Page 90 of Broken Halo

Even though it’s barely after lunch, I’m not going back to work. Griffin should take a nap soon so I can call into my meetings from here. I don’t want to leave Ellie alone. And there’s the fact I’m covered in already-been-eaten vanilla wafers.

I shrug off my jacket and yank at the dirty tie that feels like a noose after all that went down today. I go to her, pick up her legs, and sit down next to her ass.

She’s got her eyes closed but I can tell she’s very much awake. “I hate them so much. Please tell me what they did was bad and they’ll get into tons of trouble.”

“Ellie.”

She looks to me.

“You don’t have anything else to worry about. They’re fuc—” I look over at Griffin and then back to her. “They’ve screwed themselves, especially if he wrote a fake script for those narcotics. You’ll be the last thing on their minds because he’s going to be dealing with federal charges from the DEA on top of filing false reports on you.”

She looks exhausted. “I guess that’s good.”

“It’s really good.” I stretch my arm out over the back of the sofa. “I know this was stressful, but if they’re going to be assholes, at least they messed up big enough that there’s no way any judge will allow them near Griffin—not after what they’ve done.”

“I still can’t believe it. Chloe was sweet and really good with Griff. Trig, she passed the background through the agency I hired her through. Some people will do anything for money.”

“Have Eli run a background next time. He’s good and thorough and will be a member of your family soon. He won’t allow you to hire anyone who isn’t completely trustworthy with Griff.”

She reaches up and entwines her fingers with mine. “I’m just ready for things to settle down, get back to normal—whatever the hell that looks like. It was hard enough before, but I don’t know who to trust after this. I’m opening a business and will have students in two weeks. I need child care.”

“Hattie?” I ask, though I still dread being around her parents.

She shakes her head, and from the sound of it, she feels the same. “No way. Not on a daily basis. I need someone who will actually follow my directions. My mother does what she wants and doesn’t apologize for it.”

“You’ll figure it out and he’ll be fine. Not everyone can be bought and not everyone is out to get you.”

She rolls her eyes. “You say that after you filed a restraining order against your father today on my behalf. Right, no one else is out to get me.”

I told her about my dad’s visit yesterday. She deserves to know and she needs to be vigilant. She’s good at work with Eli there and he knows what’s going on. My dad played right into my hand when he came to visit me yesterday at MI. I’ve got proof he threatened Ellie and since her eye-witness account put him in jail ten years ago, no judge is going to take that lightly, and no parole officer is going to be okay with him getting a restraining order slapped on him right out of the slammer.

“I want you to be careful but I don’t want you to be scared. When it gets right down to it, I think he cares more about his freedom than he does retribution.”

She rubs her eyes. “I’m tired. I don’t have the energy to think about your dad right now. I will tomorrow but tonight I just need to forget about it all.”

Griffin crawls to the coffee table and pulls up, speaking in gibberish with a few balls, mamas, vrooms, and uh-ohs thrown in while banging the shit out of his toys.

“I left Quinn with all the contractors and Griffin needs to go down for a nap.” Ellie shifts and looks up at me. “I’m sure you’re sick of running off in the middle of the day because of my dramas. At least you work for my sister and she’s used to my shit—I doubt you’ll get fired.”

I take her hand and pull her onto my lap. “I’m pretty sure my job is safe and Jen would’ve been here too, if she weren’t out of town. Call your assistant. She seems capable, I’m sure she can manage. While you’re doing that, I’ll put Griffin to bed and then work from here for the rest of the day. But we’re going back to my mom’s tonight.”

Her eyes widen. “You’re going to put Griffin down for a nap?”

I glance over at him and he’s rubbing his face. “Pretty sure I can carry him upstairs and put him in bed.”

“It’s okay,” she bites her lip and looks down at her fingers playing with the buttons on my shirt. “He needs a diaper change and he has to go through this whole thing with his stuffed frog, the right pacifier, and even then, he needs to settle down. He just…”

She’s acting like this is rocket science. “He just what?”

Her hesitant blue eyes angle to mine and she shrugs. “He just needs to be loved on.”

I hike a brow. “Was the lying, backstabbing, bitch of a babysitter able to handle these monumental tasks?”

She tips her head. “Stop it.”

“I did pass the bar, you know.”

She rolls her eyes.

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