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I caught up to her right before she headed down the stairs and scooped upthe way Before I could say a word, she i ine your questions, but just not now, please"

"OkayI can do that As long as you promise to answer all ht air and looked back at "

I kept quiet because I couldn’t get the i on that park bench with Mrs Flores The longer I looked at her though, the harder it was to i, soly and looked back to check on Kate’s sleeping form She cared about the at ht and I didn’t have a car to take us to the hotel And there was no way in hell ht

"Uh I’ll go to the corner and see if there are any cabs," I told her She nervously looked around her at the darkened streets Just then, another officer stepped out of the creaky, old front door I recognized hieant Williams, can you do me a favor?" He inclined his head my way but didn’t respond "Can you keep an eye on her for a second? I need to run down and catch a cab"

I began stepping ahen Raegan hurried to my side and said, "I can come with No need for a babysitter"

"Don’t worry about it I know you’re tired and you don’t need to walk all the way down there Just wait here" When I tried to step away again, she latched onto htened look She didn’t seeuy who had called her a kidnapper she trusted

"Alright thennever eant, who seemed less than pleased that I had just wasted two o, go, go No wasting ti your way down the street No ti That was my New York life But then Ithe way, and sometimes it was okay to actually look up and sot Kate back ould settle back into our old aparto back to nor to do Could I move back to New York? Could I really leave Audrey and all offifteen-hundred miles away from them? They were my family now I just didn’t know if that were possible

The cab to the hotel took no longer than fifteen minutes, but everyone in the car except for the driver and ainst the , breathing softly, while Braden clung to her neck As we pulled up under the brightly-lit hotel drive, I swiped an shook ahen she heard the beep

We scooted across the seat silently, each of us carrying a sleeping child When I stepped out, I held et a firm hold on Braden in her sleepiness, so I reached down and scooped hian easily slid out and sratitude

"I can take hiot them, it’s no trouble really," I told her and turned to walk toward the entrance She quickly caught up toand their backpack offher best to lift le If she wanted to help so badly

Dad had given me the keycards to our room before we left the station, so I knew our rooms were on the twelfth floor The elevator ride up was silent, except for the sound of the kids breathing softly against an her keycard while I walked past her to my roo the two kids, I turned to see her glaring atdoor and we’ll figure this out"

She was in her room in a flash, and before I could fully step insideher connected door I had to shift Kate around so I could use my hand to twist the lock on an immediately pushed the door open

"Don’t trust hed to myself when she didn’t reply Apparently, I was in a snarky mood all of a sudden

When I slid Braden down an quickly pulled the covers out from underneath hi his eyes The movean to flutter

"Where do you think she’ll want to sleep?" I quietly asked My voice tre to ask sohter, but that hat I had to deal with I needed to just be thankful I had her Evidently, if I was given an inch, I wanted a mile My mom used to tell me that all the time when I was a kid

"With Braden and I," she replied while pulling the sheets back on the opposite side of the bed

I began to protest, but Kate’s soft whian to squirhter and attean flew around the bed and tried to take her from my arms

"I can do this," I bit out

Kate thrashed suddenly and Raegan pleaded, "Just give her to nored her and continued to try and calm down a restless Kate in my arms

"Shh you’re okay It’s okay"

"MAMA!" Kate’s voice wailed in the quiet rooan to panic "Mama, mama, mama!" she continued, all while it appeared as if she were still sleeping

Raegan looked at me ide eyes and I asked, "What do I do?" Of course If Kate knew about me, then she must know about Ash as well There was no way I could tell her where her ht now This was not the tied to weasel Kate out of an to whisper in her ear I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it seemed to comfort Kate instantaneously

Kate’s hand caan’s cheek and jawline "Mahtat full speed, and I was having a hard ti what had just happened "Did she call you does she think" I couldn’t ently laid Kate down on the bed, She left a wide space between her and Braden, and I assuan to stir again and then I saw her eyes finally open She et hian replied, and I watched in confusion as she slid pasteye contact She crouched down by her backpack and dug a teddy bear out fronized the bear I had gotten that bear for her when she was a baby, and now I suddenly understood how she kneho I was

I had been a rookie in the force and I’d thankfully gotten partnered with Charlie Doyle, an old family friend Charlie was only a few years older than me, but he’d already been on the force for six years by then I was a spoiled shit and had a hook because my dad was already the chief of the 72nd precinct Therefore, I knehere I was headed before I even graduated the acade break one day and decided to take advantage of it by getting soe We were still in uniforet back on our beat after lunch Charlie and I had an ongoing search to find the best subs, and while Brooklyn hands-down had the best delis, we’d heard about this place south of Central Park that cured their meats in-house and anted to check it out It sounded a bit too touristy for ood subway sandwich can terabbed our lunch at the counter and decided to sit on the steps surrounding the Pulitzer fountain on Fifth Avenue I was right about it being touristy, but the sub s down oncoely popular FAO Schwarz toy store

We sorrowfully tossed our subs and hightailed it across the way Fucking oath of being a law enforcement officer twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week I was fking hungry We entered the colossal toy story and irown-ass wo at each other’s hair One of the