“Dad and his wife.” It was a testament to how Lucy wastreated in the Moretti household thatshe never called Max’s mom by her name. She was always her dad’s wife.
“We don’t expect them to be here,” Micah said. “They were the ones who raised the alarm that triggered the investigation, but since they are expecting us to still be investigating, I don’t believe they’ll be here.”
Peter added that since he’d filed the paperwork overnight and the hearing was this morning, it was unlikely that their lawyers would find out about it in time to turn up. If the judge gave us temporary custody, they could challenge it but would still need to wait for a court date.
“How long do we have until the hearing?” I asked.
“About twenty minutes,” Peter said.
“Will you excuse us for a moment?” I got up and gave Max a silent message to come with me.
Max followed, not letting go of my hand. I’d seen a sign for the disabled toilets on our way in, so I located them and locked us both inside.
As soon as I closed the door, he pushed me against it and put his hands on my face, pushing my curls back, and looked into my eyes. I rested my hands on his waist.
“What did you mean earlier?” I asked. “You told Lucy you’d do everything you could to keep her with you. Not us, you.”
“Isaac.” He took a small step back and broke eye contact.
“Max?” I choked.
“I… we can’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“We can’t be together anymore,” he said.
He could have punched me right in the gut or ripped my heart out with his bare hands. It would have had the same effect as his words.
“Why?”
“Because I’m about to fight for the right to keep Lucy away from my parents, and if the judge has a problem with our relationship, they’ll send her right back to them. I can’t do that to her. I can’t…”
“Max.”
“And how about you? If they win, I could be charged with kidnapping.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
“How can you not? This could destroy your reputation. All the work you’ve done with the youth centers…”
“Is this what you really want?” My voice was barely a whisper.
“No, goddammit. Of course not,” he shouted.
I hoped we couldn’t be heard outside the bathroom. Max ran his hands through his hair, his eyes giving his true feelings away.
“I love you so much, Isaac. Last night… fuck, last night was the worst night of my life.” He came back to me and rested his forehead on mine.
“I had no idea what was going on,” he said. “All I could think about was you being alone in the apartment and having to tell Lucy what was happening. I didn’t even find out until Micah saw me this morning. We have more people on our side than I thought, baby. But I’m scared they’ll use our relationship against me.”
I let out a long breath. He loved me. This wasn’t about us, but about him needing to protect Lucy.
“Do you trust Peter?” I asked.
“I do.”
“Then let him do his job. Please, Max, I can’t lose you,” I sobbed, “I can’t…” I shook my head until he put his hands on either side of my face and his lips on mine.
