Page 22

Twenty-Two

Quinn

“E lias Salvador, son of Juan Salvador, age thirty-two, served five years for possession and distribution of child pornography.”

I sat at the kitchen table at my mom’s house and reached for the mugshot that Mike slid across the table to me.

“Before Justin died, he helped Ariel Wyland put the man who tortured and held her captive for ten years behind bars. Not only did they take down the ringleader of the operation, but they also caught his son, Elias as well. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough to hold him longer than five years, and as you already know, he’s been granted early release and forced to register as a sex offender. ”

“You think this is who is watching Rosie?” I asked quietly.

My mom and Rosie were hanging out in my mom’s bedroom, watching movies in bed while she rested.

I wasn’t sure if it was from all of the excitement yesterday morning or if she was coming down with something, but she seemed not to feel well today, which had me concerned.

She was away from us long enough for someone to have given her something, even though she insisted no one had.

“Yes, I think he is.” Mike pulled the chair out and sat down beside me. “I think several people are involved, and honestly, I’m not sure who we can trust right now. The biggest connection to all of this is Justin.”

“Justin?” I asked, my voice catching in my throat.

“He was the only one who pushed her to testify. That wasn’t part of the job, Quinn.

He was responsible for securing her until she went into witness protection and U.S.

Marshals took over. If he hadn’t kept pushing her, she might not have testified, and the case would have gone in a different direction. ”

“So you think someone is trying to take Rosie because her dad put a child sex trafficker behind bars?” I knew that was exactly what he was saying, but it felt better to hear the words out loud instead of rattling around in my brain.

“They’re leaving clues directly related to him and the car accident. It’s not them being sloppy. It’s them sending a message.”

I pulled in a shaky breath and held the picture in front of me.

Elias Salvador was handsome—not as handsome as Roman—but handsome enough to get what he wanted from women without having to work for it.

His dark eyes hid the evil that resided inside and was offset by a smile that could melt a nun’s panties.

It was unnerving to see a smile offered so freely in a mugshot photo as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

It wasn’t the look that I was used to seeing of people who realized that life as they knew it was over because the rest of it would be spent behind bars.

I hated that he had been let out early and even more that he hadn’t been given a long sentence to begin with. But it seemed that his father had been convicted of the majority of the crimes, and he was simply just another measly pawn in the game.

“So, what do we do now?” I asked, lowering the picture to the table, and sliding it back to Mike.

“We stay vigilant. Alert. We don’t take our eyes off of Rosie, and we work as a team to protect her.”

“Do you think they’re coming for her soon?”

He shrugged and folded his arms over his chest.

“There’s no way to know. But I don’t think they’re just going to back off and forget about her.”

My stomach soured, and I could taste the bitterness of the bile as it rose up.

“I hate not knowing.”

“I know. Me too.” He gently squeezed my shoulder. “But we’re going to keep her safe. Not to worry.”

“Okay,” I whispered.