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Heart hammering, I head to Riley.

That wasn’t my Leo.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Leonard

I glance over at Shelby again. She’s still staring out the passenger window, but the shift in her shoulder tells me she can feel my eyes on her.

She’s been quiet ever since I ushered her and Riley out of the park. I shift my eyes to my baby girl through the rear-view mirror. Wiggling in her seat to the tunes from her headphones, she’s oblivious to the mood up front.

I frown at the iPad in her little hands before focusing back on the road. Needs must.

“You’ve gone quiet,” I say, placing my hand on Shelby’s thigh.

“I’m always quiet.”

True.I roll my eyes, irritation flaring. The disrespectful gesture irritates me even more.

“Talk to me,” I whisper huskily, squeezing her leg.

Sighing, Shelby shuffles in her seat. Her fingers find mine and play mindlessly, but eventually she forces out, “He called you an angel of death.”

I close my eyes at the phrase.Motherfucker!That prick has been digging. He was probably a good cop before he pissed off the Cromwells and got himself booted.

Crossing me won’t get him fired. It’ll get him killed. I’m not losing my family, and that’s what Shelby is—family, my future wife, and the mother of my kids.

The Cromwells didn’t have the balls to deal with him when he sniffed around them and their girls, but I do.

“Cooper likes to run his mouth.” But the vague answer doesn’t satisfy.

Shelby finds my mother’s locket under her T-shirt.

Twisting in her seat, she glances back at Riley. Happy my daughter is completely distracted, Shelby whispers, “Have you killed people?”

I feel my heart stop. I’d hoped this day wouldn’t come.

“I’m a doctor, Shelby,” I say confidently. My hand on her thigh moves to find the nape of her neck. “I swore an oath to help people. I take my oaths very seriously, as will you when we marry.”

Shelby blinks at my words, letting them sink in.

“What if I don’t want to get married?”

I chuckle at her question and squeeze her neck. Keeping my eyes on the road, I move to wipe away a lone tear making its way down her soft cheek.

“Am I wearing your wife’s necklace?” she chokes out.

“Ex-wife,” I correct, “and it was never hers. Even if she wore it for a short time.”

Shelby lets go of the locket as if it burns.

“Enough. The necklace belongs to you, and you’ll wear it as my wife. You weren’t questioning us this morning, so don’t let Kyle fucking Cooper change the way you feel about me. I love you.”

“I need to go home and think.”

Frustration fills me. “At the house with me and Riley is your home.”

“You know what I mean,” Shelby mumbles, her voice shaky.