Page 24 of Grid Search

“Would you like me to send them a nice dessert?” He hasn’t looked over at us to see that I’m stressing or the worried look on Ryker’s face.

I lean up and whisper, “I’m scared.”

I’ve made sure to be honest with Ryker about everything, and my feelings are the most important. We still haven’t told eachother how we feel about one another, but I know I’m falling in love with him.

“I’ll protect you. I’ll call my attorney on Monday. Can you call yours?”

“Yes.”

“Kids, what aren’t you telling me?” Jaden walks over and stands with us, having overheard us talking about attorneys.

“Can we talk in your office?” Ryker asks, and Jaden nods. He has the head chef take over the line before leading us into the room.

“Do I need to have your mother here?”

“Yeah, maybe, so we don’t have to explain this more than once,” Ryker says.

Charlene walks in a few moments later, and by this point, I’ve worked off a couple of pounds bouncing my leg in fear. Ryker reaches across and gently rubs my thigh.

“I got you, baby,” he says, and I start to calm.

“What’s going on?” his mom asks.

I take a deep breath. I need to be the one to tell them. I start by explaining how I was forced to marry Sayler and how my grandmother helped me get the divorce. Then, I tell them how, when Sayler went missing, a clause suddenly appeared in the prenup I had signed. The judge ruled that I had to undergo one round of hormones and one attempt at insemination. I explain that it didn’t take, and I have the proof, not only in pregnancy tests but also in an ultrasound.

“I didn’t think about the hormones still raging through my body and ended up making a bad judgement error when I met Ryker. Several weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. We know it’s Ryker’s. As proof, I had an amniocentesis and got the DNA results. It’s not Sayler’s baby. It’s Ryker’s.” I finish. I hadn’t told Ryker that part yet.

“Babe, I trusted you.” He pulls me onto his lap and holds me as I cry.

“I needed to make sure that, if there was ever any question, you wouldn’t lose our child. Especially if something happens to me.”

“You don’t trust them?” He holds my face in the palm of his hands, staring me down. I can’t hide and fidget with my lip between my teeth, and he knows. “Fuck.” He pulls me into him, his arms banding me close. “I’m not losing you.” I can hear the fear in his voice.

“Call the attorney. We need to be prepared for them. That woman out there isn’t going to keep what she saw a secret,” Jaden says, standing from his desk to hold his wife.

“I can get a hold of some of my old contacts with child protective services. They can’t and won’t get their hands on my grandbaby. They are sick for forcing a child to marry their adult son,” Charlene adds.

Charlene used to work for the state before quitting to help at the vineyard. She helped Coral when she was having issues with one of Rowdy’s exes.

I don’t want to be alone tonight, so Ryker stays with me at my house, holding me through the night after he makes love to me.

Ryker

In the last couple of weeks since Lynae ran into the Humphreys, we’ve gotten everything put together with both of our attorneys. Mine will head up the case from here, while hers will use his staff to do some investigating for us. I’m notgoing to allow the Benedicts to get away with anything this time. She’s told me everything they did to her in the last case. How she basically walked away with nothing just to get away from them.

To get our mind off the Benedicts, we had dinner with Rowdy and Coral tonight. Coral is still recovering from everything she went through at the end of September and doesn’t like to go out much. That’s why we go to their place, or Lyn will hang out with Coral some days after school.

We pull up to Lyn’s small house, and something doesn’t feel right. I reach across her to open the glove box, where I keep my gun. I pull it out and slip it into the back of my waistband.

“What’s that for?” Lyn’s voice is high-pitched.

“Something feels off.”

“I left the porch light on.”

“Stay here.”

“No.” She tries to fight me. I dial Logan.

---