Page 88 of Fake it With Me

Sasha whirled on him. “Because I thought it was real!” She shook her head. “You know what? We’re done. You and me. We’re done.”

“Sasha—”

“Get away from me. I can’t believe I let you anywhere near my daughter. I can’t believe I trusted you.”

Grant’s face darkened. “You were happy enough when I showed you that picture. You didn’t ask too many questions about where I got it or whether it was legitimate. You just ran with it because it gave you ammunition against Darek.”

“Because I thought it was real,” Sasha repeated. She looked at me, pleading with her eyes. “I didn’t know it was doctored. But Grant’s right that I didn’t question it as much as I should have. I wanted to believe the worst about you, and that made me careless.”

The admission surprised me. Sasha had never been good at taking responsibility for her actions.

“I only wanted joint custody until I saw that photo,” she continued. “After that, I convinced myself you were a bad father. But I was wrong. I can see that now.”

I looked at her and saw genuine remorse. It didn’t erase the past three years. Didn’t undo the damage she’d done by leaving. But it was something.

Before I could respond, Grant tried to leave. I stepped in front of him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“This is done. I admitted to changing the background. What more do you want?”

“What I want is for you to understand what you’ve done. You tried to take my daughter from me. You fabricated evidence and committed fraud and nearly destroyed my family. So here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to destroy you in court. Civil suit for damages, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. I am going to pay my lawyers a lot of money to get very creative. By the time I’m done with you, Grant, you’ll be bankrupt. Get ready, pal. Because I’m coming for everything you have.”

Grant’s face went from red to pale. “You can’t do that.”

“Watch me.” I stepped aside. “Now get out of my sight.”

He left, practically running from the courtroom. I turned back to Sasha.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “Not just about the photo. About all of it. About leaving, about staying away, about making this a fight when it didn’t need to be.” She looked past me to where Liza was waiting. “You have a beautiful family now. Daisie clearly loves both of you. And I know I have no right to ask for anything, but I want to know my daughter.”

“You want to be in her life,” I said with resignation.

“Yes. I know I can’t just walk back in and expect things to go back to how they were. But maybe… maybe we could start small? Supervised visits, just an hour here and there? Let Daisie get to know me again at her own pace?”

I wanted to say no. I longed to tell her she had lost that right when she walked away. But I thought about what Liza had said. Daisie deserved the chance to have a relationship with her mother if she wanted one.

“I’ll think about it,” I said. “But, Sasha, if you hurt her again, I will make sure you never get near her again.”

“I won’t. I promise. I know I have a lot to prove and a lot to make up for. But I want to try. She deserves a mother who actually shows up.”

“She does,” I agreed.

We stood there awkwardly for a moment.

“I should go,” Sasha said finally. “Congratulations on the win. Really. Daisie is lucky to have you.”

I returned to Liza and my legal team, who were all grinning.

“That was the most dramatic hearing I’ve had in fifteen years of practice,” Aaron said. “Whale migration patterns. Who would have thought?”

“Liza would have thought,” I said, pulling her close again. “She’s brilliant.”

“I’m just glad it worked,” Liza said. “I had a moment of panic when I thought I had completely tanked everything by standing up and shouting.”

“You saved everything,” I corrected.

“Thank you,” she murmured.