30. Sutton
Sutton
It wasn’t long before we were all settled in the living room.
Sophie was sitting on the floor with Quinn.
She was happy down there, slapping toys and making little noises.
She was especially thrilled with Thor lying on the blanket beside her, not at all bothered when she patted his head or pulled his ears.
He was a fantastic dog and it was making me want one for Soph.
I wrung my hands together as I watched her.
All I wanted was to pull her into my chest and hold her close, convince myself that she was here and no one was taking her from me, but my anxiety wouldn’t do her any good.
I was on edge and my leg was shaking even with Ash’s hand resting on my knee, trying to offer me some comfort.
The conversation around us stopped at a quick knock on the door.
Will stood up, holding his hand out to Asher, and went to grab Maya.
She came in wearing a pair of jeans and a cream sweater, her hair curled and down.
She looked much more relaxed than she had been at the office.
If she was surprised by the number of people, she didn’t let it show.
She gave the room a polite smile before her eyes landed on me. I held my breath as she came over.
“There is nothing majorly wrong here, everything is as I expected and I will explain it all, but I did want to walk you through everything in person.” Maya sat in the empty chair in front of me. “Take a breath.”
“I’ll try,” I said, appreciating that she was skipping the pleasantries and getting right into it. I’m not sure I could’ve handled idle chitchat about the weather.
Will passed her a coffee and I grabbed Asher’s hand for support, probably harder than I needed to.
“He did hire a lawyer,” Maya started. She put the coffee on the table and passed Will a stack of papers from her briefcase.
“B-rate, at best. I wouldn’t hire that man to get me out of a traffic ticket, let alone handle a custody case.
” She waved dismissively, sitting back. We all looked over to Will who flipped through the papers.
“He’s cheap,” Will summarized and the men nodded like it was a relief.
“Win rate?” Asher asked from beside me. He had sandwiched my hand between both of his now as his hard eyes were on Maya. This cold, intimidating Asher was the one I knew he pulled out with others and I was glad it was the one here today.
“Terrible.” Will snorted. “He uses TV ads.”
“Aren’t those expensive?” I looked between the men.
Noah shrugged. “Not really.”
“Knight Enterprises would never use a TV ad.” Oli made it seem like even the thought was offensive.
“I never have either, for the record,” Maya added before she sat forward. “Are you ready for the hard part?” I swallowed, took a breath, and nodded. “He notified me of his intent to file a petition.”
“First step in the filing process,” Will added.
“I was getting there.” Maya shot him a look before rolling her eyes and passing him another stack of papers.
“Their position is weak. They even call Sophie ‘the child of,’ never once mentioning her by name. The information in the petition is lacking but we’ll now have to go to court to address this. Unless you want to settle outside.”
“Like agree to a custody agreement or something?” My stomach felt like rocks were settling in it, like I might be sick. I tightened my hold on Asher’s hand.
Maya nodded. “That would be one solution, but in the petition he’s requesting regular, sustained visitation periods including her living with him for longer periods of time.”
“Not going to fucking happen,” Asher growled from beside me. She moved her eyes from me to him and narrowed them. It was like she was getting ready for a fight.
“Obviously, I agree that’s an unacceptable outcome. I was simply explaining to Sutton so she understood what he was seeking. She needs to be informed of every part of this.” She gave him a look that would have been intimidating if she wasn’t in my corner.
“Better explain before he snaps,” Knight called from Asher’s side.
Maya looked up at Will. “Your PI is helpful and I will have enough when he’s done to bury Ben so deep he can’t get out. Custody of a child he has no interest in will be the least of his problems.”
“Careful,” Asher grumbled. I knew it was in relation to the lack of regard for Sophie. I rested my free hand on his forearm.
“She’s not wrong. And it has nothing to do with Soph,” I said gently to him.
“Do you want him to get a warning or to take it to court?” Maya was still looking at Will.
“You’re actually asking my opinion?” He looked at her, genuinely confused.
“This is your call. I’m fine either way but I know Sutton will be more comfortable if we make the decision together.
” She looked over at me and smiled. I let out a breath and sat back, leaning into Asher’s side.
There was nothing about how she was talking that made her seem unsure. I was so thankful Will had called her.
“What did you find?” Asher asked, his voice still gruff. I sometimes forgot he was that way with everyone else but me.
“He’s got a lot of credit card debt.” She pulled out another file from her case and handed it over to Will without looking at him.
“Man is true trash,” Iris called from where she was sitting with the tea that Asher had gotten her. She’d never met Ben but she’d hated him from the first moment I told her why I was alone with a young child.
“Agreed.” Jaxson held out his fist toward Iris and to my surprise, she knew what to do and bumped him back with a smile on her face.
“Well.” Maya pulled everyone’s attention back to her. “He’s buried in it. Seems that he has a sports betting problem and loses a lot of money online. He’s not financially stable enough to show he could support a child or even pay child support since he hasn’t given you a penny since she was born.
“So on top of him having no prior involvement and a clear lack of interest in his daughter, we’ve dug into his personal life. He isn’t overly well liked at work and has had a number of poor performance reviews and HR complaints.
“He has a couple of unpaid parking tickets, and he’s currently renting and can’t seem to stay somewhere longer than a year.
He hangs around a few guys who’ve been arrested before, one for drug possession and one for assault and battery.
Everything I’ve had them dig for so far shows he isn’t fit to be a parent. ”
“And there would be enough here to destroy his life.” Will looked up thoughtfully from the folder.
“That isn’t everything.” Maya sent me a smug look. “Do you need to know more?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Asher and I had spoken at the same time. I looked over at him. “If you want to know, Will can tell you later. But I don’t need to know anything above what she’s using in court. I don’t want to have to tell Sophie more than this one day when she’s older.”
I looked away from him to Sophie on the floor. My heart hurt. I already knew I was going to have to tell her about her father one day, but I didn’t need to add all his indiscretions to the list. Because if she asked when she was older, I didn’t want to have to lie to her.
When I looked back at Asher, he had a funny look on his face, almost like he was hurt. But he cleared his throat, the emotion gone as quickly as it came, and then nodded.
Maya looked at me. “If you give them a warning on what we’re bringing forward he might drop it, but it also gives him time to try and explain his way out of things. It lowers your chances of going to court but doesn’t eliminate them.”
I took a deep breath, looking over at Sophie. “You think we should just take it to a judge.”
“I know it sounds more stressful but bringing it to court eliminates the back and forth and game playing his attorney could try. It really closes the book. If I expedite it, which I do have the connections to do, then you won’t have to worry for as long.”
I looked back at her, my grip tightening in Asher’s again. “But it could mean shared custody.”
“I won’t promise you anything, Sutton, but I’m good at what I do and there is a very clear case that he has no place in Sophie’s life.”
When I looked over at Asher, his eyes were already locked on me. He was here supporting me but letting me make this decision, although I knew that the second I asked for his opinion he would give it.
I knew what I needed to do.
I glanced at Will, and he gave me an encouraging nod. Everyone was watching, waiting.
“Okay.” My eyes met Maya’s. “Let’s take it to court.”