Page 18 of Broken Daddy

The officer shrugged. “Her statement is a little foggy to me. According to what she reported, she’s not sure exactly where she left the baby, so my guess is that she went home and assumed she had put the baby in the car, but in actual fact, she left him at the supermarket.”

I frowned. That didn’t sound like Ella. She had always seemed very responsible and meticulous when she was at the restaurant. Otherwise, I would have never left my child with her.

“Are you sure there was nothing else?” I asked. “That he wasn’t kidnapped or something?”

The officer shook his head. “Doesn’t look like it. No one noticed anything particularly suspicious, and it seemed like it was just an accident.”

“Which supermarket was he left at?” Monty finally spoke up, his deep voice breaking the silence.

“The Kroger’s on 5th street,” he said. Monty nodded without saying anything, and somehow I knew he would be visiting the store soon.

Hunter made a distressed sound, and I rocked him in my arms, soothing him. He was usually a quiet kid, but now he was growing increasingly fussy, which was to be expected since his routine had been disrupted today.

“I have to put him to bed,” I told the officer, who nodded in response.

“I understand. As I said, come in tomorrow and give your statements, then we can close the case.”

“Alright. Thank you, officer.”

Just as we were leaving the police station, I noticed Ella rushing over. Her face was still panicked, and the minute she saw me, she rushed over, twisting her hands in apology and regret.

“Oh, Kayla, I’m so sorry,” she said. “I was so busy doing a million things today…I guess I got a little scatterbrained. I didn’t mean to…God, I felt like absolute crap when I couldn’t find him. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling.”

“Damn right, you can’t,” I retorted, indignation stirring in my stomach. But as much as I wanted to get mad at the girl, all my anger melted away once I looked at her. I had known she was juggling a lot of things, which was why I usually didn’t ask her to babysit. Plus, she didn’t have any experience with children. The blame lay on my shoulders. I had done all this wrong.

“It’s fine, Ella,” I finally added after a deep breath. “Everyone makes mistakes. Just try to be more careful next time.”

Relief filled her expression, and she nodded frantically before her attention shifted to Monty.

At the sight of Monty, surprise lit up her eyes. “Is that Hunter’s dad?” she blurted out.

“Yes,” Monty replied, that hard note still in his tone. “Excuse us, will you? A conversation needs to be had.”

His hand wrapped around my arm, and he began dragging me over to the side. I turned around to meet Ella’s shocked stare, and she mimed if she should run inside and get the police. I shook my head. I didn’t think Monty would hurt me right outside the police station, and I’d rather have the conversation in private.

But when we had gotten far enough away from prying eyes, I finally got sick of being dragged around, so I ripped my arm out of his hold.

“Let me go, will you?” I snapped.

“Not a word,” he said with a scowl when he turned to me. “Not another fucking word until you explain to me why you hid the existence of my son all this time.”

“I didn’t know how to reach you.”

“That is a bald-faced lie, and you know it. I gave you my number that night. You had it. And how do you also explain the fact that you were still going to lie to me even after you were caught?”

“Fine,” I said, finally deciding to completely give up the ruse. “You wanna know the real reason I didn’t tell you? It’s because of you.”

“What?”

“Exactly. How did you think I felt finding out that the man I had a one-night stand with was a criminal and, furthermore, I was carrying his child? Did you think that was easy for me? The only thing I knew was that I had to step up and protect both of us from you.”

Once again, his reaction wasn’t what I expected. I expected anger, perhaps some incoming abuse from having his ego bruised, but instead, utter confusion filled his expression.

“What the hell are you on about, lady?” he questioned.

I sighed. “Listen, I know you work for my father, okay? You don’t have to keep playing this game.”

“Who the fuck is your father?”

---