⚠️MAKE SURE YOU READ CHAPTER TEN FIRST! I just posted three chapters at once!⚠️

Much to Kian and officer Lopez' relief, the two were able to successfully put Kiara down in her bed for a nap.

"Maybe we should stay close by incase she wakes. We don't want her attempting the stairs now do we? They aren't exactly child friendly." The officer suggests.

And she is right.

The stairs in Rowan and Kian's penthouse, although aesthetically pleasing, are an accident waiting to happen for a child with such short and unstable legs.

"You're right. I'll add a baby gate to the list of things I need to order as soon as I have a moment free." Kian notes aloud.

"Although we can still head down to the living room and keep an eye on her. We have security cameras I can pull up on the TV." He explains.

"We?" She first questions.

"My brother Rowan and I live here together." Kian expands whilst she predictably takes note of this on her clipboard, humming in acknowledgement.

"Make sure he's in next time I visit. I think it's best I have a chat with him too since he lives here." Officer Lopez requests.

"Yes officer."

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

The pair assume a deep discussion about Kian's plans and intentions surrounding Kiara.

Kian twines his hands together nervously throughout the entirety of the interrogation.

Which is what it was. Kian knew that much.

He spent the long and painful half an hour putting his heart on the line and basically begging the woman before him to believe how much he loves his daughter.

Whilst the receiving police woman's concerns were put to rest with every answer to her questions.

She had to refrain from reaching out and patting his shoulder multiple times to assure the jittery young actor. She noticed the sheen of nervous sweat causing his forehead to glimmer and the giveaway movement of his hands.

All of the gestures she was trained to recognise.

She knows he is an actor and a good one at that but deep down she can see the genuine innocence behind his every word.

She sets down the mug in her hands containing the remaining drizzles of luke warm coffee from the Wileys' luxurious coffee machine onto the coffee table and pats her knees, standing up.

Kian furrows his eyebrows recognising the gesture signifying conclusion and purses his lips, waiting for the verdict.

"Well... I think you're the best person Kiara could possibly be around right now." She breaks, putting him out of his misery.

Kian sighs and not so subtly rubs his sweaty palm across his chest in relief.

"Thanks." He breaths, still mulling it all over lost in his anxious mind.

"So if we could wake Kiara for a moment, I just need to have a small private chat with her then I'll be out of your hair." She claps her hands together.

"Wait..." Kian holds a hand up, stopping her before she goes and disturbs his baby.

"Actually... before I forget, would I be able to ask you a few questions about Kiara's mother? Just...I forgot to ask someone before and I think I have the right to at the very least know her name." He rants, the nervousness that had just been calmed rising again.

He taps his fingers on his knees awaiting her answer.

He was scared that his daughter's mother may have meant more to him than his average one night stand, and that whatever he was about to learn may break his heart.

The officer takes a deep breath in and sits back in her space on the soft grey couch, looking off into the distance as though racking her brain for the details she needs.

She finally meets Kian's somber, desperate gaze and her heart squeezes with empathy for the boy.

"Her name was Lucy. Lucy Black." She begins.

Who now? Kian tries desperately to draw up any sort of familiarity hearing the name.

But nothing.

And then the guilt comes flooding in, washing over him like a tidal wave.

This poor woman, the woman that grew their gorgeous princess for nine month and gave birth to her, wasn't even a familiar name in his head.

Sure she kept their daughters existence from him for more than three years but that wasn't something Kian had decided to hold over her.

Because for one, he couldn't even remember her so what would he have said if she managed to get past his security long enough to tell him? They would have named her crazy.

And two, Kian knew being a celebrity made it impossible for any specific person to get in contact with him.

For all he knew she could have tried.

There could be a four year old text message waiting in his requests lists and he wouldn't have ever found it.

The feeling of guilt intensifies and his throat begins to tighten.

Officer Lopez gives a minute to let it sink in.

She watches different emotions morph his face whilst a frown manifests on hers.

This is the part of her job that always stumps her. Makes her heart break for the victims of the cruelty she faces.

This case is one of those simultaneous blessings and curses.

If Lucy wasn't murdered she very much doubted Kiara would have ever met Kian.

But it was because of that that Kiara is united with her father.

At the cost of her beloved mother.

Kian then and there makes a vow to never go searching for the message.

Because if he ever found one it would break him.

He would blame himself for her murder.

Because if they were all together he could have prevented it. He had more then enough security to keep them from ever coming into contact with another human again if they didn't want to.

"Do you remember her?" Lopez asks lowly as if her light and cautious tone will ease the weight of the question.

Kian meets her eyes, blinking through the haze of his heavy thoughts.

He shakes his head, no.

"That just makes it worse." He whispers, staring behind her shoulder at nothing in particular.

"We both must have been completely out of it. I'm not that bad I do have restraint but that doesn't mean there weren't a few times I've went out and celebrated my achievements a little too hard."
Kian admits, opening up like he would in his previous therapy sessions.

Being such a big name within the acting industry means that trusting and opening up doesn't come east at all for him.

There are very few people he and Rowan have took the risk to trust. This is one of those times where he's taken a chance and balanced his whole trust on the confidentiality police officers are sworn to maintain.

He figured that if she hasn't already ran to the public telling stories about his long lost daughter, then it's unlikely to ever happen.

"Don't feel guilty Kian. No matter how painful the situation is, the facts remain. She was in England on her own. If she wanted you to be in their lives she would have been here trying to get through to you." Lopez attempts to assure him in a compassionate tone.

Kian stubbornly shakes his head.

"You don't know that. She might not have been able to afford to come here.

She was a single mother after all. I mean, she was murdered. What does that say about the area they lived in?

Oh my God. Kiara could have been hurt. How come she wasn't?

What happened?

Where was Kiara at the time?"

Kian fires questions at the young lady, pulling his hair in distress and running his hands down his face.

The gravity of the situation is only just catching up to him.

His precious little girl could have just as easily been in her mother's position.

He may have never found out about her. Never got to meet her.

"Take a deep breath in Kian." Officer Lopez instructs, sitting on the edge of her seat in worry.

Kian tries to do as she says but with his heart hammering in his chest, his breathing is too shaky.

He knows the drill.

Take a deep breath in. Hold it for five and slowly release and repeat.

It was hammered into his head by his therapist, his aunt and his older brother after suffering from panic attacks from his parents' accident.

He never wanted to listen to their nagging techniques suggesting they understood what he was going through.

Not until he became responsible for another human being.

His child.

So blocking out the detective's nagging tone, he walks himself through the steps ingrained in his mind.

In... and out.

In... and out.

"I'm fine." He assures the officer, sitting up straight and shaking out his wobbly limbs.

"Tell me about her case. I have to know." Kian demands, his attitude doing a complete one eighty.

Lopez is hesitant to tell him. Especially after he had a panic attack after hearing just her name.

"I'm not sure Kian..." she drones, uncertainty dripping from her tone.

"I mean, you're right. It is within your legal rights to be updated on the case being the father of her daughter and her now legal guardian. But after that reaction to her name... are you sure you want to know?" She tilts her head to one side, her dark pony tail falling over her shoulder.

"Yes." Kian replies instantly with no hesitation.

"Tell me officer." He repeats.

Lopez sighs, defeated.

"If you insist."