given up everything for since he died. It was all I had. I was trying to prove??
"What were you trying to prove?"
"I don't know. That he wasn't a bad guy. That I'm not like him. Redeem the Valentine name. God, it sounds stupid to say it, but getting fired from my job makes me feel like a failure. I can hear the gossip at work. She's like her father. Bad to the core. Giselle said it too. She asked me if I'm like my father. She called him self-righteous."
"And now she's dead."
"I didn't intend to kill her." Her voice is strained because she's had a long week of talking to investigators to convince them she didn't murder Giselle. No one told them about her last kick of the car before it went over the edge. That's a secret between us.
"Do you really want to spend the rest of your life trying to prove your father was good or that you're not out there repeating the parts of him that went bad?"
"No. It's exhausting."
"Exactly. You know people say I'm a tumbleweed made of razor blades."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it? Don't I blow through someone's life, take away someone they love, destroy their life like I did yours?"
"No, because sometimes it's better if that person faced justice instead of continuing to get away with hurting people and bending the law to their will."
"Who am I to judge that? It messed up your life. If I hadn't taken your dad in??
"My dad bought and sold drugs. He abandoned those kids. It was right what you did."
"It's complicated. I admire what you're doing for your half siblings. Not many people out there would do that."
"I guess that's part of trying to prove I'm not like him."
"Do you go visit them?"
"Not as often as I should. I get busy with work."
"Wouldn't that be the best way to prove you're not like him, by not abandoning them?"
"I haven't abandoned them. I send money regularly."
"Don't you think they'd like to spend time with their half-sister who obviously cares about them? Where do they live?"
"Southern California. Santa Ana."
"I have an idea."
"Uh oh. What idea, Mace?"
"Nothing."
"Tell me."
"We fly down, bring Maisey and Henry, we pick up your siblings. How old are they?"
"They're seven, eight, and ten. Two girls and a boy. But this is an elaborate idea."
"It's forming in my head. We take them to Disneyland. Call their mother. See if they can go this Saturday."
"I don't know."
"Listen. I'm making plans. That is a rare event. I like this idea. We're doing it. You'll see. You'll have so much fun." I rub my hands together and laugh at her reservations. "You haven't been before. You don't know why they call it the happiest place on Earth."
"No. I don't, but??
"So, you need to find out. This is important. We'll go this weekend."
She shakes her head. "You're crazy."
I take her cheeks between my palms, and she looks up at me with those eyes that say she trusts me to take her to new places, even when she's worried. "I'm crazy in love with you."
"What?" Her eyes flare and brighten.
"I love you and everything about you." The words have never come out of my mouth before, but right now it feels like the most absolutely truthful thing I could say to her.
Her chest is heaving and she's gasping for air like she just ran a mile. "I love you too. I think I always have."
"Good." We seal the deal with a hot tender kiss on the bluff, with her father looking down on us. There's one more thing I need to tell her.
"I know of a job opening you might be interested in."
"You do? I can't be a cop anywhere now. No one will hire me with my baggage."
"Not a cop position."
"What is it?"
"It's a bounty hunter position with a privately owned small company."
"Oh, is it now?" She smirks up at me and squeezes me in a hug.
"The CEO heard Leona Hart is the hot new thing coming up the ranks. He wants her on his team. Bad."
"Oh, does he now? Could he possibly be the amazingly gorgeous bounty hunter every girl has at the top of her bucket list?"
I chuckle and hold her tight. "You know the joke about the bucket-list brothers?"
"Oh, it's no joke. It's like a life board topper for all the girls in town. They're all chomping at the bit to land the drop-dead gorgeous, brave, and strong Hawaiian Jesus."
I pull her closer and she falls on top of