Keeping Kenzie - Pepper North Page 0,25
see if you can console your Little.” The sheriff stood and motioned Osiris to follow. He walked the concerned Daddy through the process of emptying his pockets and passing through the metal detector. Finally, he led him to the holding room where Kenzie paced back and forth.
“Daddy?” she asked in a wavering voice that contained a bunch of emotions.
“Hi, Baby girl. They’re going to let Cupcake and me join you for a visit,” Osiris said as he waited for the officer to stand back to let him enter. As he took his first step inside, Kenzie rushed to jump into his arms. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he held on to her.
“Baby girl, we’re going to figure this out,” he promised.
“I’m in jail! That asshole! He’s been out of my life for seven years. When I finally find someone who cares about me, he has me arrested.”
“How long were you married?”
“Six months. By day three, I knew I’d made a mistake. He’s super sneaky. I was sure he was involved with something illegal.”
“Do you know what papers he’s talking about?”
“Sure. I found it after I moved out. It was in a box of my stuff. When I left, he wouldn’t let me back in the apartment. He delivered my things by a mobile service at my cost, of course. Only the stupid guy sent a box of his illegal dealings with my stuff.”
“Do you have any proof that you returned the material to him?”
“Yes. They entered it in the divorce proceeding as an exhibit. I have the divorce papers in my apartment—that I can’t get into!” she said in exasperation.
“If you can tell me where they are, I’ll climb back up the balconies. I’ll grab the material and bring it back.”
“It would be hard to describe where it is.” She became evasive. “Sheriff Underwood said he could get a copy of the divorce proceeding tomorrow or the next day.”
Osiris ceased pacing and sat down on a chair. He hugged and kissed Kenzie before handing her Cupcake. “I’ve been worried about you.”
“Are you mad I didn’t tell you I had been married?” The words gushed out of her mouth as she looked down at the floor.
“Not at all. Do you still care for him?”
“No!” she said emphatically.
“People make mistakes. You learn and move on. Something isn’t adding up for me, Kenzie. Why don’t you want me to go get your papers now?”
“I just…I don’t want you to have to drive that far,” she obviously invented. A direct route to SANCTUM could have been finished in an easy day’s drive.
“That’s a lie, Baby girl. Normally, I would spank your bottom red, but I don’t want the officers to see your bare butt.” Osiris nodded at the camera in the room’s corner. “What are you hiding?”
“I’m not hiding anything,” she whispered, avoiding meeting his eyes.
“I may have to change my mind.”
“No, Daddy,” she hissed. Leaning forward, she laid her head on his broad shoulder. After pressing her lips to the curve of his neck, she whispered, “I knew better than to trust him. I looked through all those papers. He’d sent me enough material to put him and a bunch of his buddies in jail forever. I made copies of all the papers, and I keep it in a file with the court settlement. The judge’s documentation that his charge of theft had been dropped is in there.”
“Did you tell the police?” Osiris murmured against her hair.
“No, Daddy. He was a bad guy. I wouldn’t be here if he knew I had copied them.”
“We need to tell the sheriff. He can help.”
“Can we wait until the paperwork he’s expecting comes through? If that doesn’t work, we’ll tell him everything,” Kenzie suggested.
“I don’t like this, Baby girl. You’ve done nothing wrong. You won’t be in trouble. We need to hand those papers over to the authorities.”
“I’d rather just disappear.”
“He needs to go to jail if he’s done something wrong.”
She just shook her head against his chest.
Osiris pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You are being so naughty, my Little. When you’re out of here, you won’t be able to sit for days.”
“You’re going to stick around?” Kenzie asked with hope resounding from her words.
“I’m your Daddy. I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter 12
When they asked him to leave, Osiris had kissed his Little and given her one last hug. Again, she’d entrusted him to keep Cupcake safe. Walking out of the holding area, he discovered Josiah had arrived and was talking to