14. Kane

Kane walked Logan out to his car after telling Haylee to stay put on the couch. She nodded, looking too tired to argue. He needed to get her to eat and then down for a nap. He had a lot of work ahead of him to get her healthy, but he was up for the task. She needed to be cared for, and she deserved someone who would look out for her.

"Thanks, Logan. Let me know what I owe you, and I'll write you a check."

Logan turned, glaring at him. "You don't owe me anything, you dipshit. Just take care of Haylee. She's a sweet one, and she's scared to death. You also have feelings for her, which means she is one of us, and we take care of our own. It's possible that she will have nightmares about the stuff she went through, and you might need to get her going with a therapist. I can recommend a few."

"Okay. Whatever it takes to help her."

The men hugged and said their goodbyes. Kane was thankful that he had such good people in his life, even though Logan was the one who gave him the most shit. Walking back inside, he stopped in his tracks when he found Haylee asleep on the couch, hugging a throw pillow to her chest. The poor thing was exhausted. The entire day had been overwhelming for her. He should have spaced out her visits with Luke and Logan, but both were things that urgently needed to be done for her safety and health.

Not wanting her to wake up alone, Kane grabbed a blanket and covered her up, leaving her to sleep in the living room. He went upstairs to the nursery he'd created for his future Little and grabbed the baby monitor from the dresser, taking it back downstairs with him. He set up the monitor on the coffee table in front of her so he'd be able to hear if she started moving around, and then he went to his office.

He spent the next hour searching for items for Haylee, ordering for next-day delivery so he wouldn't have to leave the house. He found the vanilla protein shakes that Logan recommended to all their Daddy friends to give to any Little who might be under their care. He also found a forehead thermometer, which he rolled his eyes at because he knew it was much more accurate to take a Little's temperature in their bottom, but he supposed Haylee might not be comfortable with that. If she was his, she would have her temperature taken that way often. They weren't there yet, although he hoped like hell she would be his Little one day.

Kane had just finished completing his order when his phone rang. Luke.

"Hello?"

"Kane, it's Luke."

No shit.

He didn't like the tone of Luke's voice.

"What's up?"

"Police went to Tim Parker's to arrest him. He wasn't there. He hasn't been to work since the incident. No one seems to know where he is. He never called in to work, just didn't show."

He heard Luke take a deep breath.

"Kane, when I put his information into the system, I found out that he has a criminal history. He has beaten up two girlfriends in the past and actually set fire to one of his ex-girlfriends' houses. He has various other things on his record related to fraud and arson."

What. The. Fuck.

"God dammit! Fucking find him before I do!"

"We will find him. But there's more. The police that went to his house said it smelled like something was burning when they were there, so they did a perimeter search to make sure nothing was on fire. When they got to the backyard, they found suitcases and bags of women's clothes had been set on fire and burned. There was a stuffed bear that had been mostly burned up too."

Kane felt ill. He ran his hand over his face, trying to comprehend what Luke had just told him.

"You're telling me the guy is a fucking pyro? An abuser and a pyro. So basically, you're saying this guy is a straight up psychopath. God dammit!"

He slammed his fist down on his desk.

"We will find him. But until we do, you need to keep Haylee on lockdown and make sure all security measures are in place. There is no reason that he would know she was with you, but we need to be careful. Get rid of her phone in case he put some kind of tracker on it. I don't have enough guys here to provide security for her. Maybe you should call Damian."

Shit. He didn't even think of getting rid of her phone. He should have thought of that. He should have had Luke run a check on Tim himself the second Haylee called so they knew what they were dealing with. He'd dropped the ball on all of that, and he felt like the biggest piece of shit because of it.

"Yep. I'll call him. I'm going to have him send guys to your place too, since Haylee has a connection with Ally, and he probably knows that."

As soon as they hung up, Kane dialed his brother. Damian owned his own private security company. He and his men provided security and bodyguard services all throughout the United States. They often used each other's business resources to help each other out.

"Hey, bro," Damian's deep voice greeted.

"Damian," he said firmly.

"Talk," Damian said, his voice turned serious and firm.

Kane spent the next fifteen minutes explaining everything to him.

"Fuck. I'm ordering men out there as we speak. The closest guys I have to you right now are in Portland, so it will be a few hours until they are there. I can have a few more guys out to you first thing tomorrow morning."

"Thanks."

"Kane, is she a Little?"

Damian was also a Daddy and took that role very seriously. Especially when it came to protection.

"Yep. I think so."

"I could tell by the way you talked about her. You like her too."

Yep. He sure did, and he would kill this motherfucker for her if it meant she could live in peace.

"I do."

"Can't wait to meet her. Keep me posted. I'll send you pictures and info on all the guys heading your way. Keith is one of them. I'm going to put three on you and three on Luke."

"Thanks, man."

After hanging up, Kane took a deep breath. He needed to stay calm so he didn't scare Haylee, but the beast inside of him was so close to coming out that he didn't know how well he'd be able to mask it. He needed to keep control. For her.

