Chapter 26
DONOVAN
Sitting in that courtroom, unable to say a word, was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.
Honestly, there were no fucks given about the shit Evan’s smarmy lawyer accused me of—I was used to being judged—but his insinuations that Rosie was a bad mom ground my gears in a way where I knew I wouldn’t rest until I’d made her ex pay for all of this.
Atlas kept glancing at me, his eyes conveying the exact same emotions filling my chest, but I had to give him props because he was doing well in keeping his mouth shut, too.
It was the right thing to do for Rosie and the kids because Evan’s narcissism was showing in the way he kept interrupting, even though he’d been told to shut the fuck up. I could see the judge getting more and more pissed with him, and it reminded me of something my dad used to say.
Give a fool enough rope, and he’d inevitably hang himself.
At that moment, the noose seemed mighty tight.
Judge Merrick’s voice echoed around the room. “Mr. Palmer. You’ll be given the opportunity to respond, but if you continue to interrupt these proceedings, I’ll have you removed. Do you understand?”
Evan’s lawyer put a hand on my ex’s shoulder, but the stupid fucker still huffed. He looked like a kid forced to eat broccoli, and I had to hide the twitch at the corner of my lip as I watched him pout like an overgrown toddler.
“Mr. Palmer is very concerned about his son’s language,” the lawyer announced.
“Daniel Junior cusses and swears excessively and has done so since he was fourteen years old. Mr. Palmer believes the cause is Ms. Wood’s brother, who belongs to a motorcycle gang.
Daniel has an unhealthy obsession with the Speed Demons MC, and Mr. Palmer would like to remove Daniel from that environment so he can start instilling some good values in his son before it’s too late. ”
Atlas tensed beside me.
Kennedy stood and announced, “Objection, Your Honor.”
The judge’s gaze sliced to her and said, “Overruled. Let’s hear what Mr. Palmer’s counsel has to say, shall we?”
Kennedy gave a sharp nod and took her seat.
Evan’s lawyer shuffled a stack of papers.
“Furthermore, we have evidence for the court that Ms. Woods creates an unhealthy environment for not only Daniel and Gabrielle, but also their friends.” He passed a stack of photographs taken by Evan’s PI to the court clerk, who walked over and handed them to the judge.
“As you can see, the children’s mother often dresses inappropriately around her children.
She parades around town wearing next to nothing and even has young teenage boys over at the house while topless. ”
I heard a tiny whimper leave Rosie’s throat while a low growl left mine, and suddenly, I had to fight down the urge to break a chair over the bastard's head for daring to spout such bullshit.
The judge flicked slowly through the images, some of them no doubt even worse than the ones we’d already seen, and his stare flicked to Rosie as his mouth tightened.
“Mr. Palmer has found contraceptives in Daniel’s belongings, which indicates he’s sexually active, and as you can see in the photographs, Gabrielle’s seemingly very close to a young man who visits their mother’s house when Ms. Woods isn’t there.”
Kennedy jumped to her feet again. “Your Honor. All evidence was ordered to be submitted to both parties. Neither Ms. Woods nor I have been given access to these images, which goes against the court order. Because of that, I ask that the evidence shown today be inadmissible.”
The judge’s mouth pursed, and he looked over the top of his spectacles at Evan’s lawyer. “Why weren’t these included in the evidence passed to Ms. Wood’s counsel?”
The asshole looked down at his papers again, shuffling them around. “I thought they were, Judge.”
“You’ll address me as Your Honor, Counsel. This court will not be used to showboat. Do you hear me?”
Evan’s lawyer must’ve realized he’d fucked up because he gulped, then replied, “Yes, Your Honor.”
“I’ll allow it, but we’ll take an hour’s recess.
It will give the defendant and her counsel enough time to go over the evidence and re-establish their argument.
I also think it’s time for Daniel and Gabrielle to join us.
I want to ask them some questions.” His stare cut to Evan.
“But I’m warning you, Mr. Palmer, you play dirty again, and I’ll throw the case out. Do you understand?”
Evan bristled. “I didn’t—”
“I need a yes or no answer,” the judge interrupted. “Do you understand?”
His jaw clenched, and he said, “Yes, Sir.”
“It’s Your Honor,” the judge bit out before standing up and sweeping from the room.
Atlas leaned closer to me. “What a fuckin’ prick.”
“Yeah,” I rasped, my guts burning at the underhanded shit that was going on.
