Page 116 of Broken Daddy

Hayes wasn’t happy about Lucan taking Freddy. He needed to pay for what he did. And he would. Hayes would see to that if he had to.

A mistrial would surely be declared and then a judge would have to decide if there needed to be a new trial. Which there probably would be without Freddy’s confession of guilt.

Yeah, something needed to be done about Freddy.

“I wonder if Freddy finally did something about him.”

“Freddy?” he asked. Did she know about Freddy’s part in all of this?

“Oh, sorry. He’s a friend of my brother’s. Rohan and Freddy are both Black Scorpions. They were also friends with Marcus, the guy that my brother was accused of murdering. I’ve never liked Freddy that much, but Rohan trusts him. Perhaps he leaned on Stein. And I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

“You can tell me anything. I’m not a cop. In fact, I want you to tell me everything.”

Hypocrite.

“I only want to do what’s best for you, understand? You come first,” he told her.

She blinked at him for a moment, looking shocked.

Had anyone ever told her that before?

“Do you think Rohan will get out?” Her face filled with hope.

Hayes wanted to give her some good news, something to hold onto. But he wasn’t sure he could.

“There will likely be a mistrial called and a judge will decide whether to hold a new one.”

Disappointment filled her face. “Oh, so he might not even get out and does that mean we need money for a new lawyer? I don’t think we can afford that. I had to sell his apartment and his car to afford Stein’s fees last time. And now that I can’t work . . .”

Panic filled her face. Shit. This wasn’t good for her. She shouldn’t be worrying about anything right now.

This was something small. Something he could easily take care of for her, take off her caseload.

“Do not worry about this. I will take care of it. Do you need me to take over again?”

She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, shaking her head.

Disappointment hit him. That wasn’t too much of a surprise. Hayes enjoyed being a Daddy Dom. And he’d missed that. Missed having someone to take care of and pamper.

Shit.

“How can I not worry?” she asked.

“I already told you. Because I will take care of it.”

Devi gave him a suspicious look. “What does that mean?”

“It means, trust me.”

“I don’t trust easily.”

“But you do trust me, don’t you, baby girl? You trust that I’ll look after you.”

“I’m just scared what happens after you’re gone,” Devi whispered.

Shit. Those words hit him hard. He wanted to tell her that he was going nowhere. But he had to leave eventually. Right?

“I’m not leaving while you need me.”