It took several seconds for Hawk to realize it was the police who were pulling Rucker away from him. He’d had him in a choke hold, keeping him under his control so he could continue to punch him. For such a badass drug dealer, the guy was a pansy. He’d gotten his gun away from him easily enough and punched him enough times that Rucker had simply crumpled.

 

Hawk’s jaw hurt and his eye was swelling a little, but he felt good. He’d heard Alexa say she had Damian, he knew what Rucker had been after, and as long as one of the guns was the weapon that killed his brother it meant that bastard would finally pay.

 

Hawk let go of the other man and heard the cuffs close over Rucker’s wrists. He half expected cuffs to close around his next. He looked at the cops, watching them read Rucker his rights. One turned to him.

 

“You must be Hawk,” he said. “I’m Joe, Alexa’s former partner.”

 

Hawk nodded once and shook the guy’s hand.

 

“Thanks for all your help today,” Joe said. “We’ve been trying hard to nail this guy, but didn’t have what we needed until you and Alexa stepped in. I hope you can help us out again in the future.”

 

Hawk knew somewhere deep inside that the guy was genuine but he couldn’t stop his lip from pulling into a snarl and his eyes from narrowing. Because of guys like him Hugh had been put in a position to be in extreme danger as an informant. And clearly the police didn’t do much to protect their informants. Still, he was glad they’d finally got the guy, but he had no reason to help them again.

 

“Oh right,” Joe said. “I forgot. You don’t like cops.”

 

“Can you blame me?”

 

“Alexa said you were wrongfully accused.”

 

“Served years for it, too.”

 

“That’s what they all say, you know.” Joe gave him a challenging look. “No one ever did it.”

 

Hawk fought the urge to punch the guy. “I don’t care if you believe me or not. Just because everyone claims innocence doesn’t make the real innocents any less a victim of the system.”

 

“Fair enough.” Joe stuck out his hand.

 

Hawk glared at him for a moment, then relented and shook his hand.

 

“Can I get a formal statement from you? The more we have, the better we can nail this guy, and since you’re one of his victims, we’ll need your testimony.”

 

“Whatever I can do to help. I want this guy away for life. He’s hurt way too many members of my family.”

 

“I understand.”

 

Hawk’s attention went across the room for a moment. He watched several officers drag Rucker out in cuffs and load him into a cruiser. He had a limited view from inside the house, but he watched as they drove out of sight. Though he was happy he’d been caught, there was still a slight disappointment. His plan all along had been to find a way to kill him and make it look like self defense. He figured with Alexa on his side and his MC as witnesses there’d be no chance he’d do time. But the cops had come faster than he expected, and Rucker fought harder than he thought he would. He’d almost strangled him a few times but the asshole had somehow stayed conscious.

 

It was probably better this way. For all his distrust of the system and the police, he probably would have ended up getting himself in trouble. And Alexa was right. Damian needed him. If he went away, the kid would probably end up in foster care and bounce around from place to place for the rest of his life. That would be horrible. But there was still the small pang of regret that came with watching Rucker get up and walk, even if he was walking in cuffs with cops pulling him along.

 

Rucker’s old lady was also taken out. He didn’t have the same sort of beef with her. He didn’t want her dead at least, but he figured that’s because he had always felt sorry for the real Jessica, even though she’d been less than a suitable mother.

 

And then there was Alexa.

 

“Hawk?”

 

He jerked his attention back to Joe, who stood in front of him with a waiting pen and notepad.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Are you ready?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Start at the beginning. Tell me everything that lead up to this moment.”

 

Hawk took a deep breath. “I guess it started with Hugh’s murder.”

 

In the end, it felt like he talked for hours outlining everything he saw the night of the murder, then the night he saw the car, including everything Alexa had found out and up to his encounter with ‘Jessica’. When the topic swerved around to the diamonds he smirked.

 

“They belonged to my brother and they were meant for Damian,” Hawk said. “I need to make sure they remain his property.”

 

“So long as we don’t find out that they’re stolen or part of a crime,” Joe said. “We know he received them from somewhere.”

 

Hawk thought about how he could separate them. Keep at least one or two for himself and hand over the rest if he needed to. It would be enough to take care of Damian for life, maybe even give him a good college fund, and it’d let him the chance to cut back on his repo job in order to take care of his nephew more.

 

Hawk finished his testimony with the full detail of the fight with Rucker. How he’d come in threatening them and wouldn’t back down when Alexa aimed her gun at him. He finally got to the moment that the cops had shown up.

 

“I think we have everything for now,” Joe said. “I’m sure as things come up in the investigation, we’ll have more questions for you. You will be willing to testify?”

 

“Of course,” Hawk said. He would love nothing more than to stare that asshole in the face in a court room and tell them all what he’d done to his brother and nephew. “I’ll help however I can to make sure that guy is put away.”

 

“Glad to hear it.” Joe smiled at him and shook his hand. “And you know, it’s the funniest thing. Seems like during the fight the diamonds got lost somehow. And we just haven’t been able to find them. I suspect that Rucker hid them somewhere during the altercation.”

 

Hawk pulled his eyebrows together for a moment. Was Joe really doing what he thought he was doing?

 

“Look.” Joe leaned in close and whispered. “Those diamonds will just sit in our evidence locker for months and months. There’s no other case that I know of that they’re part of. We’ll just chalk it up to missing evidence. You can still testify that you saw them, and that’s enough. They’ll do you far more good than they will anyone else.”

 

Hawk’s mouth fell open. He could hardly believe the officer was going out on a limb like this, especially given his own history, regardless of whether or not the charges were false. He couldn’t help but think that Alexa had something to do with this. “Thanks,” he muttered.

 

Outside the interrogation room in the main bullpen he found Alexa talking to another cop, but she didn’t have Damian. He looked around and saw an EMT holding him down the hall near an idling ambulance. “Is he okay?”

 

Damian heard Hawk’s voice and twisted in her arms, whining until she let him go so Hawk could hold him.

 

“I’d say he is now,” the EMT said, smiling. “We checked him over. He seems just fine. Might need a new diaper, but that’s about it.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Hawk bounced Damian in his arms, then held him close. He felt the tears in his eyes, but blinked them away. Too many people around, too many of his guys still there. But it was good to feel his nephew’s weight in his arms again. He hadn’t realized the depth of his worry until he’d seen Alexa holding him earlier and knew he was okay.

 

He went back inside and found the diaper bag. He pulled out a fresh diaper and laid Damian down on the bed. The baby watched him and cooed at him as Hawk got to work taking off his pants and wiping him clean. He got a fresh diaper on, got him dressed, and stood there for a long moment, just looking at him.

 

What would he have done if something had happened to him? He’d never have forgiven himself. But here he was, safe and sound. And a lot of it was due to Alexa. A pang of pain hit his chest again. He picked Damian up and cradled him against his chest. It was time to get home. They could both use a nice long nap. After all that had happened, he was exhausted.

 

Hawk slung the bag over his shoulder and walked out to his car. Blade was there on his bike. He held out a fist to him, and Blade bumped it back with his own.

 

“Thanks for all your help,” Hawk said.

 

“Any time. Glad to see the little guy is okay.”

 

“Me too. I’ll be in to headquarters in a few days.”

 

“Take your time.”

 

Hawk got Damian tucked safely into his car seat and drove home, glancing in the mirror constantly to make sure he was still there and still okay.