He frowned. “You didn’t want him to get caught?”
“He’s Daddy. I needed him.”
“There are better Daddies out there who would take excellent care of you.”
I raised my head and stared into his eyes. “Will you be my new Daddy?”
He let go of my knee and leaned back in the chair. “That’s not possible.”
“Why not? Do you have a little already?”
“I don’t.”
I crawled over to the edge of the bed, then climbed into his lap, ignoring the way he stiffened.
“Cosmo, you shouldn’t do that.”
“I can be a good boy, honest,” I said. “I eat all my vegetables. You never have to tell me to go to bed twice, and I’ll work hard not to weigh over one hundred pounds. I promise.”
“I’m sure you’d make a good boy.” He patted my hair. “But I can’t ever be that for you. Will you trust me, though, that there’s someone out there who would only be too happy to take care of you?”
“But that takes time, and I need a Daddy to take care of me now. I don’t know how to live without a Daddy. What will I eat? Who’d help me stay on schedule and make good choices? I don’t know how to live without a Daddy, Hunter. Oh, please say I can be your boy. You can spank me if you want and-and—”
“God, no.” He lifted me out of his lap and placed me onto the bed. “This isn’t what I came to talk about because there’s no doubt about it, Cosmo. I’ll never be your Daddy.”
My muscles tensed, and I curled up into myself.
“Then maybe I don’t want to talk to you. Maybe I only want to talk to Daddy.”
“Listen to me. This is serious. I have to know everything you do. I am trying to help you.”
“How? I’d rather stay in here than go out there where I don’t have a Daddy.”
“What if I promise everything will be okay? That I’ll… I’ll look out for you when this is over and you’re back on your feet.”
Slowly, I nodded. “Okay.”
He sighed. “What’s your full name?”
“My name’s Cosmo.”
“You don’t have a surname?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Cosmo, we noticed they kept records of everything you did, but there were no records until you were two years old. Do you know why?”
I shook my head. “Mother and Daddy are the only people who’ve taken care of me.”
“Do you know what happened to your Daddy?”
“No, what happened to him? Did he escape? You said you would protect me from him.”
“He can’t hurt you anymore, Cosmo. He’s dead.”
“He is?”
Hunter nodded. “Tell me what happened before the FBI found you.”