Free Deadly Memories (Hardy Brothers Security Book 18) by Lily Harper Hart Page A

over the counter to give Grady a kiss. “Try perking up. You’re depressing me after our very … vigorous … evening.”
    “I’ll do my best.”
    Sophie hummed as she walked out the front door, her eyes focused on her purse as she searched for her keys. She was almost on top of her car before she lifted her gaze and stopped in her tracks.
    The car wasn’t anything special, a simple blue Ford Fusion with limited bells and whistles. Still, the condition of the vehicle threw her. Sometime during the night someone crept onto the property and spray painted a message for Sophie, and it wasn’t a welcoming note.
    Sophie didn’t know what to do, her heart racing as she scanned the street. It was empty, though. It was late for the neighbors who drove to work and early for the mothers who walked their kids to the bus stop. Sophie was at a complete and total loss, so she did the only thing she could do.
    “Grady!”

8
    Eight
    “ T his is just unacceptable .”
    Peter Marconi, his expensive Italian suit out of place in the simple cul-de-sac where Grady and Sophie resided, paced in front of Sophie’s car as his bodyguards looked on.
    “Who would do something like this?”
    Grady fought the urge to laugh as he watched Peter’s temper flare. When he first met the man, he’d been intimated. For weeks after their introduction, Grady was determined to keep Sophie in his life and Peter out. It didn’t work out – and Peter’s guidance and friendship had proven invaluable – but there were times Grady still marveled at Peter’s station in their lives. He was the one who insisted on calling Peter after seeing Sophie’s car, and she wasn’t happy with his decision.
    “Was it kids?” Rodrigo, one of Peter’s bodyguards, hunkered down so he could study the paint. “We should be able to get this out with minimal effort. We can probably do it in a few hours.”
    “That’s not the point,” Peter hissed. “I don’t care about the paint on the car. I think we should throw the car away and take Sophie to a dealership and get her something fun … like a Mercedes.”
    Peter was rich and he didn’t understand why Sophie wanted to live on a budget of her own making. He would’ve gladly funded a more extravagant lifestyle for her, but she explained the only thing she needed from her foster father was love and he acquiesced. Grady was convinced he was secretly tickled by Sophie’s independent streak, but he kept that to himself.
    “You don’t throw a car away,” Sophie challenged. “That car is only a few months old. It’s fine. I just don’t want to drive around with the word ‘whore’ painted on the side of my vehicle. It’s not going to look professional when I show up for stories.”
    “Yes, that’s the great travesty here,” Peter deadpanned. “I don’t understand why someone would paint that on your car. Have you been having trouble with a man? Other than this one, I mean.” Peter jerked his thumb in Grady’s direction, winking to let him know he was merely joking. “You didn’t paint it, did you?”
    Grady rolled his eyes. “Yes. I often get out of my warm bed in the middle of the night to paint derogatory comments on my girlfriend’s car. It’s just a little quirk of mine.”
    “I don’t find you funny,” Peter chided.
    “I don’t find your suggestion that I would do something like this funny either,” Grady shot back.
    “Well, I didn’t really think you did it,” Peter said, tugging on his suit vest to smooth it. “I just … this is so juvenile. Even when Sophie was in high school things like this never happened.”
    “That’s because she was the only kid at Grosse Pointe South with bodyguards.” Sven, another one of Peter’s bodyguards, kept his gaze on the road in case trouble approached while also keeping one ear on the conversation. “No one would’ve dared messed with her car.”
    “I never thought about that,” Grady mused. “I’ll bet you were the only teenage girl in