She cried harder at my words, gasping and coughing, just a fucking mess. She was more scared of me than prison, and that was exactly how I wanted it.
“You believe her,” Diesel stated, as we left the prison walls. It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah, but that don’t help us for shit, and I gotta be ready for this court shit even if it is bullshit.” I couldn’t even wrapmy head around fighting some asshole who wasn’t her father for custody.
“I’ll call Kendall Salazar.”
I nodded absently. She defended the MC inside the courtroom and she was fierce, loyal, and a bulldog when she needed to be. She was exactly who I needed on my team.
While Kendall handled the legal side of things, I could turn my focus to protecting my kid. I knew who the smoke man was now and I knew what he wanted, which meant I knew all I needed to know to act.
All that was left was to find him. And when I did, there wouldn’t be enough of him left to fit inside a coffin.
Chapter Eighteen
Eliana
“Excuse me, we need to dowhat?” My voice came out way too loud and too shrill for the small space, but I didn’t even try to tone it down. I couldn’t, not with the words this gorgeous, well-dressed lawyer said to me. I sat stiff beside Sledge, my hands folded in my lap, trying not to look as terrified as I felt. Across from us sat one of the most put-together women I’d ever met. She was intimidating as hell without even trying.
Kendall had glossy black hair, which she wore in a sleek chin-length cut, black tuxedo pants, and a killer red blazer that matched her lips. Her demeanor was polite and professional, but her stilettos said she knew how to kill a man without leaving a trace. Her gray eyes were sharp enough to melt steel. “You heard me,” she said, her tone calm and even. “You two need to get married. Yesterday.”
I blinked, my brain stuttering before it finally caught up with the seriousness of this conversation. “Married as in, legally married? With papers and a ring and vows?”
“Yes,” she said crisply. “Preferably before the first hearing, so the sooner the better.”
My mouth hung open and shock rendered my brain completely useless for a full minute. “But…” I began but that was as far as I got.
“Look, I’m gonna level with you Eliana. This custody claim is complete fucking bullshit. Crow is a career criminal despite his upbringing. Trish is an addict serving more than a decade behind bars, they don’t stand a chance.”
My brows dipped. “Are you listening to yourself?”
“If all that’s true, why are we talking about this?” Sledge asked. He spoke in a low, even-keeled growl.
“Because…” Kendall sighed as if we weren’t the brightest bulbs she’d ever dealt with. “Courts don’t always behave the way we think they will, especially when it comes to whattheythink is best for the child. Judges are people with biases and in family court, you’ll often get judges who think a two-parent household is all a kid needs to thrive in life.”
“Even if one is an imprisoned junkie and the other is a sociopath?” I asked.
Kendall gave a curt nod.
“But it’snota household. She’s in prison and he’s… a maniac.”
“I know but logic doesn’t always apply so we’re stacking the deck in our favor as much as possible.”
Yeah, okay. That made sense. I risked a glance at Sledge, waiting for him to explode but he just sat there with his jaw clenched tight and his hands balled into fists.
“Why me?”
“It doesn’t have to be you. But it would make things easier,” Kendall said.
I raised a brow at that.
“Sledge here is a biker, a nontraditional life course to be sure. You’re a nanny working on her doctorate degree with a clean background, you come from a good, wholesome family who’s part of the community. You are a stabilizing factor who is already acquainted with the little girl. That will count for a lot.”
I heard what she was saying but I didn’t like her acting like Sledge was something he wasn’t. “He’s also a veteran,” I said sharply, eyeing Kendall closely.
Her gray eyes softened a fraction. “That helps too. Go to any of the chapels on The Strip and get it done,” she instructed with her gaze fixed on Sledge who hadn’t said much. “This will also protect Zoya in case something happens to you.”
Sledge flinched at her words, and I instinctively reached out and put my hand over his fist. “You really think this is necessary?” I asked again even though I already knew the answer.
