Devoted Defender by Rachel Dylan Page B

realize just how dangerous organized crime networks were.
    He realized that he was starting to care more about Annie than he should, which didn’t make any sense to him. Normally, he had no problem building up a wall around him when it came to women. It was his MO. But Annie seemed to shake up his entire viewpoint without even trying. She didn’t even appear to understand that she was having any impact on him.
    But there was something else going on with her. She’d had a visceral reaction when he’d told her he was going to leave her with another officer while he escorted Phil to holding. She hadn’t had any issue staying with Gabby. He didn’t want to push her into the conversation, but he also needed to understand where she was coming from. Was there a part of all of this that she had kept hidden? He needed to know.
    “Annie.” He looked over at her. “How are you holding up?” First he needed to see how she was doing. Most people wouldn’t have been able to handle even a part of what she’d lived through the past couple of days.
    “Better than Phil,” she said flatly.
    “You’re a strong person. I can see it in your eyes and how you’ve handled yourself. On the other hand, Phil has probably been used to having it easy his whole life.” He paused, thinking about the best way to start this topic of conversation with her. “But there’s something else going on with you, Annie.” He wanted to provide her with a chance to explain what was bothering her—besides the obvious.
    “Caleb, I really can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me. Stepping into a dangerous situation when you didn’t have to. You’ve saved my life and been next to me each step of the way through this terrible ordeal.”
    “You can tell me. Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll understand.” He wanted her to know that she could be open and frank with him.
    She broke eye contact with him. “I’m not so sure about that.”
    “Give it a try.”
    “I don’t have faith that other police officers would treat me the same way that you do.”
    “And why is that?”
    “If I tell you why, then it will probably change how you see me. And not for the better.”
    He had no idea where she was going with this. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
    She nodded. “Before I begin, I need to tell you a bit about my past, if that’s all right?”
    “Sure. I want to hear all about it.” And that was true. He wanted to know more about this woman.
    “I had a very rough childhood. My mom was a complete train wreck. She had an awful track record with the wrong men. I never even knew my dad. We didn’t live anywhere long and they were all pretty bad places in totally sketchy neighborhoods. I was often left alone between my mom working and then out partying.”
    “I’m so sorry.”
    “Yeah, after having met your two siblings, I can tell you that I had nothing even coming close to resembling that type of family. The way the three of you have each other’s backs, the love and loyalty that is there, is a totally foreign concept to me. It was just me and my mom, and most often, I was more like the parent than the child. She’d go off on binges and it was up to me to provide for myself. To get myself to and from school. To try to focus on doing well, even when there was so much strife back at home. Because when she was around it was usually to bring home a guy.”
    “Where is your mom now?”
    Annie’s eyes misted over, and he immediately knew the answer before she responded.
    “Her lifestyle caught up with her. She died of a drug overdose a few years ago. I can’t even say that I was surprised. I had tried to break through to her, but nothing ever stuck. She grew up in a troubled environment. That was all she knew.”
    Caleb couldn’t help himself as he reached out and grabbed onto her hand. “I’m so sorry, Annie.” Saying he was sorry seemed like such an inadequate response, but that was all he could say.
    “She