Page 106 of The Complete Truth Duet
“What?” Drew growled behind him, but I couldn’t find him in the suddenly crowded room.
“Child endangerment,” Morris said. “Now, you come without trouble and I won’t cuff you in front of the kid.”
“Mom!” River cried, the fear in her voice slicing me to the bone.
“It’s okay,” I replied as a knee-jerk reaction. It clearly was not okay. But, then again, it never had been and we’d survived all the same. “What kind of endangerment?”
One of the uniformed officers made a move to grab River’s arm, and I stepped to the side to block him.
“Wait. Wait. Wait.” I lifted my palms. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Morris cut his gaze away. “And you can explain that to a judge. But, for now, I need River to go with Officer DeSalva and you to come with me.” He pointedly tipped his chin over my shoulder and the other uniformed officer stepped in, catching River by the back of the arm.
She started crying as they pulled her away, and each tear struck me like the hottest branding iron. She’d been through so much in her thirteen years. We’d never had the cops show up and take her away before, but watching her being dragged out of my reach wasn’t something new for either of us.
But this wasn’t last time.
This was different. We weren’t trapped by the Guerreros anymore.
I was free.
We were supposed to be free.
“Mom!” she called as they carted her toward the door, her brown eyes anchored to me over her shoulder.
“Relax, baby. It’s going to be okay,” I lied, hoping I could make it the truth. “Just go with the officer and I’ll see you in a little while. I promise.”
The panic in her eyes shredded me as she disappeared out the door.
As soon as she was gone, the second uniformed officer moved in on me, painfully wrenching my arms as he forced my hands behind my back. The cool metal of his cuffs cinched tight around my wrists, biting into my flesh. But my mind was too busy trying to figure out my next move to give the pain any weight.
“Drew? Drew?” I yelled, bordering on the verge of hysterics.
“I’m right here, Cor,” he replied from the hallway, where he was standing with two other cops.
Jesus. They’d sent four cops and a detective? That should have been the moment I heard the alarm bells. They had known exactly where I was and I’d been more than cooperative all week, yet they’d sent four cops and a detective after me like I’d been holding River at gunpoint. But I was too focused on how I was going to get River back to even consider the whys.
“I need you to find me an attorney,” I told Drew. “A good one, okay?”
His face was hard as stone as he glared at the cop roughly forcing me down the hall, but he gave me a curt nod and clipped, “I’m on it.”
“Please. Hurry,” I breathed.
“Cora Guerrero?” the cop called.
“That’s me!” I said, shooting off the bench in the holding cell and rushing toward the door.
“Hands,” he ordered.
As he clicked the cuffs in place, I asked, “Can you tell me where my daughter is?”
“Nope. Now, stop talking.”
My stomach dropped. I was growing more nervous by the minute. I’d been there for well over three hours without any word on River or my attorney.
“Is my attorney here yet? I’d really like to talk to him.”
“As a matter of fact, he is,” he replied.
I blew out a shaky breath, intoxicating relief surging through my veins. “Oh, thank God.” But I couldn’t stop worrying about where they’d taken River.
By most people’s standards, the life I’d given her wasn’t great, but at least I loved her.
With my entire being.
I always made sure she was taken care of. Yes, she came from a family of criminals, but I’d taught her the difference between right and wrong. And when she had been little, I always took her to doctors’ appointments and got all of her shots on time. Now that she was older, I couldn’t afford braces or anything, but she’d never had a cavity. Every night she’d watched all the girls head out to work, I’d fought like hell to make sure she understood that she was worth so much more than just her body. I’d never wanted that life for her. So I’d spent every minute, every resource, and every opportunity I’d had preparing her for bigger and better things than I’d ever been able to provide her with.
I was far from a perfect mother, but I tried.
Every single day.
And while I agreed wholeheartedly that she deserved better than that, I knew that the foster care system wasn’t ever going to give her more than I could. I’d had too many girls come through my building eighteen and fresh out of the system to ever believe otherwise.
