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“No.” He holds up his palm, stopping me when I start in his direction. “No, Bri. Stay where you are.”
“What are you doing?”
Where is he going? He can’t possibly be leaving after his son has just been found. We don’t even know if he’s okay. He’s been gone almost three weeks. Anything could have been done to him in that time.
Gabriel starts crying, and I know he’s sensing something is wrong.
I might not have killed Diaz like I thought I wanted to, but at this rate, I’m going to murder D before all of this is said and done.
“It’s okay, little man. You’re safe now.”
I pull him tighter against my chest. I’ll have to worry about his father later.
I need to get Gabriel to the ER and have him checked over. Until that’s done, I can’t think about anything else. I thought I could let Connie do it, but now that he’s back in my arms, I’m not releasing him unless I’m forced to do so. And even then, it’ll be a fight to pry him from my arms.
“Diaz is dead.” Eric’s words penetrate my ears as he steps in front of me.
It was only a shot to the leg. No way he had time to bleed out so...
Drago.
His promise that Diaz would pay pierces my thoughts. He killed him. All that talk about it being wrong if I had done it, and what did he do?
“I can’t deal with that right now, Alders.”
I shake my head.
“Gabriel is more important,” I say matter of fact before stepping around him and leaving the scene.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Where the hell is he?
I eye the back of the courtroom for the twentieth time in the last ten minutes. Gabriel’s case is up next on the judge’s docket and Drago should have been here by now.
It’s been five long weeks since I’ve seen either of them—and every second has been hell.
After Drago left, I took Gabriel straight to the Emergency Room where he was deemed in good health. It was a welcomed surprise and a relief until Judy Hearn showed up with a judge’s signed court order issuing custody to her department.
I almost lost my shit right there in the hospital. There is nowhere safer for Gabriel to be than with me. Apparently, she felt differently after he’d been kidnapped from my care, and now that any threats had been squashed, she was okay assigning his care to a real foster family.
From a dependable source inside her department, I know he’s already been moved twice because the families couldn’t deal with his excessive crying.
Can you blame him? He’s been tossed around like a sack of potatoes without anyone doing what was in his best interest.
I know I’m not his biological parent; I don’t pretend to be. If it were anything like those first few nights in my care, I know it was hard, but I’d finally got him settled into a routine when I had him. With my sister-in-law’s help, I found a routine that worked, and I spent time with him, getting him used to me.
I miss how he used to fall asleep so easily when his little bare chest would be snuggled against mine. He was at ease, and so was I. I didn’t realize that until he was taken.
Jackson and Alana don’t understand why I’m here today. It was necessary. There was no way in hell I wouldn’t be seated where I am right now, which was why I didn’t ask them to help with my backup plan.
My dad, on the other hand, came through for me big time, and I can’t thank him enough for seeing this through my eyes even if he doesn’t agree with me.
No matter how much I’d love to be Gabriel’s mother, I’m still rooting for Drago to walk in here and accept responsibility for him as he would if Gabriel had been planned all along.
Speaking of...
I suck in air the moment he pushes through the double doors of the courtroom. Our eyes lock almost immediately.
