44. Packing heat

She immediately noticed that furrow of his brows at the sound of that. That look of confusion as he turned to throw her a look. She sighed. Imagining herself slapping that dumb expression right off of his handsome face.

"Did you look into it like you've promised, Detective Hale?" She repeated her question, gaze narrowed. Voice laced with a slight twinge of irritation.

"I've already told you, my-"

"Yeah yeah, your son is a perfect little angel, isn't he?" She rolled her eyes. Fucking parents. Always so goddamned biased.

The tsked and then pulled out her phone from her purse, rapidly tapping her fingers over the screen before she proceeded to show him a photo of Julian and his mom. Sitting together at a random cafe.

"These were taken yesterday," she rapidly talked, swiping to show him few other pictures of them. Talking. Seemingly arguing about something.

"Where did you get these?" Det. Hale mumbled as he swiped between the few pictures, brows drawn into a concentrated frown. He accidentally swiped a little bit too far away into her library, finding himself staring at a picture she'd taken of herself into her bathroom mirror. Completely naked.

She fought the urge to smirk as he quickly placed her phone on the bar, face down.

"I followed him myself. Witnessed everything with my own two eyes," she tactfully explained with a straight face, discreetly trying to gauge his reaction. He gave nothing away, his expression remaining stony.

"They appeared to be arguing about something," she prodded again, grabbing her phone before she proceeded to select a certain photo. Zooming in on the back of Julian's black jeans.

"And he was packing some heat, as you can see," she said, showing him the photo. The outline and handle of a gun could be seen very clearly, even after decreasing the image's quality. It all looked very suspect to her. Julian's demeanor. His mom's bossy and triumphant attitude.

She'd heard him arguing over the phone with someone yesterday after school hours. That was the very reason why she'd decided to tail him. She didn't like what she'd heard. The way that he'd yelled at her not to touch what was his. She was almost certain that they were talking about Lydia. It had to be. She'd seen the way that he's been guarding her lately. Like an angry dragon guarding its golden possessions. Tailing her ass twenty-four out of seven.

Something was happening between Julian and his mom. A some kind of disagreement. And it looked like Lydia was about to be caught in the crossfire.

She was scared. She needed help. She needed help to protect her friend and she needed it now.

"So, do you believe me now, det. Biased?" She placed a palm under her jaw, leaning against the counter as she faced him.

Det. Hale's expression remained unreadable. He quietly sat there for another moment, gaze aimlessly pointed at the shelves filled with bottles. The only movement she could observe was the slight tick of his jaw. His nostrils flaring as he blew out a tired sigh.

He took a hearty swig from his beer bottle.

"I met that bitch on one of my training missions," Lucy blinked. Surprise displaying on her features. She didn't dare make a sound though. She was already way too curious to find out where he'd go with that.

"She'd been tipped off that we were trying to track her down so she kidnapped me, just so that she could warn me to leave her alone,"

Lucy's brow raised, her gaze trailing over his hulking form. Him? Kidnapped? What did the bitch use? A freaking forklift?

"We fell in love and then Julian happened," he continued, that tick in his jaw visible once again. It was pretty obvious that he didn't really like talking about this.

"I told her to get rid of it but she vehemently refused. She wouldn't tell me why she was so desperate to keep it. She was only nineteen. I was twenty. We were both severely underprepared to become parents. Especially her with all that shady crap revolving around her. But she still wouldn't listen. And so we started to fight more and more as her pregnancy months went away,"

"But...why did you throw her in jail? And with your baby on the way?" She couldn't help but ask. That didn't make any sense in her head. How could he say that he loved her, and then be so cruel?

He took another swig from his beer, jaw clenching again.

"She threatened to sell our child's body for money, once she was old enough. Turn her into a whore like her. Our own daughter,"

That almost made her fall from the chair. Eyes wide as she stared back at him. What the fuck?!?

"I had no idea whether it was a boy or a girl, she wouldn't tell me. But I just wanted to keep it safe either way. Away from her clutches. She was just so fucking sick. I really believed that she was going to do it.

"And there was no other way for me to take the kid away from her. I had no proof. No legal grounds. And the time was ticking. I had to do something before he was born, otherwise it would've been too late. She would've found a way to take him away from me. To hide him.

"So I did what it had to be done,"

She swallowed. Blinking away a small and stray tear as she continued to listen.

"I've kept him away from her for as long as I could. At least until he was old enough to understand what was going on. Who she really was," he dragged a hand over his face, his voice sounding so...tired. Overwrought.

"So you're trying to say that he really doesn't have anything to do with her then? Not working as her middle-man or some crazy shit like that?" She pushed back. Her voice laced with disbelief. It was there! It was all there! She'd heard him! Seen him talking to her with her own two eyes! How could he still not believe her?

"What I'm saying is that there has to be something else going on. Something way deeper. She must've done some serious shit to piss him off like that. And I intend to find out exactly what it is."