Page 27 of Finding Solace
"You got a boo boo, Momma," her tiny hand touches myeye.
"I know,sweetie."
"Bad man hurt you?" sheasks
Before I can respond, I hear Reid clear his throat and look up to see him standing at the foot of the bed with a plate in his hand and a coffee mug in the other. "Ava and I made you breakfast. She fixed you some toast with strawberry jam," he smiles. An excited Ava jumps off the bed and retrieves the plate from him and carefully carries it, gently placing it next to me on thebed.
"I put da stwaberwy jams on by myself," she giggles as she eagerly waits for me to take abite.
"It's delicious. Thank you, sweetie," I express, causing her face to light up with happiness. Reid hands me my coffee, and I sip on it while Ava steals a bite of mybreakfast.
"Bella is here. Would it be okay if she took Ava for a little while today? We need to talk," hesays.
I'm not sure what we would need to talk about other than what happened last night. "I don'tmind."
"She's downstairs, and she brought you some clothes. I'll send herup."
I don’t know how well that’s going to work. Bella is much shorter than I am. Leaning down, he kisses me then leaves. Ava climbs onto the bed and sits cross-legged on the bed brushing her dollie's hair. There is a light knock on the bedroom door followed by Bella entering the room and closing the door behind her. Holding up a bag, she greets me," I have some clothes, and before you say it, I raided Alba's closet for them. You two are close in height and size. At least she kept it basic. Jeans, black t-shirt, and a pair of sandals. "Thanks," I tellher.
Getting out of bed, I strip out of Reid's clothes and start to put on the others. Surprisingly, my side is feeling much better. I look down at the bruises covering my side before slipping the shirt over myhead.
I walk into the bathroom to do something with my hair. Bella leans against the door frame and looks over her shoulder before speaking, "You doingokay?"
"Besides being sore, I'm fine. If you're asking emotionally, that's hard to say right now. My feelings are a bit all over the place. I'm grateful the guys found me when they did. I'm scared; I'm confused. Inside, I'm a mess." I admit toher.
"I understand. Just know I'm here if you need to talk and Reid will take care of you and Ava. As far as the attacker, I don’t know what became of him. I didn’t ask, and the guys wouldn’ttell."
The three ofus make our way downstairs to the sounds of men talking. We find Reid, Quinn, and Jake sitting at thebar.
"I'm going to take off. I told Alba I'd meet her at the park by the library in about an hour. Ava, give your momma hugs so we can go play," sheannounces.
I hug and kiss my baby girl goodbye. No sooner do they walk out the door when Reid is at my side. "Come on. Let's go sit in thekitchen,"
I follow him into the kitchen and sit down in the chair he offers. "Listen, I've got something to tell ya," he faces his chair towards me and sits, "The guy who attacked you was a hitman. I suspect from his confession and description of the person who paid him to do it, that it may have been your father," He looks at me with certainty.But why? Myparents?
"I don’t understand. Why would my parents want me dead? I'm nothing to them. It doesn’t make any sense. You must be mistaken." I tell him, feeling a little-light head with hisadmission.
"I'll get to the bottom of this, I promise, Mila. Is there anything you can tell me—anything at all that might help me figure this allout?"
My brain is overloaded right now trying to process what I just heard. Do they hate me so much they wish I were dead? But still… Why? I think about the house and eviction papers. But again, I can't make sense of it all. Gram's house isn’t worth a whole lot. What would they get out of it? "A few days ago, I received some papers in the mail from my parent's firm in New York. They've filed a motion to contest my Power of Attorney rights with Grams," Reid interrupts myconfession,
"Why didn’t you sayanything?"
"Let me finish. Yesterday while I was at work an officer showed up serving me papers. My parents had me served an eviction notice. They are trying to kick me out of our home. How can they even do that?" I bury my face in my hands. Leading me from my seat, Reid guides me to sit on his lap and places his hand between myknees.
"I swear, I'll figure this all out, Kitten." he comfortsme.
Can he?I still have to fight everything. I still need to stand in a courtroom with the two of them. How am going to be able to go head to head with two prominent attorneys? "Did you guys grab my stuff from the motel room last night? I need my phone. I'm going to give River a call and see if he can help explain what my options are with all the legal stuff my parents are throwing at me," I explain toReid.
"Who the fuck is River?" he asksdefensively.
"The guy I walked out with at Ava's preschool a few weeks ago. He happens to be a lawyer. I figured since we're friends he might be able to at least give me some free advice on how to handle the situation," Istate.
"If I wasn’t clear enough last night, Kitten, from now on it'sus. All the way, sowewill be going to see himtogether."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
REID
