Page 16 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 9-12
“They need to. When it comes to it, put me down to testify. Their mother is an imbecile or a monster. The reason doesn’t much matter. She should never have guardianship of a puppy, much less children.”
Jun yawned as they climbed into the SUV to leave the hotel.
“I have to go to the office to work,” Damian said. “Do you want to go back to The Residency or come with me?”
“Residency.” Jun yawned again. “I should answer some calls. Will you be out late?”
“Probably ten or later.”
“Ten.” Jun gave Damian a hard look. “You can go back in the morning if you need to.”
“Some work won’t wait.”
Jun sighed. “I have to look after you.”
“If I’m not home by ten, then you can get someone to bring you over to get me. I’m sure Émeric would help.”
Jun smirked. “They’d all help me.”
Sunday was calmer. Damian split his time between the office and the hotel. He got one text message from his father. He ignored it, screenshotting it and sending it to Welwick and putting it in a new folder labeled Kramer Evidence. Toward evening, Welwick called. The kids needed to go to school in the morning. Damian assigned them a driver to get everyone down to their various destinations. He left messages with each school that only individuals authorized by himself or the Department of Children and Family Services could pick them up. It wasn’t foolproof, but hopefully by evening, they could have a warrant for his father’s arrest.
He and Jun spent the night at the hotel. Jun gave swimming lessons in the pool before a late dinner, and everyone went to sleep except Betti. Armada looked like she was going to stay up with her sister, but Damian urged her to go rest. He set Betti up with headphones and a laptop with movies.
Sleep would be best, but it was natural that the teenager couldn’t. Better to let her get out of her head.
Monday morning, Jun took Habibi on as Armada left for school. He listened to Armada’s final instructions about bottle-feeding and diapers and assured her they’d be fine. “He can help write some songs,” Jun humored her.
She sucked on her lip but gave in with a heavy sigh. “Call for me, please, for anything.”
Jun held out his hand, tangling his fingers in hers. “Habibi and I are good. Go.”
She tore herself away with watery eyes and hurried after Rue to board the elevator.
Jun watched them go and turned back to Damian. “You’ve got work.”
“Sending us all off?”
“No, but we both know something is going to go down today.”
“Holden is on duty outside.”
“I’ve never had a longer list of people to call,” Jun said. “Seriously, go work. I think I need the quiet, anyway.”
Damian kissed him. “I’m not sure Habibi will give you quiet.” He paused. “This is never how I saw us.”
Jun gave him a sad smirk. “That sounds like a lyric to a song.”
“Going to write us a song?”
Jun smiled, mischief in his eyes. “Just one?”
In the office, Damian worked like a man possessed. His staff was amazing, although he needed to hire a new associate. The workload was rising. Someone else who could speak Korean would have been especially helpful. He told his personal assistant to check their roster of former interns to see if anyone capable could be recruited. On reflex, he thought of calling Mr. Su to see if he’d had any promising students who were interested in practicing on both sides of the Pacific. Then he paused.
Could he still make that call?
He set the decision aside. For now, he didn’t know if Mr. Su was going to be a judge on Jun’s case. It would be a conflict of interest for the moment.
His personal phone rang a little after eleven thirty. Dalia had asked to see him in jail. They were offering an appointment for that day. He growled, looking at his calendar. He could take one meeting on the phone on his way there. The rest of his day would be a mess, though.
