Page 86 of Her Protector Daddies

Of course. Dae’s birthday.

Had it been today?

Broken glass crunched underfoot as we stepped further into the apartment. The lounge was empty and still, no one replied. A table in the kitchen was covered in a colorful plastic party sheet laden with finger foods and a destroyed birthday cake. My pounding heart sank deep down into my gut and the urge to puke rose once again.

“Jay!” Tyler suddenly launched himself around the table to an unconscious body on the floor. Blood leaked sluggishly from a head wound and Jay’s face was pale.

“Jay!” I called out, fearing for one cold moment that we were too late and he was dead.

“He’s alive,” Tyler gasped, pressing two fingers to his throat. “Selena, see if you can find Dae!”

I didn’t need to be told twice. The apartment was small and it didn’t take me long to search the three remaining rooms, calling Dae’s name the entire time. Only silence met me, and disgust at the two dead Officers I found in the bathroom. I checked under beds, in closets and even out onto the fire escape, but Dae was nowhere to be found.

The longer I searched, the stronger my gut churned with dread.

Andrés wouldn’t hurt a child… would he?

Fuck that. Of course he would.

I hurried back to the kitchen, and a small note of relief rushed through me when I saw Jay propped up by Tyler. Tyler had the phone between his shoulder and ear, and when he glanced at me, I knew right then that I didn’t need to tell him that I couldn’t find Dae.

He already knew.

“Jay?” I dropped down to my knees next to him and took his bloody hand.

Jay lifted tear-filled eyes to me, and his bleeding lower lip wobbled.

“They took him,” he croaked out brokenly. “They took my son.”

33

JAY

“Where is he? Where is my son!?”

I knew seeing Andrés in the dock was going to be tough, that facing down the man who killed my partner was going to be one of the hardest things I would ever have to do, but I was going to do it.

I was determined.

And yet, now I found myself on the day I was supposed to give my witness statement, clambering over the counter like a savage animal trying to reach Andrés, who was dragged out of reach by two armed guards.

I wanted to kill him. I wanted to get his narrow, pathetic throat between my hands and squeeze until there was no light left behind those evil eyes. I wanted to burn him alive and chop him up into tiny pieces until he told me where my son was.

Law and badge forgotten, I was ready to kill, and the only thing that stopped me from pursuing that bastard down to the holding cell was Bailey getting in my way and physically holding me back.

“Let me go!” I raged, fighting against Bailey’s hands and then Tyler’s, who joined in the mix. “I’m going to kill him!”

“I know!” Bailey snapped under the strain. “That’s exactly why I can’t let you go!”

“What the hell is going on here?!” Captain Aubrey hurried closer, her heels sliding on the linoleum as she came to a stop. “None of you should be back here. Do you have any idea what your interference with the suspect could mean for this case? What the hell are you thinking!?”

Her voice pitched and Selena stepped up, placing a hand on her arm to get her attention. Still, I fought to be free of the hands holding me back, glaring at the door Andrés vanished through until my eyes blurred.

“We were attacked, all of us. Jay was beaten severely, if you couldn’t tell and they took Dae?—.”

The Captain gasped.

“They gave Jay an ultimatum: Either tank the case, or he will never see his son alive again.”

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