Set Me Free

'...and he would bring her home'

"Nothing is more important to me than keeping you safe."

Joseph's POV

"You selfish useless prick!"

Joseph sits in the police custody interview room. Sitting opposite him is Melissa, Elizabeth's mother. After turning himself in, he told the police to notify Melissa of what had happened, and now here she was screaming at him in public.

He knew he deserved her rage, her insults, but it didn't make it any easier to take. He still loved the woman before him, that have never changed, the only thing that was different was the way she felt about him.

"How could you do this to her?" Melissa is no longer angry. Slumping in the seat across from him, she hangs her head and covers her eyes. Joseph knew she was crying. While their marriage was breaking down, Melissa would sit in the same position night after night. The sight of it still made him feel as ashamed and disappointed as it did twenty years ago.

"I'm so sorry," he tells her. He knew this would make no difference, that she would never forgive him for the pain he had caused, but he had to say it. He was sorry, sorry for every bit of pain he had made her feel since she had met him. He was poison to her and now he was poison to his daughter. Maybe being behind bars was the best place for him.

"What have the police said?" Melissa finally asks him, releasing her head from her hands so she can look at him. Red raw and filled with unshed tears, the sight of her eyes made Joseph feel physically ill.

"They said that they are looking into it, that they will send teams out to try and find her. The drug ring has been on their radar for years, this is the first time they've actually caught a glimpse of the man in charge."

Joseph had been aware of police presence for years now. He knew that they were eager to capture the men that were spreading drugs through the city like a disease, a disease he had help spread. They knew there was one man in charge of the whole operation, they just never knew who he was. Now with Joseph's help, they had a picture and a name.

He never knew where the headquarters for the whole operation was, Paul or one of his minions had always met him in random locations to make the exchanges. Looking at it now, he knew it was because Paul knew that one day, he may have to take his daughter and he didn't want Joseph knowing where he would keep her. He knew, wherever the headquarters was, that was where Elizabeth was.

"So there's hope?" Melissa asked the question that Joseph was the most scared of. He didn't know if there was ever hope of them finding her. He had heard stories of situations likes this before, where they had taken something of value to make sure everyone stayed in line. He never heard the stories of their safe return.
He didn't want to tell Melissa this, to make her even more terrified than she was now. He also didn't want to fill her with false hope.

"They are closer to finding the drug ring than they ever have been before. They have me now and I promise you Melissa that I will do everything in my power to help them, to make sure they bring her home. I'm so sorry that caused this, but I will help them fix it."

He meant every word.

He would tell the police anything that they wanted to know, give them detailed descriptions of everyone he had ever met working for them. He would do anything he could to make sure they were stopped, to bring his little girl home safe and sound.

"I believe you," Melissa tells him. It was the nicest thing she had said to him in twenty years. Since the divorce, Joseph and Melissa had got along as well as they could for the sake of their only daughter. They knew they were no longer lovers and no longer friends, but they were civil, polite. He didn't think that relationship would last after this. She would go back to hating him as much as she did after he left and he wouldn't try to change her feelings. He deserved her hatred, his daughters too.

Melissa stands up to leave, looking over him once more as he sits in the confines of the police room. He was to remain in custody throughout the investigation, and once that had been settled, he would then face his court date. Joseph knew there was little hope of him ever seeing the outside world again.

"Please," she pleads with him, "'make sure they find her."

And then she leaves, leaving him alone once again.

Joseph knew that in a few minutes, someone would be along to take him to his cell, back to his imprisonment. He also knew that the door before him was unlocked. He could run, make a brave attempt to claim back him freedom. He may get nowhere, he may be stopped before he even makes it down the corridor, but he could at least try.

Then an image pops into his head. A little girl is laughing as he pushes her on the swings. Her hair is flying behind her, her legs are kicking before her in a desperate attempt to go higher, faster. She looks back at him as he pushes and smiles, a smile that completely takes his breathe away. The little girl before him is the most beautiful he has ever seen. A perfect mix of genetics, he knows in his heart that she will have all the boys in love with her when she's older. She had already stolen his heart. He knew that he would give the world to the little girl before him. He would keep her safe, protect her, shelter her from harm. He would do everything he could to make sure she was happy and healthy and safe.

That image stops him making a run for the door. That smiles causes him to take his seat once again. That little girl keeps him exactly where he knows he belongs.

He has already broken his promise to her. He couldn't keep her safe or protected, he couldn't shelter her from harm. However, he could start now. He couldn't change the past, but he could try his best to make sure that there were future opportunities for him to attempt to make things better. He couldn't pass that opportunity up.

He would stay in custody, at mercy of the law he had spent so many years running from, and he wouyld bring her home.