Page 88 of Her Protector Daddies

“I don’t know,” Bailey admitted. “But you have to trust that we will.”

“It’s doable,” the Captain murmured. “Jay, if you take the stand and ramble, I can get word to the DA to press you on every single detail as long as they can. Starting from the very first interaction with the Dorame. The longer we press you, the longer Bailey and Tyler will have. But…” She glanced across to Tyler. “I can’t give you forever.”

“Understood.”

“Jay?” Selena kneeled before me, taking both my fisted hands in hers. “I’ll be right here, okay? I’m right here for you. If anyone can save Dae, you know it’s these two.”

She was right. I knew that in my heart. I stared into her gorgeous eyes, and the first easy breath filled my lungs. Her touch was more soothing than I expected, and the rampant fear about Dae slowly started to calm.

“Okay.” I nodded once. Deep down I knew I wasn’t stable enough to be on the streets anyway, and would likely only be a hindrance. If I could be of use here, then I had to take it.

“We’ll find him,” Tyler promised.

“We will.” Bailey gripped my shoulder tightly, then he hurried out with Tyler and left a painful silence in their wake, with the only constant being Selena’s warm touch.

“It will be okay,” she said softly, her eyes filled with the same pain I harbored in my own heart. The Captain quickly stepped out, her ear to her phone, and the illusion of privacy was enough for some of my grief to spill forth.

“I’ve never been away from him. Not like this. Getting him into daycare was a huge step that I really struggled with but that was only because I vetted the place ten times before signing Dae up. And then, for the first few months, I would wait for ages or turn up early just to watch and make sure he was safe. We’ve never been apart, not even for a sleepover and I—…” I couldn’t find the words.

“I’m scared. I want him back. I keep hearing him scream and thinking of how badly I let him down.”

Selena’s warm lips pressed to my knuckles and she gently shook her head. “You didn’t let him down. He was taken and he knows you and the other will do everything to get him back. He knows that. And they will bring him back. Andrés won’t get away with this.”

“How can you be so sure?” I whispered and a stray tear escaped down my cheek.

“Because you all came for me, and you haven’t known me for even a fraction as long as your own son.” She smiled sadly up at him. “We deserve a win.”

If only the world worked like that.

Closing my eyes, I sucked in a few deep breaths and by the time my panic had eased, the Captain had returned with her face grim.

“Moving you up the docket was easier than I expected,” she said.

“Almost like his lawyer was expecting that request,” Selena muttered.

“Exactly. Listen, Jay. I know it will be hard, but you must drag this out for as long as possible. No matter how scared you get, please hold off on confessing.”

“I will,” I replied, standing and straightening my suit. Even as I made that promise, my heart wasn’t in it. Dae came first. There was nothing else but that single truth.

“They’re ready for you,” the Captain said, clutching her phone.

Selena leaned up and kissed my cheek sweetly, squeezing my hand one last time.

“Give them hell,” Selena murmured.

34

SELENA

The wait was excruciating.

No matter how bad it was for me, it had to be ten times worse for Jay. He stood in the dock, answering the hundreds of questions that came his way from the DA as expected. Having to relive every painful detail of how his life had been affected by Andrés couldn’t have been easy, but each time I glanced through the door, he was doing amazing.

Being forced to wait outside was painful but that blow was softened when the Captain pressed a tablet into my hand on her way past, along with a single earphone. I took my seat, slipped the earphone into place, and turned the tablet on. The moment I did, my heart began to race.

The tablet was connected to a bodycam staring at the dashboard of a car. “Hello?”

“Selena?” Tyler’s voice crackled through my ear, and suddenly the camera was picked up and turned around. Tyler’s face came into view with Bailey leaning into his shoulder.

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