Inside the house he’d owned for seven years, Julian disarmed the security system and flipped on the lights in the kitchen he’d fully renovated over two years of weekends with light wood cabinets, a tile backsplash in several shades of blue, matching stone countertops and stainless-steel appliances.He went to the fridge, grabbed a beer, turned on the teardrop lights over the island and sat on a barstool to check his email and messages to wrap up one workday before the next one began.
He had a text from Rachel McDavid:Bryan showed up at the boys’ school trying to sign them out, but thankfully, the admin is aware of the situation, knows he’s not authorized and refused him.Is this something that needs to be reported to the Court?
Julian sighed as he typed his response.Absolutely.I’ll take care of that right away.Where are you now?
Staying with a cousin in Sherman Oaks until I figure out a plan.Bryan doesn’t know her, so he wouldn’t think to look for us here.The boys are upset because I told them they can’t go back to their school, but of course I can’t tell them why, because then they’ll hate him, and I swore I’d never make them hate him… That’s turning out to be harder than expected.Instead, they’ll hate me for things I didn’t cause.I can’t even think about what might’ve happened if he’d succeeded in getting them from the school.Is he angry enough at me to harm them?I’d like to think not, but I’m not sure anymore.
I’ll reach out to the Court and Bryan’s attorney as well to remind him that his client is under a restraining order and showing up to his sons’ school is a violation of that.The judge may consider contempt charges, which are criminal misdemeanors.
Thank you for all your help.I can’t believe it’s come to this, but here we are.
If Julian had a dollar for every time a client had expressed that same sentiment, he could retire early.A romantic partner becoming a threat came as a shock to those who’d put their trust in them.The threat could be physical, emotional, financial or all of the above, and it came from the person who was supposed to keep them safe.
Hang in there,he replied to Rachel.We’ll keep pushing until he gets the message.
She gave his text a thumbs-up.
He sent urgent messages to the Court and to Thomas Driscoll, Bryan’s attorney, letting them know of the incident at the McDavid sons’ school.
Then he listened to a voicemail from Marlon Beckett.“Returning your call.Happy to talk about a settlement with Cresley whenever you’re available.”
Funny how Julian hadn’t mentioned anything about a settlement when he’d first reached out.He’d call Beckett in the morning to see what he had to say, and then he’d figure out how to make him go away and leave Cresley and their son alone.
He also had a message from Jenna Simsbury thanking him for the “gangsta move” that’d resulted in her husband agreeing to her request for full custody of their three children rather than having his financial misdeeds entered into the public record at trial.This had occurred after months of her husband refusing to consider mediation.
Once again, Carson and his investigative team had come up with exactly what Julian had needed to push the case to a satisfactory conclusion for their client.
Michael Simsbury would have visitation with the children and would pay hefty child and spousal support while also taking full responsibility for the massive debt he’d accrued in both their names.Julian was pleased with the outcome for a client who’d seen her immaculate credit destroyed by her ex-husband.Additional court action was underway that would hopefully restore her credit, but it wouldn’t happen overnight.In the meantime, she was struggling to restart her life free of her ex-husband, but with lousy credit and three children to care for as a single mom.
Jenna’s case was yet another example of how unfair life, love and marriage could be.
Julian downed the rest of his beer, stood, stretched and headed upstairs to bed, seventeen hours after he woke up in Stacey’s bed, only to be reminded why he almost never spent the night with a woman.He’d been exhausted last night and had fallen asleep without intending to.
He’d given her hope by staying.That’d been a tactical error he wouldn’t soon repeat.
ChapterSix
Isla woke on Mrs.V’s sofa with a deep feeling of dread and despair.It took her a minute to recall the events of the day before that’d led to her hiding out in her neighbor’s apartment.A soft sob from the back bedroom had her getting up and going to the kids so they wouldn’t wake Mrs.Ventura before dawn.
Mila was sitting up in bed, her hair in a mass of blonde ringlets around her chubby little face.Her lip quivered, and her eyes pooled with tears.
“Mama’s here,” Isla whispered as she snuggled up to her little girl, praying Theo would sleep for a while longer.She had none of their toys or anything to entertain them at this hour, which added to her already considerable anxiety.
She ran a soothing hand over Mila’s back, hoping she’d go back to sleep.
Denny was coming at nine to pick them up for the meeting with his attorney friend.Since she could no longer afford to pay a sitter, she’d have to take the kids with her, which certainly wasn’t ideal.But what else was she supposed to do?
Mrs.V played bridge on Tuesdays and looked forward to seeing her friends.Isla would never ask her to miss that, and she had no one else she could ask on short notice.
In the weeks that Gabriel had been gone this time, Isla had come out of the fog of survival mode to realize how increasingly isolated she’d become from the friends who’d sustained her after she and Denny lost their parents.
She’d been supported by a close group of girlfriends who’d been by her side as she finished middle school and entered high school while navigating profound grief and fear about the future.Denny had left college in Colorado and moved home to serve as her guardian.Their parents’ life insurance had allowed Isla and Denny to remain in their home.They’d muddled through, somehow, despite frequent clashes over Denny’s “parenting,” which had largely consisted of him sayingno.
That had turned Isla into a lying rebel.She’d defied him openly, shutting off her phone so Denny wouldn’t be able to track her down and ruin her fun.He’d been furious with her, but that hadn’t stopped her from continuing to evade him.
Gabriel had entered the picture during that vulnerable period and had been an incredible source of love and support.The more he’d encouraged her to depend on him, the less she’d seen her friends—and her brother, who’d hated Gabriel from the get-go and had pleaded with her not to marry him.
She could see now that the isolation had been Gabriel’s plan all along.The critical remarks he’d made about her brother and each of the women she’d been close to had chipped away at her belief in them.He’d been offended any time she made plans that didn’t include him.Eventually, she’d said no to their invitations often enough that they’d stopped asking her to do things.
