I pull the door open, her name already forming on my lips.
Instead, a man I've never seen before stands on my threshold. Trim haircut, expression blank as fresh paper. His eyes sweep over me without interest, focusing on the crisp envelope in his hand.
"Warren Carter?"
I nod once, hope crumbling into wariness.
"You've been served." He presses the envelope into my palm like he's passing a baton, then turns and walks away without another word.
I stand frozen, door still open, night air sliding cool fingers across my skin. The envelope weighs nothing and everything.
The door shuts behind me with a hollow click. My thumb slides under the flap, tearing through the paper with mechanical precision. I know what this is. I've prepared thousands just like it.
There's one en route to Janie.
My eyes skim the document, muscle memory from years of legal practice carrying me through paragraphs until the words register like body blows.
Petition for Sole Physical and Legal Custody.
Not mine. Hers.
Janie filed first.
My stomach caves inward. The paper trembles in my hands, the words blurring together. I scan for details,grounds, claims, and accusations, but I can't focus past the header.
"Fuck." The word scrapes my throat raw.
I stumble backward until my legs hit the couch. She did it. She fucking did it and served me first. For sole custody.
Betrayal scorches through me, deeper than anything my family ever did. Being cut off by my father was painful. Losing twenty years to silence was abandonment. But this is infinitely worse.
This is her. This is the woman I let myself trust. The woman I let myself love.
My fists grip tightly around the papers, crushing them into my palm. The last fragile thread between us snaps, leaving nothing but silence and the taste of ashes in my mouth.
THIRTY-ONE
Janie
The cushions swallow me as I stare at the empty swing. Three days since I served Warren. Three days since I destroyed whatever we were building.
My coffee sits untouched, gone cold hours ago.
I press the phone to my ear. "I can't believe I did it, Gem."
"You did what you had to do." Gemma's voice travels from Savannah. She's only one state over, but might as well be a world away. "He was going to file against you first."
My laugh is hollow, foreign to my own ears. "And now we're both wrecked. You should see the paperwork Nicole drafted. It paints him as practically a stranger to Beckett. I couldn't even finish reading it. She told me this is standard in custody cases."
"Isn't that what you wanted? To protect your custody?"
I rub my eyes, gritty from another sleepless night. "I wanted to protect Beckett. Now I've turned his father into the enemy. No, Gem. This isn't what I wanted at all."
"Warren turned himself into the enemy the second hestarted drafting custody papers without telling you. Don’t twist this into being all your fault."
I don't answer her.
"Have you eaten today?"
