I thanked God again for the headphones Diego was wearing.
“I told you I would take him if you datedanyone.Not only have you defied me, but you brought my son into it. He’s sitting on his fucking shoulders like he belongs to him!” He pointed angrily at the picture again.
“I’m not a possession you can force to do what you want! I–”
“You what? I should’ve known you were a whore! Just look at your own mother!”
I gasped, and my eyes welled, my body filling with anger. I’d told Gabriel all about my mother. Her drug addiction and how abandoned I’d felt as a child and teenager. Now he was throwing it in my face. I shouldn’t have put that past him since he’d spent years threatening to take my son from me if I dated.
“I’ve already got Suzanne working on drawing up custody papers.”
I inhaled a sharp breath, but he kept right on talking.
“Since my son is obviously not a priority to you, I need to take over for his well-being. I am filing for full custody.”
“Gabriel, you can’t do this,” I insisted.
“I can’t?” He peered at me with so much resentment.
“I didn’t do anything. Diego is my priority. He’s my life. You know that! You have barely seen him in the last year. You’ve been the absentee parent. Not me!” My fury was growing. How fucking dare he insinuate that because I dared to fall in love with someone other than him, that I was the irresponsible parent here.
“What I know is that his mother is off whoring with a Townsend and stringing my six-year-old son along for the ride. Now, I’m sure Marcia will be shocked and a little hurt by learning about Diego, but she will eventually forgive me once he comes to live with us. She’s been empty-nesting lately since our youngest went to college. She’ll come around to having another young child in the house again.”
My stomach churned and I wanted to reach across his desk to throttle him but I knew that would only add more fuel to the fire.
“What do you want?” I asked through gritted teeth.
He rose to his full height, standing behind his desk with his arms folded, assessing me. “What did you say?” He heard me but this was part of his game. He got a thrill out of this. I understood that now.
“I said,what do you want?I’ll do whatever you want.”
He wasted no time answering. “Get rid of him.”
My eyes bulged and air escaped my lungs as I felt like someone was beginning to crush my windpipe. “What?”
“Get. Rid. Of. Him. Today!” he snarled. “Townsend. I want him out of your life and out of Diego’s life. Otherwise, you can kiss your son good-bye! You will never see him again until his eighteenth birthday if I take custody.”
I blinked, trying to hold back the tears that were a result of my anger. I was forced to choose between a life without my son or a life without Carter. Three months ago, I would’ve never thought anything would’ve felt as crushing as this. I looked over at Diego and I saw his eyes quickly move from me back down to the screen in front of him. I noticed he still had his headphones in. I took comfort in knowing he hadn’t overheard this conversation.
Slowly, I pulled my phone out of my purse. Making the only choice I could, I pressed the number to dial Carter’s cell phone.
****
Carter
“One hell of a save!” One of the guys slapped me on the back as I entered the kitchen. We’d just gotten back to the station house after the fire at Townsend Industries. Apparently, my save had made the local news.
“Showing you clowns how its done!” I retorted.
“Ayyye! With a little help from us,” Corey spoke up, holding his hand up to high-five me. We slapped hands twice then shoulder bumped before moving to the kitchen table.
“Yeah, too fucking bad your taste in pizza isn’t as good as your wall dangling skills,” Don grunted as he set the pies on the table. The room went up in laughter. Eric brought the plates over to the table, handing me the stack. I took one and passed the stack to Corey right before sitting down. We all dove in as soon as the box opened. The room filled with the delicious aroma of sausage, peppers, and cheese. After the first few bits, the normal shit talking that accompanied our meals started up.
“How’s that pretty lady of yours, Carter?”
I paused, pizza halfway to my mouth at the mention of Michelle from Don’s mouth. His eyes were glittering with laughter, even though it was a rather innocent question. Beside me, I heard Corey whistle low in his throat.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Don. You know how sensitive my man is about his woman.” Corey clapped me on the shoulder. “Just leave well enough alone, man.”
