Page 56 of Free to Judge

“But then again, you’d never have confronted him the way you did either. Jon says it’s made a difference in him. He’s healing.”

“If that’s because of me, it’s because I’m asking,” I retort.

He nods thoughtfully before admonishing me. “Still, if he was as bad as we built his reputation to be, you could have been hurt, died…or worse.”

“W-what?”

“Kalie,” he lets out a broken sigh. “I need to tell you the full story about your grandfather.”

So he does. He tells me about how his father and Uncle Caleb’s mother had a torrid affair. How his father broke it off, and when they did, placed my Aunt Cassidy’s life—my father’s sister—in jeopardy. “I never stopped looking for the people who took her.”

“Excuse me?”

“In what world would you contemplate I would have?” His words are mild, but his eyes are turbulent. His hand clenches on the table. He’s coiled tighter than I’ve ever seen him—even when I went out on my first date. “It wasn’t until I hired Declan that I found the piece I couldn’t locate.”

Declan’s words from the other night spring to mind. “Jack Marshall.”

He nods. “My father. The man who started it all. The person who is in bed with the Byrnes. I have…so many questions.”

“I imagine you do.”

“But more than answers, I need to know you all are safe.” Before the shriek that wants to leave my lips can bring a member of the waitstaff scurrying toward us, he leans over and covers my mouth. His voice lowers to a whisper, “Kalie, we found out the Byrnes are part of the pipeline that traffics women and children.”

Ripping his hand away, I hiss, “Tell me you’re going after them.”

He nods. “But carefully.”

“I’d have thought you’d have shot first and cleaned up later.”

A faint smile crosses his lips. “Maybe. If it weren’t for one thing.”

“What’s that?”

He tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear. “You knocking Dec on his ass.”

Crap. “I wasn’t exactly thinking.”

His voice is quiet but firm. “I understand, Kalie. It’s just made things…difficult. There have been…threats…made.”

“Against who, Dad?”

His gaze skitters away from mine. Even if that’s telling enough, I need the words. “Dad?”

“I swore from the moment I held you for the first time I’d protect you with my life, Katherine Laura. I’ll never ever let up on that vow.”

“Daddy?” Tears clog my throat as I push him to answer my question.

He cups my cheek before he leans over the table to kiss it. “Don’t worry about the threat, sweetheart. I’ll always protect you.”

With that, I push away from the table. My father sits back as I hurry around the table. When he realizes what I’m about to do, he slides his chair back to make room for me on his lap.

While he’s hugging me close, he lets his love and protection wash over me.

The same way he did my whole childhood.

After spending most of our meal catching him up on the unusual friendship I have established with Declan, I take a bite of my food before laying something else on his shoulders. “I’m not gonna lie to Mama, the aunts, the uncles.”

He leans forward, fury leaping into his eyes. It almost causes me to recoil. Almost. “You don’t get to decide that?—”