All Chapters of Sunlit Paradise: Undercover Desire: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Vic had spent years teaching me never to surrender my weapon while a threat was still standing. I kept mine aimed at his chest.“Tell me Calvin is wrong.”His pistol stayed low beside his thigh. Rainwater ran from his jacket and gathered around his boots. He looked at the evidence spread across the table, then back at me but he said nothing.“Tell me you didn’t know about the shipments.”“I tried to keep you away from them.”“That isn’t an answer.”Metal scraped beyond the hidden wall. Calvin was still working his way around. I shifted half a step, keeping Vic between me and the doorway. The movement pulled at my ribs, but I didn’t lower the gun.“You were supposed to stop, S.”My grip tightened.“Every time you said we had no evidence…”“I was trying to keep you alive.”“No! You were keeping me blind.”Vic’s face tightened, but he did not argue. I pointed with my free hand toward the evidence pouch beside the reader.“The memory card.”His gaze followed mine.“You had it. You reopene

C A L V I NClarisse looked back at me as the officers led her away. Someone called for a medic behind me. I turned far enough to see Siobahn crouched beside Vic, one hand braced against his shoulder while the medical team moved in around them.Blood marked her clothes, and she looked ready to argue with anyone who tried to pull her away before they had him on a stretcher.Our eyes met across the cave, and I took one step toward her. She gave me a small shake of her head. I stopped.A few weeks ago, I would have ignored it. I would have decided she was hurt, exhausted, and in no condition to make that choice for herself. This time, I let her make it.A medic caught me before I reached the passage.“You’re bleeding again.”He pressed fresh gauze against my side and secured it while I watched Clarisse disappear beyond the cave entrance. When he finished, Ward came toward me, speaking into her radio as officers moved Conrad in the opposite direction.“Where are they taking her?” I asked.

By midmorning, Lena had allowed one short evidence review in my clinic room, and Ward wasted none of it.Damien set his laptop on the small table beside my bed while Ward placed the damaged regatta card in front of him, still sealed inside clear evidence plastic. Calvin sat in the chair beside me. A recovered line appeared on the screen.PA—OCN—7.I leaned forward too fast. Pain tightened behind my eyes, and the letters blurred for a second. Calvin’s hand moved toward me, then stopped on the edge of the mattress. He had learned when helping meant touching and when it meant letting me stay upright on my own.Ward noticed anyway. “Sit back, Rust.”I did, reluctantly. Damien enlarged the recovered data. Beside the code, the forensic copy showed fragments of the police communication windows we had seen aboard Apollo.“What is seven?” I asked.“An internal evidence-access node.” Damien pointed at the screen. “PA is Port Aurelia. OCN is Organized Crime and Narcotics. Node Seven belonged to

Before I left Solara, I told Calvin when he could come see me. Three weeks later, on the Friday he was due in Port Aurelia, Captain Ward caught me trying to leave headquarters with an active case file.The elevator doors had almost closed when her hand appeared between them.“Out.”“I’m cleared to work.”“You’re cleared for desk duty, interviews inside this building, and paperwork. You are not cleared to follow anyone into the field.”“I was only going to observe.”Ward looked at the folder tucked beneath my arm. “That file appears very interested in observing with you.”I stepped out before she could drag me out.Three weeks of recovery had helped, but not enough for Lena or Ward. My ribs no longer hurt with every breath, though a fast twist still reminded me they were healing. My shoulder remained restricted, which meant no firearms qualification, no arrests, and apparently no slipping out with another team because I had noticed something useful.Ward held out her hand. I gave her t

I reached across the bed for Calvin and found an empty pillow. A cabinet closed beyond the master cabin, followed by metal scraping against a pan.I sat up. My dress from last night hung over a chair, while Calvin’s shirt lay on the floor beside the bed. I pulled on his shirt instead, buttoned it, and walked barefoot toward the lounge.The smell of coffee reached me first. Calvin stood behind the counter with two plates of eggs, toast, and fruit.“Good morning.”“You made breakfast.”“Yes.”I studied the plates. “How much of this did you actually make?”“All of it.”“You have employees who know you.”“That sounds like prejudice.”I stole fruit from his plate.His gaze dropped to my shirt. “That’s mine.”“You left it unattended.”He leaned across the counter and kissed me. I caught his shirt and kept him there another second. Last night had ended with neither of us getting much sleep. The look he gave me when he pulled away said he remembered exactly why.“Coffee,” I said.He handed me