beaming at him. “I won’t argue with that.”

Laughter shook through him, along with another smoke-induced cough. “And I won’t hold my breath.”

Epilogue

M
itch sat with Julia at the end of the bar, applauding with the crowd as Grant finished his set as guest drummer. Not unlike the first night they’d met, yet so much had changed in recent weeks. He had his job back at the firehouse, and while the Falk murder fiasco was being hashed out, Julia worked here as Grant’s assistant.

Her finances had been mysteriously repaired and restored, a feat they were both too relieved to question closely. With his uncle’s house a total loss, his entire family had pitched in to transform an outbuilding near the garage into an apartment for Stephen, so Mitch and Julia could move back into her place. After feeling so cramped in September, now it seemed the perfect size for them as a couple.

As Grant emerged from backstage, Mitch took Julia’s hand, smiling as the diamond ring he’d given her sparkled. Sometimes he still couldn’t believe she’d said yes without a single argument. She’d be beside him at Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas, in the thick of it with his sisters, brothers, their spouses and kids. He couldn’t wait for each and every day ahead of them.

They followed Grant to the office, only to find a pale, skinny kid in a black hoodie and ratty jeans and a Philadelphia PD detective in a crisp suit waiting for them.

“Mitch, Julia, this is Detective Bryant,” Grant said as he rounded the desk to his chair.

The detective stood and shook hands with them, then offered his seat to Julia. Mitch stood behind her, hands on her shoulders. “Detective Bryant stopped by as a favor to me. I figured you’d appreciate an update, Julia.”

“You,” Julia said, her body going tense when she recognized the kid. “You gave me the note in the park.”

The kid nodded, his gaze locked on his shoestrings.

“He goes by K-Chase as a hacker,” Bryant said. “Took us some time to verify his story.” Bryant jabbed him in the shoulder. “Talk, kid.”

K-Chase leaned forward. “I apologize, Miss Cooper.” He lifted his gaze to search her face. “You got your money back, right?”

“Yes,” she replied, wary.

“You locked her out of her accounts?” Mitch asked. “You’re responsible for the credit card fraud?”

“Yeah.” The kid rolled his shoulders back, a little pride showing. “And I’m the one who fixed it all, too.”

“And,” Bryant prompted when he stopped talking.

“And I’m sorry for sending that picture to your boss, messing with your gear, and all the rest of it. Really sorry about the whole thing with you and the car,” he said to Mitch. “He said he’d kill me if I screwed up his plan to escape.”

“Leo Falk threatened to kill you?” Julia asked, incredulous.

The kid drummed his fingertips on his knee. “I got conned as much as anyone else. A few hacks for some easy money. It snowballed.”

“What an understatement,” Mitch grumbled.

“Hey, I can get in and out of any system in the world, but I’m not a killer. When I heard he died in that fire, I wasn’t sure. So I stayed low awhile. He faked it once before.”

“Yes, we’re aware,” Julia said. “You were supposed to kill Mitch?”

K-Chase nodded. “I did just enough to make it look good, then I ran.”

At the memory of shaking out of the blackout and running back to find the house on fire, Mitch couldn’t quite suppress the shudder. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to throttle the kid or shake his hand. Julia reached back and laid her hand over his on her shoulder, making the decision for him. They’d survived. He’d focus on the positives.

Bryant shoved his hands into his pockets. “Kid offered a full confession if I let him apologize to you both.”

“Thanks,” Mitch and Julia said in unison.

“All right, time’s up, kid.” Bryant urged K-Chase to his feet. “Let’s move.”

Julia watched them go, and Mitch could hear the wheels turning as he took the empty chair. “Don’t even think about it,” he murmured at her ear. “You know that one’s guilty.”

“He’s entitled to competent defense,” she protested, her eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully.

Grant laughed. “I’m not sure the kid can afford a Marburg attorney.”

Mitch held his breath, watching the reactions play across Julia’s features.

“I can have my old job back? No one’s reached out to me.”

Grant shrugged a shoulder. “Based on the evidence Bryant is pulling out of that kid, your job may be the easiest situation to rectify. K-Chase didn’t just hack for Leo, he hacked
into
Leo’s operation. A kid like that will trade everything he knows to avoid hard time.”

Grant had enough experience to know.

Julia reached out and caught Mitch’s hand, lacing her fingers through his. “I suppose it’s something we’ll consider, if Marburg makes an offer.” She gave him one of those smiles that just shot through him like a summer day, her eyes as bright as the diamond on her finger. “In the meantime, we have a wedding to plan.”

“Well, if you need a band or reception venue, say the word and the Escape is yours,” Grant offered with an easy smile.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Mitch said. Standing, he draped his arm around her shoulders, enjoying the way she leaned into him at every opportunity now.

“We’ll think about it,” she replied, wrapping her arm around his waist. “I had a different request for you, Grant.”

“What’s that?”

“Would you please walk me down the aisle?”

Grant’s face blanked for a second, then gave way to a brilliant grin. He came around the desk and wrapped her in a big hug. “I’d be honored.”

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Mitch pressed a kiss to the top of her head as they left the club. It was such a gift to be trusted with her big, tender heart. “You made his night.”

“He’s the closest thing I have to a dad, next to yours,” she explained. She nestled closer into his embrace. “I get that from you,” she added, her voice turning shy.

“What’s that?”

“The courage to let people in. In close enough to feel like family.” She pressed up onto her toes and kissed him. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.” Just when he thought his heart couldn’t hold any more, she gave him words like that. “You have plenty of family now.” He laughed. “You’re the most courageous woman I know and I’ll be here to remind you today, tomorrow and always.”

*

Keep reading for an excerpt from
CONARD COUNTY MARINE
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