“He’s a waste of fucking space,” I grate out. “He has no interest in Daisy beyond getting his hands on her trust fund. But it’s not about the money. It’s what’s right for her.”
I never imagined it would come to this. I am not the kind of man to put someone’s needs above my own. But in this instance, how can I not? My father neither loved nor hated me. He saw my birth as my mother’s attempt to better her life, and he was right.But she didn’t get to hang on to him, on to the dream. Being a single mother in the heart of a conservative society made her life much worse.
But he didn’t give a fuck about that. Or me. And we spent very little time together over the course of our lives.Visits to England once or twice a year until I was old enough to make college studies my excuse. He never did anything outwardly to hurt me, but his ambivalence felt somehow much more cruel.
I won’t let Daisy suffer the same. She’s kind and gentle, a worrier, very like her mother. A life with her father wouldn’t be a hardship, but she would suffer.
“How can that be right? Or even legal, surely?”
“‘For the benefit of the child’ is a legal phrase that gives an executor a vast range of discretion when it comes to spending.” And Adrienne’s executors seem the type open to bribes. “Provisions for living costs, a house, transportation, and school fees are all legitimate, but at risk of being vastly inflated. Like buying Daisy a McLaren to get to school.”
“No way.”
“She currently has her own driver and a Range Rover. Her father could argue that, when living with him, she shouldn’t be deprived of the same. Which is all well and good, but it’s a slippery slope. Especially when I happen to know the asshole has already been window shopping the kinds of shit he can’t afford.”
“What a nightmare.”
“Bad enough to think she might be left with an empty trust by the time she’s grown, but it’s not about the money. It’s the fact that he’s shown the bare minimum of interest in his owndaughter. He was never concerned about exerting his parental rights until he realized that custody could mean an easy street for him. Meanwhile, Daisy never asks about him when he’s not around. And when she spends time with him, she comes home quiet and withdrawn.”
“I see.”
“I don’t think you do. I wasn’t destined for parenthood, but she has no one else, and I will not let her down. So here we are. I could say I’m sorry for putting you in this position, but I’m not. I’d do it all again—I’d do worse—and I have, to protect her innocence.”
“Let’s put all that aside for a minute. What you’ve done, and I’m assuming that’s make me your wife so you’re a more attractive parenting prospect.”
I nod once, hard.
“But you’re going to go to court and gamble?”
“It’s not about odds. I need to fix the gamble. I fight dirty to win.”
“Not for Daisy to win?”
“I’m doing this for her, even if I can’t get her to tell me what’s going on in that head of hers.”
“Is she getting help? Therapy, I mean?”
“Of course.” Court mandated or not.
“She probably can’t make sense of it herself,” Lavender murmurs. “But if she doesn’t like being with her dad, if she prefers you, coupled with the fact you had bazillions for lawyers, that should be enough.”
“It’s not just about the courts. We have social workers, one in particular, hell-bent on the perception that I’m trying to tear a family apart. I can’t get her to understand that he’s only in it for the money. Meanwhile, Daisy won’t say a word against her father. Not to me or to her therapist.”
“You don’t think he’s hurting her?”
“Not in the ways you might think,” I answer darkly. The man is still breathing.
“Couldn’t she just tell the courts, hey, I want to live with Uncle Raif? You know, without saying anything against her dad?”
“If she could, you wouldn’t be sitting here.”
“I suppose not,” she agrees. “I’d be at home, sleeping off mimosas and eggs Benny.”
“With anyone in particular?” My question sounds dangerously frigid.
Her answer is to send a withering glance my way. “What about a nanny? Couldn’t you get one to keep an eye on her when she’s there? Spy for you, maybe.”
“She has a nanny, but the agreement in place says she goes to visit her father alone. His house isn’t big enough to accommodate anyone else, apparently.”
