Page 82 of Contentious

“Is that what Carson would want you to do?”

“Probably not.”

“Then you should stay right here where you belong, because when he comes to, he’ll be looking for you.”

She nodded and took the tissue Marlene handed her to mop up a flood of tears.

“Is there anything I can get for you, Cresley?” Isla asked. “Do you need some water or coffee or anything?”

“I’m okay, but thank you so much for asking.”

“I’ll be right over there if I can do anything.”

Isla led Julian to chairs next to Kaidan and Griffin.

“That was very kind of you to encourage her to stay,” Isla said quietly so she wouldn’t be overheard.

“It’s what Carson would want. He’s obviously involved with her if he moved her case out of our firm, took an unexpected leave of absence from work, devoted himself to protecting her and her son and went silent with us over it. I wish he’d told us about Marlon smashing into them in traffic earlier.”

“What would you have done?”

“I don’t know, but I would’ve liked to have known about it.”

“He probably didn’t want you guys to worry.”

“Yeah, I guess.” When his head became too heavy to hold up, he leaned against Isla for support. “Thanks for being here with me. I’d be losing it without you.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

When his father walked over to them, Julian sat up.

“I assume this is the Isla we’ve heard so much about.”

“Isla, meet my dad, Corbin Remington.”

She shook Corbin’s outstretched hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Corbin, but I’m sorry about the circumstances.”

“As am I. It’s nice to meet you, too. Julian, may I have a word?”

He didn’t want to leave Isla or have a word with his father, but he gave her hand a squeeze before he released it and got up to follow his father to the far corner of the big waiting room.

“What do you know about this Marlon Beckett guy?”

“As you know, we’ve been working with Cresley, the mother of Beckett’s son, to get him to leave them alone. He’s been shaking her down for money—again—and there’s a hearing scheduled for next week. As you also know, Kaidan is now representing her. Apparently, Carson was concerned about crossing lines with a client and referred her to Kay.”

“And they were hit by this man in traffic earlier today? Or I guess it’s yesterday now.”

“I just heard about that myself.”

“Is Carson seeing her? I saw pictures of them together at the premiere.”

“At that point, he told me they were just friends. I believe it’s progressed since then. He’d decided to protect her and her son until Beckett was found, which is why he took a leave from work.”

“My God, and now he’s fighting for his life.”

“He’d probably tell you it was worth it to keep her and her son safe.”

Julian noticed that Kaidan had moved to sit next to Cresley and was talking with her.