breaks or

I have 2 images but they keep over lapping. I went into text mode and added </br> twice. For some reason the wordpress gobblins keep deleting them. It works at first then the code disappears and the images overlap. What am I doing wrong? I used ***** to show what I am trying to do*****. I also included the “</br> that I am inputting. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!!
Here’s the code:

<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.sound-offpromotions.com/music/bw-logo/" rel="attachment wp-att-4673"><img class="size-medium wp-image-4673 aligncenter" alt="b&w logo" src="https://www.sound-offpromotions.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bw-logo-300x154.jpg" width="300" height="154" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 52px; font-family: impact,chicago; color: #ffffff; background-color: #000000;"> presents
</span></p>
</br>
</br>
******THIS IS WHERE I WANT THE BREAKS/VERTICAL SPACING*****
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 52px; background-color: #000000; color: #ffffff;"> ALTERNATIVE </span></p>

[You need to use the code buttons when posting code ]