"It's been happening for months while you've been pretending it wasn't real." Rowan's voice cracks with frustration. "Why didn't you tell me? Why are you hiding from this?"
"I was protecting Poppy," I say, but the words sound hollow even to my own ears.
"By ignoring a custody battle?" She sits beside me, eyes fierce. "That's not protection, Sadie. That's denial."
I stare at the papers, the legal language swimming before my eyes. Petition for custody. Parental rights. Best interests of the child. Each phrase is a knife to my heart.
"He'll never stop," I whisper, the truth of it crushing me. "He'll keep coming until he finds us."
"So we fight," Rowan says, her hand covering mine. "We get a lawyer. We build a case. We document everything he's done."
I shake my head, panic rising. "You don't understand what he's capable of. The connections he has. The money."
"I understand that running isn't working anymore." She grips my hand tighter.
"And I understand that my sister, who's the strongest person I know, is finally letting someone in—and I won't let Elliot take that from you too."
I look up sharply. "What are you talking about?"
"Axel," she says simply. "I saw him leave. I saw your face when you came up those stairs."
My face goes flush, and I have to fight the urge to hide behind my hands.
"That's not, we're not?—"
"Stop." Her voice softens. "For once in your life, Sadie, stop denying yourself something good because you're scared."
Tears spill down my cheeks. "I kissed him," I confess, the words barely audible. "And for a minute, I forgot about all of this. I just felt… safe."
Rowan wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close.
"Then we make sure you stay that way. Safe. Both of you." She taps the papers. "But that means facing this head-on. No more running. No more hiding."
I stare at the custody petition, reality sinking in. Three weeks until the hearing. Three weeks to build a defense against a man who's spent years making sure I have nothing to defend myself with.
"I can't do this," I whisper. "I don't know how."
Rowan's arm tightens around me. "You're not handling this alone anymore."
I lean into her, exhaustion and fear washing over me in waves. For so long, I've carried this burden by myself, the terror, the vigilance, the constant looking over my shoulder. The weight of it crushes me anew now that it's out in the open.
"First thing tomorrow, we call Marianne," Rowan says, practical as always. "She's been trying to reach you for weeks."
I nod, too drained to argue. "What if it's not enough? What if he wins?"
"He won't," she says with fierce certainty.
"You're not the same scared woman who ran from the hospital with a newborn. You've built a life here. You have people who care about you." She pauses, then adds softly, "People who might care more than you're ready to admit."
Axel's face flashes in my mind, his gentle hands, his patient eyes, the way he kissed me like I was something precious. The thought of losing that frightens me almost as much as the thought of losing Poppy. Both possibilities leave me hollow.
"I don't know what to do with any of this," I whisper, gesturing vaguely toward the door, toward the café where Axel's kiss still lingers on my lips. "I can't drag him into my mess."
"Maybe let him decide what he can handle," Rowan suggests, gathering the court papers into a neat stack. "You don't have to tell him everything at once. But don't push him away just because you're scared."
Chapter 12
Axel
