Dark Guardian (Black Hoods MC #3) - Avelyn Paige Page 0,27

the back of my head and freeze. Raising my hands, my eyes zero in on Grace, who looks terrified for me.

Grace

“It’s her fucking birthday, asshole,” he yells as Aaron shoves him into the squad car while he pleads with me. He squirms in the backseat, still fighting against the cuffs wrapped around his large wrists. The way he looks back at me through the windows of the squad car may haunt me for the rest of my life, his sadness and rage all too clear.

“Coming here was a mistake,” I tell Aaron. “We should’ve done this quietly and at his home. Not here.”

“They sent us to execute the removal order. Why does the location matter? We neutralized the biggest threat. Now we can get the kids and be done with this.” His tone implies his true intent. I’ll be done with this. That’s all he cares about. Not the kids. Not the additional trauma we’ve just unnecessarily inflicted on the both of them. I narrow my eyes at him.

“Don’t look at me like that. I told you these guys were dangerous. You should be glad I came along.” Yeah, glad. That’s the word I’d use to describe his involvement. Powder keg would be more like it. I knew Mr. Grant would fight us, I just didn’t think he’d fight this hard. He cares about these kids, and that makes him even more dangerous to the father’s case. If he’s their father. “This is just another case, Grace.”

“Why are you even here? You’re a detective.” A patrol officer is normally the only one who accompanies me. The fact the warrant fell into his lap when it came across from the judge means he’s meddling more in my cases than he’s letting on. Every ounce of guilt that I felt for leaving him at that restaurant evaporates. He’s letting his attraction for me dip into his professional career. And mine.

“To that little girl, it matters.” A tear slips down my cheek, and Aaron zeroes in on it. He’s never experienced trauma like this, but I have. His childhood was sunshine and rainbows compared to hers. To mine. If he had seen the terror on her face like I had, he might be more compassionate. Natalie will never forget this, and neither will I. “I try to make removals as painless as I can, and you turned it into a bull in a china shop. Or, in this case, a biker’s clubhouse.”

The smirk on his lips as we watch the squad car drive off together irks me. He’s proud of himself for sending Mr. Grant off to jail. He’s practically beaming. I turn to head toward the crowd when his hand reaches out, grasping my elbow.

“She’ll be fine. The sooner she and her brother are away from these people, the better off she’ll be. The boy too.”

“If that helps you sleep at night, sure, but we both know the escalation of violence is on your head, not mine.”

“Grace, that’s not what I did.”

Turning back, I get in his face. “That’s exactly what you did. Instead of letting me do my fucking job, you took over. You did this,” I hiss. He recoils at my rage, something he’s never seen before. If dinner the other night didn’t put a knife in our friendship, this did. If he wants to interfere with my job, puppet mastering his way into my cases, it’s over. Done.

“Why are you still here? You did what you came to do.”

“To protect you,” he argues, his frustration getting the better of him. “His people are still here.”

“And yet not one of them has incited violence against me, have they? Your job is done. Let me do mine without any more of your special kind of help.”

Storming off, I head toward the officer posted at the door of the building, peering over my shoulder once to see Aaron sliding into his car.

“My team swept the place. The kids aren’t inside,” the officer advises me when I approach. “One of the ladies ushered them inside while the fight broke out.”

“What do you mean, they aren’t inside?” A weight settles in my chest.

“I swept the house myself, went room to room. There’s no one in there.”

“Where’s the woman you saw take them inside? Find her, now!”

He does as he’s told. Every second that he’s gone, my panic spreads. A short while later, a woman with a mop of brightly colored hair appears with him.

“Where are they? Where are the kids?”

She arches her brow at