Page 118 of My Vows Are Sealed

His brow furrowed. “Why do you want Alex at the hospital with Darla?”

“Because I’m in a goddamn police interrogation room while she’s in the hospital with her psycho father, who would have fuckingkilledher if I hadn’t stopped him! And that asshat officer just cuffed me and shoved me out of the room the second her father cried rape!” I exclaimed. “I know you need the whole story before you can let me go, but I wantsomeonethere with her while I can’t be. Is that too much to fucking ask?”

His eyes went wide again. I guessed he was shocked to hear me using that kind of language since he only ever saw me at church, but I didn’t give a damn right now. I was hanging onto my control by a thread. I wanted to cry and scream and throw things and punch something all at once, but none of that would get me what I wanted most, which was to have Darla in my arms and the animal who called himself her father behind bars.

“Did Darla say anything at the scene?” he asked me.

I nodded as more tears slipped out of my eyes. “She tried to tell Officer Harris and his partner that I didn’t do this, but they didn’t listen. I begged them to help her, and they just told me not to worry and that they were going to take care of her and then cuffed me and forced me out the door. Please…God, please just get Alex to go to the hospital for me. She was hurt. Badly. And we just found out yesterday that she’s pregnant.”

Yeah, I was telling my best friend’s father, who I went to church with, that I’d knocked up my seventeen-year-old fiancée. I didn’t give a flying fuck what he thought of me – or of her – as long as he got someone Darla knew and was comfortable with to go stay with her in the hospital while I couldn’t be there.

Saul sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to call Alex for you.”

He walked out the door, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I just broke down in sobs. I couldn’t stop thinking about how terrified the girl I loved had to be right now. Her father had traumatized her in every possible way before I got there and I knew without a doubt that if I hadn’t shown up, he would have killed her. And now he’d managed to succeed in keeping me from her by accusing me of the very thinghe’dtried to do to her before she ran out of his house without looking back. God only knew what he’d do as soon as she was released from the hospital and he forced her to go back to that house.

I didn’t even notice the door opening or anyone coming back into the room until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped as I picked my head up and looked at Saul, whose face was full of nothing but compassion.

“I know you didn’t do this, Brendan,” he said softly. “I’ve known you since you were Nathan’s age, and you’ve been in love with Darla for the entire time. But Officer Harris logged your arrest in the system, so there’s paperwork that has to be done before I can let you go.”

I nodded.

“Alex answered his cell right away, and he’s on his way to the hospital right now,” he told me.

“Thank you,” I sighed in relief, a fresh round of tears leaking out of my eyes.

He smiled. “You’re welcome. But now I need you to do something for me. I need to hear it in your own words, son. Tell me what happened.”

I took a shaky breath and scrubbed my hand over my face, wiping away some of my tears. “Darla’s father…he’s not who you think he is. He’s not whoanyonethinks he is. He’s been abusing her ever since she was a little girl.”

“I had a feeling. But she and Gloria never said anything, so I couldn’t do anything,” he sighed. “When he made a big deal about her leaving home a couple of months ago…she left because of the abuse?”

“Yeah,” I sniffled, my eyes stinging with more tears. “He almost…if Gloria hadn’t stopped him, he would have raped her. She didn’t go to the police because he didn’t physically hurt her that day, so she didn’t think anyone would believe her. She’s been living with a friend of ours that he doesn’t know, but she stayed at my place last night. She’d just taken a pregnancy test, and she came over to talk to me. I didn’t want her to be alone after that, so I asked her to stay. Nate was with me last night, and when my mom picked him up, I guess she saw Darla’s car in the parking lot at my apartment complex and called Abraham. Darla wasn’t feeling well this morning, so she stayed at my apartment and slept in instead of going back to her friend’s house, and I left some cash on the coffee table for her and called for some food to be delivered so she didn’t have to cook. I called her right after that and told her to text me when they got there and after they left.”

“Why?” he asked.

“We sort of have an unwritten rule that she won’t answer the door while I’m not there unless she knows who’s on the other side,” I explained. “I always knew he’d end up coming to my place looking for her eventually. He didn’t know where my apartment was, but my mom does, and she thinks he hung the moon, so I knew all he’d have to do was ask and she’d give him the address. Anyway, Darla texted me like five minutes after we hung up saying the delivery was there, but I knew it was way too soon. I called her and told her not to open the door, but I guess she’d already unlocked it, and I heard him forcing the door open and yelling at her that he was going to take her back home. She screamed for me to call the police, and I just ran off the job site I was at and called 911 on my way back home. When I got there, she was curled up in a ball on the floor and she looked…”

I broke down in tears again, and Saul squeezed my shoulder.

“Take your time,” he murmured.

“I don’thavetime,” I insisted. “Every second I’m here is another second she’s withhim.”

“I know. And I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I’m doing my best to get you out of here. But before I can do that, I need your statement to put in my report. Can you tell me what happened once you got back home?”

“She was curled up on the floor with her knees against her chest and trying to roll away from him, and he was trying to kick her in the stomach. I guess she’d tried to get him to stop hurting her by telling him about the baby because he was yelling about it being the Devil’s child because we’re not married yet. I pulled him off of her and punched him in the face, then kneed him in the groin and used the distraction to wrestle him to the floor and pin his arms to his sides. I’ll admit I threw another punch after that because he was still struggling and I was trying to make sure he didn’t get free. But then I heard the sirens and stopped, because all I’d wanted to do was make sure he didn’t hurt her again. Next thing I knew, he was playing the doting father and telling them that I’d kidnapped and raped her. She kept screaming that I didn’t do it, but it was like they weren’t even listening to her. I guess because I was the only one without a mark on me, they just automatically believed him. Officer Harris cuffed me and forced me out the door and I tried to tell him he had the wrong guy, but he just told me to tell it to the judge and shoved me in the car.”

Saul nodded and took a deep breath. “Is that everything?”

“Yep,” I clipped out.

“Okay. Just sit tight, Brendan. I’m going to get started on the paperwork so I can let you get out of here and get to your girl. I’m sorry Harris jumped the gun and brought you in like this.”

“I just wish he would have listened to her. I appreciate that he was doing his job, but when the victim is screaming that the person who’s being put in handcuffs didn’t do anything, I’d think that counts for something.”

He sighed. “Did you see that news story a few months ago about the girl who was killed by her boyfriend?”

“Yeah?”

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