Page 255 of The Wright Man

I couldn't help it—I looked Gavin dead in his ashy soul and smiled wider. "Who loves you, Angel?" Maleek asked, smooth as silk.

"You do," I said sweetly, still staring Gavin down like a goddamn assassin in heels.

And that? That was better than any courtroom win.

That was freedom.

* * *

By the time I got home, I had nothing left but fury and a need to put my hands in something.

Later that night, I was braiding Maleek's hair while something stupid was playing on the TV. Neither of us were paying attention to it anyway.

I was tugging his hair harder than usual, and he didn't say shit, which told me everything about how well I was hiding my mood.

"This man really sat there with a straight face and said I emotionally compromised the marriage." I grabbed another section and yanked it through. "Because I kissed someone—after he took a whole trip with his pregnant side piece and their toddler running up calling him Daddy like it was fucking daycare."

Maleek didn't flinch. Just sat between my legs, calm and still, letting me vent while I braided his hair like I had a vendetta against his scalp.

"Then his slimy-ass attorney had the nerve to list out 'evidence' of my emotional infidelity. Like it was a damn PowerPoint presentation." I rolled my eyes so hard I saw my own brain.

Maleek exhaled slowly through his nose but didn't speak. His silence wasn't cold—it was calculating. Dangerous. Like he was doing the math on exactly how many laws he could tiptoe around without catching a charge.

"She said I was too close to you for too long before Gavin and I even started dating. That our bond was 'inappropriate.'" I scoffed. "Like I was supposed to erase my childhood best friend to appease a man who didn't even respect me enough to keep his dick to himself. And now? Now they're trying to weaponize the fact that I live with you. That we're together. As if that somehow proves their point. As if he didn't put my shit outside on the goddamn curb."

I tied off the braid a little too tightly. Maleek grunted but didn't move.

"She even said I compromised Gavin's mental health by refusing to let go of you. His mental health! Like he wasn't the one who fucking abandoned me after we lost our daughter, like he wasn't putting a baby in his side bitch a month later."

That's when I started shaking. Hands trembling. Breath short.

"And that raggedy-ass lawyer of his just nodded like it made sense. I swear, they were tag-teaming the bullshit like a goddamn mixtape."

My heart felt like it was trying to claw its way out of my chest. I wasn't just angry—I was raw. Stripped down to something small and mean and tired.

"You want me to run up in his lawyer's office?" he asked, deadpan. "Because I got time."

I snorted, even though the fury was still burning behind my ribs. "You are not helping."

"I'm trying." He tilted his head a little, letting me catch the next section. "Let me help."

I narrowed my eyes. "Your definition of help almost gave that man a stroke over speakerphone."

He smirked. "Didn't touch him."

"Yet."

"Won't—unless he earns it." He turned back forward, and I kept braiding, but slower now.

"I'm serious. You can't just... threaten him."

"I didn't threaten him." He smirked. "I gave him a courtesy warning."

I gave him the side eye. "You know that's not how the courts are gonna hear it."

He turned his head slowly to face me. I let my hands fall still.

"You've been fighting alone for so long you forgot what backup feels like," he said, voice calm but firm. "I'm not here to get in your way, Angel. I'm here to make sure no one fucks with you. That man is coming for what you built, and I'm not gonna sit back and let him do that just because it's 'legal.'"