Noise on the baby monitor brought his attention back. Looking at his watch, he was pleased to see that she had napped for nearly two hours. Closing his laptop, he made his way to the living room to find her sitting up on the couch, sleepy-eyed and confused. She smiled as soon as she saw him, and then her face fell.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

Fuck. Great job masking yourself, idiot.

"We need to talk, baby. Why don't you go potty first, and I'll make you a snack to eat?"

Haylee sat frozen on the couch, staring at him. She shook her head.

"Something's wrong. Please tell me."

Kane sighed and moved over to the couch, sitting down next to her. He pulled her onto his lap and began stroking her hair. He felt like his lungs were caving in with the weight of the news that he had to share with her. He didn't want her to be worried. She needed to rest and heal, not worry about some psychopath.

"Luke called while you were napping. The police went to arrest Tim, but he wasn't home. They went to his office, but they said he hadn't come to work since the day of the final incident."

Haylee studied him for a moment. "I can tell that there's more that you're not saying."

He was finding it harder to get the words out than he thought.

"Tim dragged all of your stuff into the backyard and set it on fire. The police found it when they went over there. Luke also found out that he has a criminal record. Did you know anything about that?"

Her eyes widened. "A criminal record? I had no idea. How would he have gotten the job at Newsday if he had a record? They did a background check on me before I started, so they would have done one on him, right? What kind of criminal history?"

Her voice trembled as she spoke, her hands fiddling nervously with each other. He didn't want to tell her everything. He wanted to wrap her in a plastic bubble and keep her safe from the cruel truths of the world. But she deserved the truth, and most importantly, she needed to know he would always be honest with her when she asked a question.

"He had done… what he did to you to other women. He set fire to his ex-girlfriend's house, and he also has some fraud charges and other arson charges on his record. He served minimal time because his family has money, and they've been able to get him off with that. But this will be his third felony, and so once he's caught, they won't be able to buy his way out."

Her body began to shake against his as her face paled to a shade of alabaster white. Kane wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him as securely as he could without hurting her. She stared out blankly for several minutes before she exploded into tears.

"H-he's d-done this to other w-women?" she asked.

"A lot of times, men who abuse women do it repeatedly. Unfortunately, abusers are really good at pretending to be great people until they find their next victim."

Her tears turned into sobs until she could barely catch her breath.

Kane rocked her slowly. "Shh… baby… breathe for Daddy. Breathe. Nice and slow. In and out. That's a good girl."

"I f-feel s-so s-s-stupid," she said between breaths.

"Baby girl, you are not stupid. You had no way of knowing that he was going to turn out to be a monster. I am so extremely proud of you for getting away from him and fighting him off of you. It shows how tough and brave you are."

She sniffed against his shirt, and he could feel the wetness of her tears soaking through the cotton. He didn't care. He would take all her tears and turn them into giggles and smiles if he could. When she stopped sniffling and hiccupping, he pulled her away from his chest to look her in the eye.

"Baby, I need your phone. I need to have it checked out in case he put any kind of tracking devices on it."

Tears spilled over again.

"Do you think he's going to come after me?"

"I don't know, baby, but I don't want to take any chances. You are safe with me. I would never let anything happen to you, but we still need to take all the precautions that we can. My brother owns a personal security company and is sending some of his employees to provide security around my house and around Luke and Ally's house until Tim is caught and arrested."

"You think he'll go after Ally?" she asked, her blue eyes shining with new tears.

Great job, idiot.

"I don't think so, but in this case, we can't be too careful. I don't want you to worry or panic, Haylee. It's possible that he might come home tonight and will be arrested, but I am taking all the steps I can to make sure we are ahead of any issue that could arise. Do you trust me to keep you safe?"

She thought for a moment as she studied his face before she nodded.

"I trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone. It's so weird because I just met you, but I know in my heart and mind that you'll protect me. I also don't think you would ever harm me. Wait… did you call yourself Daddy earlier?"

Shit.

Of all times to bring that up, she had to realize it right then? It really wasn't the time to have that conversation with her, but he couldn't just deny it.

"Uh, yes I did."

Maybe she would just leave it at that.

"Why?"

Well, double shit.

"I don't think right now is the time for an in-depth discussion about it, but have you heard of BDSM?"

She nodded, her eyes widening. He had to hide his smile at the deer-in-the-headlights look on her face.

"Well, I am what's called a Daddy Dom. Basically, I am within the BDSM realm, but instead of being a Master or just a Dom, I am a Daddy Dom. I am feeling really protective of you right now, and I think I said it instinctively because of the situation. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Haylee shrugged. "Oh, okay. That makes sense. You didn't make me uncomfortable. I'll go get my phone."

She got up from his lap and walked out toward the apartment, leaving Kane to sit in stunned silence as he stared after her.

Oh, okay?

What does that mean?