Page 136 of Beautiful When He Breaks

“Yes,” Mara says. “Home evaluation. They will need to see your current living arrangement and the renovated outbuilding. They’ll assess safety, stability, sleeping arrangements, basic provisions, support structure, and whether Mila’s needs are being met. Given the preparations Killian made, Mrs. Alvarez’s involvement, your established caregiving, the medical records, and Celeste’s absence, criminal exposure, and the protection order against her, I do not anticipate major obstacles.”

I feel Eli’s breath leave him.

Mara continues, “After that, barring any unforeseen complication, everything should be clear for sole custody to proceed.”

The room exhales with him.

Eli nods slowly, and for the first time since Mara started talking, I see him absorb something that doesn’t immediately hurt. “Okay,” he says. “That’s good.”

“It is,” Mara says. “You have done very well under impossible circumstances.”

He looks down immediately, uncomfortable with the praise, and I want to shake him a little.

Mara closes the file but doesn’t leave. That tells me there’s one more thing, and my whole body tenses all over again.

She notices. “There is one additional consideration.”

I hate that sentence already.

Eli looks up. “What?”

“Celeste’s parents,” Mara says. “They are shocked, from what I can tell, and they are angry with their daughter. They have not yet asked for anything formally regarding Mila, and to be clear, they currently have no established custodial rights. However, they now know they have a granddaughter. And while they, as grandparents, do not have automatic rights, they can petition the court for visitation if they can prove it’s in Mila’s best interests.”

Eli goes still again, but this time it’s different. Less fear, more guarded calculation. I feel my own protectiveness rise so fast it almost chokes me.

Mara keeps her voice careful. “At some point, you may want to consider speaking with them.”

“No,” I say immediately.

It comes out before I can stop it.

Eli turns toward me fully, brows pulling together. “Jules.”

I know I overstepped. I know it the second his tone shifts; not angry, not exactly, but warning me that this is his decision before I turn into a wall with tattoos and trauma. Still, the thought of Celeste’s parents near Mila makes my whole body go rigid.

Mara’s gaze moves to me, then back to Eli. “It is entirely up to you,” she says firmly. “I am not recommending you agree to contact before you’re ready, and I am not suggesting they have any right to make demands. But they may want a relationship with their granddaughter. If they are safe, stable, and uninvolved in Celeste’s conduct, that may be something you choose to explore later.”

“Later,” I repeat, unable to keep the bite out of it. “After they’re vetted six ways to Sunday, maybe.”

Killian’s mouth twitches, which is not helpful.

Eli’s hand tightens over mine. “Jules.”

I look down at him and force myself to breathe. He isn’t upset exactly. He knows why I reacted; I can see that in his face. But he also needs space to have his own reaction without me filling the room first, and the realization hits hard enough to cool some of the panic. I don’t want to become another person whose fear makes choices for him.

I swallow. “Sorry.”

Eli holds my gaze for a second longer, then nods once before looking back at Mara. “I don’t know.”

“That is a perfectly acceptable answer,” Mara says.

“My parents don’t get near her,” Eli says. “Celeste’s parents are different, I guess. Maybe. I don’t know. If they didn’t know, if she lied to them too…” He stops, jaw working. “Fuck. I hate that I feel bad for them.”

Of course he does. That’s Eli. He can be furious, wounded, betrayed, and still find some corner of himself that recognizes another person’s grief. It’s one of the things I love about him and one of the things that makes me want to put him behind glass where the world can’t keep taking advantage.

Mara nods. “They have also been deceived. That does not mean you owe them access to Mila. It only means the situation is more complicated than Celeste’s original letter suggested.”

Eli laughs once, empty and tired. “Everything is more complicated than Celeste’s letter suggested because apparently every word in it was bullshit.”