I couldn’t recall detesting anyone more than I did Evan Palmer in that moment, which said a lot, seeing as I’d had my fair share of run-ins with utter motherfuckers. I didn’t want Rosie to have to look at him, let alone listen to all the fake shit and lies he was slinging.
Still, I was so fucking proud of the way she sat straight-backed, head tilted up defiantly, with her lips pressed together, and her eyes gleaming with a stubborn light that only a queen possessed.
Evan was nowhere near breaking her.
Now I just had to keep it that way.
—————
We sat around the table in the conference room, raging at the photographs that Evan’s lawyer had conveniently forgotten to include in his evidence.
“I should have been prepared for this,” Kennedy muttered.
“You weren’t to know he’d pull this stunt,” Rosie argued, flicking through them with her cheeks burning. “It was me who should have warned you. I know his game after all.”
Compared to these new images, the old ones were tame.
They showed the kids larking around out at Rosie's pool. In another, Gabby’s bikini top had obviously slipped, and she was showing a bit more skin than was appropriate.
There was another image with Gabby and Kai, their heads close together with nobody else around.
It looked intimate, but I was sure if the image panned out, we’d see other kids there too.
In another photo, DJ was in the pool with a girl, and they were making out, seemingly hot and heavy. The chick must’ve had a flesh-colored swimsuit on because it looked like she was naked under the water.
They were bad enough, but the other ones of Rosie made my fucking blood boil.
There were images of her sunbathing topless by the pool, as well as her taking the trash out wearing booty shorts and a tiny top that left little to the imagination. There was also the silhouette of her getting undressed at her bedroom window one night with the lights on, when it was dark outside.
They were totally invasive and probably illegal. Evan’s PI had crossed a line, and I wasn’t fucking happy.
“I want the details for that PI,” I growled.
“On it,” Colt muttered, his cheeks staining red with the same anger that was filling my gut.
Kennedy turned to Rosie. “This isn’t legal. I think we need to look at serving the PI. He’s clearly hidden in the field behind your house and spied on you. The closest house to you is half a mile away; there’s no way you would’ve sunbathed topless if there were other people there.”
“That was the day before the cookout,” Rosie explained.
“I was topping up my tan for the party. I wanted to look nice.” She dropped her head and rubbed her temple.
“The kids weren’t even there; they were out with their friends.
” She pointed to the image of her taking out the trash.
“Again, there was nobody around. I have no neighbors, so who would see me?”
I slipped my hand over hers. “You don’t need to explain. What you do in the so-called privacy of your own home is nobody else’s business.”
“I know,” she said quietly. “But these pictures make me out to be something I’m not, and you know what?
That’s not even the worst of it. The thought of some stranger spying on me and taking pictures of me topless is freaking me out.
What if he has copies? He could sell them to some pervy website or anything. ”
My hands balled into fists, and I hauled out of my chair, heading for the door.
I heard Rosie call my name as chairs scraped behind me and a thick, muscular arm caught me around my chest from behind. “Settle down, brother,” Atlas rasped into my ear. “He’ll get his, but we gotta play it smart. We’re in a court of fuckin’ law.”
My head bowed, and I tried to get my shit under control.
“Atlas is right, Donovan,” Colt called out.
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
I can do a web search and put an alert out, and if anything pops up, it’ll get scrubbed from existence.
Rosie will be fine, and if anything does get through, I can load a virus on it so gnarly that whoever tries to download it will wipe out their entire electricity grid. ”
My shoulders sank, and I turned toward my girl. “You need to get the kids in here and tell them what he’s done.”
“I know,” she replied, holding her hand for me to take. “They need to be prepared in case the judge wants them to explain.” She shook her head. “DJ will never speak to him again.”
“Can you blame him?” I slid back onto my chair and laced my fingers with hers. “How could you expect him to? Think about it. Would you?”
“Donovan’s right, Ro,” Atlas cut in. “Evan’s made his bed. If you were DJ, would you want anythin’ to do with him?”
She shook her head, her eyes downcast.
“Why the fuck would you want them to be around someone who uses them to score points?” he went on.
“If he’s done it once, he’ll do it again, and it’ll only get worse as they get older because instead of layin’ his bullshit on you, he’ll lay it on them.
Every time the kids do somethin’ he doesn’t agree with, he’ll fuck with their lives, Ro. It’s in his nature.”
“I know, Dan,” she said flatly. “He doesn’t deserve them.”