Free Listed: Volume VI by Noelle Adams Page A

every possibility. Is it all right if I talk to them?”
    Emily
nodded, horrified by this new possibility.
    It
made a bleak sort of sense, though.
    Everything
terrible that had happened to her in the last year was because of Vincent
Marino.
    Paul
glanced down the hall toward her aunt’s room. “Do they just have the one uniform
stationed at her room?”
    “Do
we really have to go through this whole thing again?”
    “It’s
not enough.”
    Emily
was too tired and drained to have another argument about security.
    Paul
seemed to recognize this and took advantage of it. “One half-competent cop isn’t
enough to keep you and your aunt safe. I’m not any sort of professional, but I
could take that cop out without blinking.”
    For
a strange moment, Emily was attracted to him. Not in the old way—the kind of
movie-star idolization—but in an intense, visceral surge prompted by the
masculinity he exuded.
    The
weird response came and went in just a moment, since she wasn’t in any sort of
condition to process or indulge it.
    “And
then you and your aunt would be dead,” Paul concluded, still looking down at
the uniformed police officer stationed at her aunt’s door.
    Emily
didn’t know what to say to that, so she didn’t say anything.
    “I’m
serious,” he continued, turning his gaze back to her. “You may not believe it,
and the feds may not believe it, but I know my father better than any of you.
He’s perfectly capable of killing anyone he sees as a threat to him.”
    She
shrugged with one shoulder. “My aunt is almost dead anyway.”
    “But
you aren’t, and you’re still a threat to my dad if you testify against him. I
don’t know what they’re thinking, just putting one half-assed cop on—”
    “Would
you stop?” she burst out. “I’m so sorry that my aunt dying is putting a crimp
in your little vendetta, but I’ve got other things to worry about right now.”
    Paul’s
expression changed. “I didn’t mean—”
    “I
know. I know you didn’t.” She exhaled, suddenly as limp as a popped balloon.
She swayed on her feet, and Paul reached out to put a supportive arm around
her.
    It
wasn’t tender or gentle, but it was strong, and she needed it.
    “When
was the last time you ate?” he asked.
    She
sneered at him faintly, too weak to give his presumptuousness the snide
response it deserved.
    Evidently
realizing she wasn’t going to answer, Paul went back to their previous subject.
“I’ll understand if you decide you don’t want to testify against him now, given
what’s happened.”
    “No.
I still want to do it. Your dad doesn’t get to win, just because everything
else has gone to shit.”
    Paul’s
handsome features relaxed slightly. “Thank you.”
    “I’m
not doing it for you.”
    “But
still…” He cleared his throat. “Can I please do something for you?”
    She
looked up at him, surprised.
     “Can
I hire security to protect you until the trial is over?”
    She
just stared, wondering why she didn’t feel the immediate defensiveness she’d
felt when he made the same offer before.
    Paul
gestured with his head toward a big man in a suit who stood several paces away.
Emily had assumed he was related to one of the patients in the hospital, but
she suddenly realized he was a bodyguard. “They’ll be discreet. They won’t get
in your way. And they’ll keep you a lot safer than law enforcement seems
capable of.”
    She
swallowed and thought about it. Then made a helpless gesture with her hands.
She just couldn’t care about such things when her aunt was dying down the hall.
    Paul
reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. His grip was warm and heavy. “I
might not be able to do anything to help your aunt, but I can keep you safe,
Emily. Let me do it.”
    For
a moment, she couldn’t look away from him. She’d never seen Paul so utterly
earnest.
    “Can
you trust me?” he asked, when she still didn’t answer.
    Maybe
there was no reason to trust him, since Paul had done