Page 53 of Under Their Watch

“It’s not your fault,” I say, sniffing back my tears.

“She hurt you,” he says. “That asshole hurt you. He hurt my little girl.”

“He’s in jail now,” I say. “She’s in jail too.”

“For kidnapping?”

“No. Accessory to rape and eighty-six counts of child porn,” I say. “She will get the kidnapping and probably abuse charges later.”

“Child porn?” he asks. “Did she…”

“No, Marcus was the one taking photos and videos. It was on a shared computer, so they got her for it,” I say before looking at Casey. “Can I see her?”

“Uh… Yeah,” she says. “May I ask why?”

“Because I want her to hear it from me that she didn’t get away with this,” I say. She glances at Logan, and he shrugs.

“Okay,” she says. “I will allow your dad there if he wants to come. You can have Emma because she is your lawyer, and Theo because he is your psychiatrist. The others cannot come back.”

“I understand,” I say before turning to my father. Thinking of him as my father feels normal. He looks like a dad. He is comforting. This is nice. “Do you want to come with me to tell her to get fucked?”

“I’d love nothing more,” he says with a smile.

“You know…” Rowan says. “I see it now… You have the same weird habits.”

“Rude,” I say. “Don’t insult him by comparing me to him.”

“You're lucky your father is in the room,” Rowan frowns.

“That sentence doesn’t scare me like it would have a week ago,” I say. “Well, let’s do this.”

“Ride with us,” Quinn says to my father.

“I’d love to,” he says.

“You two have the same morbid sense of humor,” Anika says.

“Trauma,” Dad and I say at almost the same exact time.

“Freaky,” she laughs.

When I stand, Dad hugs me again. “I’m so glad I have you back, baby girl,” he says softly. “I’m going to fucking kill Marvin.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Casey says with a smirk.

“You can hear it,” he says. “You better hope someone else finds him because if I do or if that fucker Marcus gets out, they’re dead. I’ll smile in my mug shot.”

“Can I take your office?” Anika asks with a grin.

“You good?” Theo asks me quietly as the others start toward the door.

“Great,” I smile. He kisses me softly before we go to the door.

“Alright,” Casey says. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” I say as we stand outside of the room that my mother is in. This is the first time I will be seeing her since I turned eighteen.

“I want you to remember that she knew everything,” Casey says.