Page 3 of Broken Bodyguard

Mercedes sighed, crumpling slightly. “Technically, yes? I just…I’m worried about Maddie.”

Now we were getting somewhere. “Tell me more.”

“She’s been back in Louisville for the last few weeks, and she’s been having some issues getting my brother to finalize the divorce.” She drew a measured breath, gnawing on the inside of her cheek as she cut a scallop in half with her fork. “I’m worried things might get ugly. I have a feeling Jericho isn’t going to make it easy on her.”

Jericho, Mercedes’s brother, was now Maddie’s ex. I’d heard him mentioned once during my conversation with Maddie, but she didn’t linger there, and I got no details other than he was the father of Maddie’s daughter Grace, who had also joined her in New York City for the holidays. A fist formed in my gut as the pieces started to click together.

“Has Jericho been violent in the past?”

Mercedes’s throat bobbed. “Manipulative is probably a better word. He has a knack for playing dirty. He was the one who originally broke me and Trace up when we first dated a decade ago, though I never found out until years later. And then Trace experienced Jericho’s ways firsthand when he was staying in Louisville a year and a half ago. My brother will ruin your life without laying a finger on you.”

“Sounds like a winner.” I frowned down at my plate, suddenly not hungry. I didn’t like knowing this about Maddie’s ex. Now I was dying to do something about it.

“He’s horrible. I can’t wait until we no longer share the same last name. He and I haven’t spoken for over a year and I have no intentions to change that.”

“How’d you come out so nice?”

She laughed bitterly. “Don’t you know? Southern girls are supposed to be sweet. Southern boys just take what they want.”

I took another pull at my beer and cleared my throat. “It doesn’t sound like Maddie is safe around him.”

“I don’t think anybody is safe around him. Jericho’s been getting more erratic, based on what I’ve heard from Maddie. And that’s what makes me scared.” Mercedes paused to tend to Willow, who asked for help—and it could only be from Mercedes—with drinking her lemonade. When Willow was satisfied, Mercedes turned back to me. “Anyway, I was going to see if you had plans to go anywhere near there and convince you to make a pit stop and check in on her. But it sounds like you’ve set your plans now, so I’ll see about sending someone else—”

“I am heading that way, actually.”

Her green eyes widened. “Oh. You are?”

“Yeah.” I wracked my brain to think about who in my network was in that area. Who could I call up or pretend to visit? “I’d planned to visit my friend’s cabin after my gig here ended. Even with the Nightingale offer, I can still do that. I’m pretty sure his cabin is in northern Kentucky somewhere.”

She clutched at the sides of her face. “Oh my goodness. This is perfect! I thought it would be a long shot, so I almost didn’t ask.”

I didn’t tell her that I’d rent a cabin if I had to, just to make sure Maddie was safe. My protectiveness didn’t make sense to me. I’d spent a total of eight hours with Maddie and her daughter Grace, yet I’d said goodbye to her that night feeling like I was leaving my wife behind. I didn’t form connections like that, the type where it felt destiny was somehow at work. The connections I had usually involved a dating app, one night, and zero follow-up.

But Maddie was different. From the second I saw her, I felt like I’d known her for years. And I couldn’t say why.

“I’d be happy to check in on her,” I told Mercedes.

And I meant it with every cell of my being.

Here was my chance to see if that connection with Maddie had been a holiday fluke.

CHAPTER TWO

MADDIE

“Mommy!Mommy!”

Grace, my blonde bundle of joy, rushed toward me as I pushed through the front door of my parents’ house in east Louisville. I opened my arms to receive my daughter, coming down to my knees to give her a big hug.

This is how it went every day.

Say goodbye to her, practically in tears, around seven-thirty at the door of the preschool she attended, then see her beaming face first thing after work. Thankfully my mom was able to pick her up on days that I had to stay late at school, like today.

I had to thank my parents fora lotthese days.

“I really missed you, Mommy.” Her lisped words made my heart melt as our long hug went even longer. Tears pricked my eyes. How was I so lucky to have such a beautiful child? A child who loved me unreservedly, despite the ways I felt I’d failed her as her mother.

I tried not to let the dark thoughts swoop in. I’d been living with my parents for over a year since filing for divorce from Jericho. Removing him from Grace’s daily life was a good thing. I tried to remind myself of this when I got too down on myself for being a divorcee raising a child in her parents’ home.

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