Page 32 of Her Hero Daddy

Kane spent the next fifteen minutes explaining everything to him.

“Fuck. I’m ordering men out there as we speak. The closest guys I have to you right now are in Portland, so it will be a few hours until they are there. I can have a few more guys out to you first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks.”

“Kane, is she a Little?”

Damian was also a Daddy and took that role very seriously. Especially when it came to protection.

“Yep. I think so.”

“I could tell by the way you talked about her. You like her too.”

Yep. He sure did, and he would kill this motherfucker for her if it meant she could live in peace.

“I do.”

“Can’t wait to meet her. Keep me posted. I’ll send you pictures and info on all the guys heading your way. Keith is one of them. I’m going to put three on you and three on Luke.”

“Thanks, man.”

After hanging up, Kane took a deep breath. He needed to stay calm so he didn’t scare Haylee, but the beast inside of him was so close to coming out that he didn’t know how well he’d be able to mask it. He needed to keep control. For her.

Noise on the baby monitor brought his attention back. Looking at his watch, he was pleased to see that she had napped for nearly two hours. Closing his laptop, he made his way to the living room to find her sitting up on the couch, sleepy-eyed and confused. She smiled as soon as she saw him, and then her face fell.

“What’s wrong?” she whispered.

Fuck. Great job masking yourself, idiot.

“We need to talk, baby. Why don’t you go potty first, and I’ll make you a snack to eat?”

Haylee sat frozen on the couch, staring at him. She shook her head.

“Something’s wrong. Please tell me.”

Kane sighed and moved over to the couch, sitting down next to her. He pulled her onto his lap and began stroking her hair. He felt like his lungs were caving in with the weight of the news that he had to share with her. He didn’t want her to be worried. She needed to rest and heal, not worry about some psychopath.

“Luke called while you were napping. The police went to arrest Tim, but he wasn’t home. They went to his office, but they said he hadn’t come to work since the day of the final incident.”

Haylee studied him for a moment. “I can tell that there’s more that you’re not saying.”

He was finding it harder to get the words out than he thought.

“Tim dragged all of your stuff into the backyard and set it on fire. The police found it when they went over there. Luke also found out that he has a criminal record. Did you know anything about that?”

Her eyes widened. “A criminal record? I had no idea. How would he have gotten the job at Newsday if he had a record? They did a background check on me before I started, so they would have done one on him, right? What kind of criminal history?”

Her voice trembled as she spoke, her hands fiddling nervously with each other. He didn’t want to tell her everything. He wanted to wrap her in a plastic bubble and keep her safe from the cruel truths of the world. But she deserved the truth, and most importantly, she needed to know he would always be honest with her when she asked a question.

“He had done… what he did to you to other women. He set fire to his ex-girlfriend’s house, and he also has some fraud charges and other arson charges on his record. He served minimal time because his family has money, and they’ve been able to get him off with that. But this will be his third felony, and so once he’s caught, they won’t be able to buy his way out.”

Her body began to shake against his as her face paled to a shade of alabaster white. Kane wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him as securely as he could without hurting her. She stared out blankly for several minutes before she exploded into tears.

“H-he’s d-done this to other w-women?” she asked.

“A lot of times, men who abuse women do it repeatedly. Unfortunately, abusers are really good at pretending to be great people until they find their next victim.”

Her tears turned into sobs until she could barely catch her breath.