Mia nods, already lost again in a swirl of candy-colored animation.
Summer steps toward me, each footfall slower than the last, like she’s walking toward the edge of something she can’t see. Her fingers tremble as she breaks the seal. She unfolds the papers.
Reads.
Her breath snags in her throat.
“This soon?” Her voice is barely a thread of sound. Her eyes gloss with tears she fights to blink away.
I take the letter gently from her hand and scan it. The hearing is scheduled for next week. Three days after New Year’s.
Exactly what I feared Kevin would pull, money, influence, pressure. A power play. He didn’t waste a second.
I wrap my arms around her, pulling her into my chest before the panic can hit full force.
“Hey,” I murmur into her hair.“I’ve got you. I won’t let him take you both from me. Not now, not ever.”
She sags against me, her whole body going soft, like someone who’s been carrying too much for too long and is finally running out of strength.
“I’m scared,” she whispers into my shirt.
“I know.” I press my cheek to the top of her head.“But remember, we have a plan. And we’re not alone in this. Not anymore.”
God, I wish I could swallow every fear she has, take every bruise he ever left on her heart. I wish love alone could make this disappear. But she has a dragon to slay.
And I’m walking straight into the fire beside her.
Her breath catches when she finally pulls back. I tuck her hair gently behind her ear, brushing away a tear that escaped despite her best effort.
“Baby,” I say softly,“I need to make a few calls. Important ones. I’ll be right back, I promise.”
She nods, swallowing hard, trusting me the way someone trusts solid ground after too many years on ice.
I press a kiss to her forehead, lingering a second longer than usual, then head for my downstairs office, the little room off the hallway that used to be a storage closet until Christmas break gave me time to turn it into something of my own. Dark wood desk. Soft lamp. The wildflower drawing Mia made taped crookedly to the wall.
I close the door behind me.
Pull out my phone.
My jaw tightens.
If Kevin wants a war, then fine.
He just picked one with the wrong damn town.
Summer
I don’t move for a long moment after Ethan closes the office door.
The house feels too quiet, even with the movie playing softly in the background and Mia humming to herself on the couch. It’s the kind of quiet that presses against your ribs, tight, heavy…like the air itself is bracing for something to crack open.
A custody hearing.
Next week.
So soon it feels cruel.
My hands tremble, so I tuck them beneath my thighs to keep them still. I focus on Mia, her little face glowing with the colors on the screen, her curls wild around her cheeks, her smile soft and unguarded. She kicks her feet to the rhythm of the song, completely unaware that somewhere out there, someone is trying to take her away from me.
