Page 56 of Anything To Be With You

"You were the one who kept him from us." She states.

"Why didn't you take me to court then. John's a hot shot lawyer and my family doesn't have the money to fight you." I point out.

Helen composes herself, tugging on the bottom of her jacket. "John was too busy to deal with this at the time."

Oh, this fucking woman has excuses for everything. If they really wanted Mason, they would've done something to take him from me when he was a baby.

"You have a month to give Mason to us or we will be taking this to court." Helen says.

"You can try, but no judge is going to just hand him over." I say. "I have proof of the abuse Josh put me through and emails stating that I will never get a cent from you for child support."

"You have no proof," Helen says. "And we have pull in the court system. No one is going to believe that we refused to help you." She takes Josh by the arm and walk out. Slamming the door behind her.

I stand there stunned, my cheek stinging. I squeeze my eyes shut. Although that doesn’t stop the lump swelling in my throat or the burning behind my eyes. My heart hammers in my chest as I back against the wall and slide down, burying my face in my hands as the tears come. A sob hiccups out as a pair of strong arms slides under my legs and behind my back.

"I’ve got you," comes the deep voice I’ve gotten used to hearing.

I push back against his chest. "Just leave me here."

Luke doesn’t say anything, instead I’m lifted from the ground. I push against his hold but it’s no use, Luke’s grip on me is too strong. Another sob hiccups out and I curl towards his warm body, letting the tears flow freely as I grip his vest. His hand smooths through my hair as I cry in his arms, until there are no more tears, and I fall into a sob induced sleep.

I wake with a start, bolting upwards. It’s dim in Luke’s office and I’m on the porn couch, covered in his suit jacket.

"You’re awake," he says.

I jerk to the left to find Luke walking out of what I now know is a washroom and not a closet like I first thought.

"How long was I out for?"

He looks at his watch. "Five hours."

I jump off the couch. "Five hours!"

"Daniella," Luke holds his hands in front of his chest, trying to calm me down.

I scramble out of his office. "Fucking hell Archer, why didn’t you wake me earlier? I’ve probably got you backlogged." I check my emails, finding nothing new from him.

"Daniella," he calls again.

"What are you working on now? Do you need me to proofread anything?" I look up at him through hair that fell into my eyes.

"Sweetheart, stop." He rounds my desk and takes me by the shoulders.

"I’m sorry." I whisper.

"There’s nothing to be sorry about." Luke states.

I shake my head. "There’s plenty. Sleeping while at work is one. Having Mason’s sperm donor and his mother show up is another."

His hand comes up to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing over the scar on the side of my face. "There’s nothing to be sorry about." He repeats.

"But—"

"Nothing, Daniella."

I stare into those ice blue eyes, not believing that the man who is being so kind, so gentle, is the same man I threatened to staple his dick to his leg a week ago. He has done a complete one-eighty since his case of verbal diarrhea on Monday.

"Do you want to talk about what happened earlier?" he asks softly, dropping his hand.

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