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I was about to answer but the front door was still open and I spied a cop in the hall, his thumbs hooked in his vest, already looking bored with the day. “Why is there a fucking cop outside?”
“So you don’t get any ideas,” she shot back. “Come on, babies. Grab your stuff. Mama is taking you home.”
“The fuck you are!” I darted around her, blocking her way to the door. Nadia ran around us in a circle, driving Bri away from the door when it was clear I didn’t want them to exit. “They’re not going anywhere with you!”
A second too late, I realized I shouldn’t have raised my voice. The jangling of keys and creaking of leather meant the cop was on his way inside.
“Sir, please step back,” he said with more of a sigh. I’m sure this wasn’t what he wanted to be doing at seven thirty in the morning, either.
“No!” Even though I directed my answer to the cop, I kept my glare on Crystal. “She hasn’t had anything to do with them in I don’t know how long and now all of a sudden she wants to be a mom again? I don’t think so. I just got them away from her, for fuck’s sake! Do you even know where Axel is, Crystal? Do you even fucking care?!”
“See!” she crowed to the officer. “Itoldyou he kidnapped them!”
“He didn’t kidnap us,” Bri countered, edging closer to my side. “At least here we have food and water and someone to look after us.”
Crystal laughed and waved her off, putting on the performance of the year. “Oh stop kidding. You have plenty to eat, and Robbie got those pipes fixed, so come on.”
“Who the fuck is Robbie?” I swept my arm in front of Bri and pushed her back behind me when Crystal reached for her.
“Mama’s new boyfriend,” Ezra offered, still hugging her.
“How do you know that?” Bri asked with a glare, even though we all knew how he knew that. He knew because he’d obviously talked to Crystal at some point, and somehow he was the one who gave her our fucking address. Otherwise, there wasnoway she’d have been able to find us. As much as I wanted to shake the shit out of him, I was ultimately to blame for not deleting her number out of Bri’s phone the first chance I got.
“Brianna, you’re going to be late for school,” Crystal said, impersonating some version of a mother she’d never been in her fucking life. “Now no more of this. Let’s go. Robbie’s downstairs.”
“I don’t want to leave,” Bri said, clinging to my wrist and looking up at me, tears already in her eyes. “Please, Marek. Do something!”
Helplessness crushed me, squeezing my lungs so hard I gasped like a fish on dry land, unable to answer her. I looked at the cop, hoping he’d jump in at any point. “You’re not going to let her do this, are you?”
“Do you have a court order?” the cop asked.
“No, but I—”
“Then you have no legal right to them.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?! You’d rather they go live with a crack whore and her new fucking pimp than stay here where it’s safe? I’m not some stranger! I’m their brother!”
He held a hand up with a silent sigh. “I understand your concerns.”
“Thendosomething!”
“Ican’t,” the cop replied, his gaze boring into mine like he was trying to tell me he understood but couldn’t say—or do—jack shit because of our fucked-up legal system. “My hands aretied. So my best advice? Get a family lawyer. Petition for custody. Until then, they go with her.”
Bri started crying harder, shaking her head. “I’ll run away. I’ll run away every day. I’m not going back there, Marek! I hate it there!”
I turned away from the cop and took her face between my hands, wiping her tears with my thumbs. “Don’t do that. It’s not safe out there. And Ezra needs you. Ok? You have to look after him until I get this sorted out. Please, Bri? I know I’m asking a lot, but please be strong. Just for a little bit longer.”
“A little bit?” she asked, sniffing back tears.
God, I fucking hope so.“Yeah. A little bit.”
“Ok.”
“I love you, Bumble B.” I hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head.
“I love you too.” She gave me a final squeeze and grabbed her backpack, stomping out the door.
“You forgot your waffle!” Ezra called out, snatching their breakfast off the table before darting after Bri. Nadia, in turn, followed after them, tail wagging.
