Page 48 of Ashes of Us
Danica nodded and drew in a deep breath. “Trista said all this shouldn't have gotten this far, that the Judge should have shut it down. Why did he let them move forward with things in the first place?”
David leaned back in his chair, tapping his pen on the desk as he appeared to think over her question. “From what I understand, he believes grandparents should have more rights to their grandchildren than they currently have.” He said slowly. “In Massachusetts, if the parents of a child are estranged from their parents for whatever reason and won't allow the kids tosee the grandparents, they can petition the courts for visitation rights. Normally, there is certain criteria the grandparents must prove in order to win, like visitation is in the best interests of the child, lack of visitation would cause harm to the child, in particular emotional harm, or there has been an ongoing and meaningful relationship between the grandparents and grandchildren that does not affect or cause harm to the child’s relationship with the parents.”
He cleared his throat and continued. “Nine times out of ten, the petition is turned down because parents have a constitutional right to decide who has contact with their child unless there's a clear danger or detriment to the child by denying the relationship. This is not the case in all States. Oklahoma, Utah, and Alabama, for example, all tend to rule in the grandparents' favour. Have a guess where Judge Perella is from.”
“One of those?” Danica rolled her eyes. If she had to guess, Perella probably had grandchildren he wasn't allowed to see.
“Utah.” David turned to his computer and began typing. “And from what I could find in the records, he oversaw a lot of grandparents' rights cases in family court back there and almost always ruled in the grandparents' favour. I only found two cases where he denied them access, one was because the grandmother had an opioid addiction and showed up to the hearing clearly high and the other because the grandfather liked to leave his guns around loaded. They only won after a social worker testified on behalf of the parents that the grandparents neglected the kids when they were in their care, and their house wasn't safe for children.”
“Great. Danica muttered. “So, they lucked out when they drew him.”
“Mmm.” David shook his head. “I'm not so sure. It looks like he gets assigned to grandparents' rights cases frequently. It's something I'm going to look into after we're done.” Danica raised her eyebrow.
“Why wait?”
“I don't want word to get back to him if I start making inquiries.” He explained as he found what he was looking for and turned his screen toward her. “I don't want him to be biased against us. Anyway, this is the list of witnesses I plan to call tomorrow and why. Is there anyone missing or something I need to bring up that isn't here?”
After Danica looked over the list and gave him her approval, they said their goodbyes and she headed into the office to get some work done, print some paperwork she would need for the next morning and pick up Indie, who she had left with Alex. She was just stepping off the elevator when the sound of raised voices reached her and she paused, trying to make out who Alex was practically yelling at. Then she heard the posh British accent and felt all the air leave her lungs. Heidi had actually flown across the Atlantic to confront Alex! Danica had to admire the woman's tenacity. If Alex were talking to her in that tone of voice, she'd probably run away as quickly as she could. She couldn't really make out what was being said, but she quietly opened her office door and bent down to greet Indie, who came running toward her when she saw it was Danica, whining softly. It was clear the argument next door was making her anxious. She tried to get past Danica into the hallway and was only stopped by Danica quickly closing the door behind her.
“Don't worry about him, Alex can handle himself.” She told her, going to the desk drawer and pulling out a treat for her. She sat at her desk and got started on some work, trying to ignore the voices coming through the vent, neither wantingto intrude nor to help without him asking for it. After twenty more minutes, she found herself wondering why Alex didn't just kick her out, and her general nosiness kicked in. Pulling out her phone, she sent him a quick text, asking if he needed her to intervene. There was no response for a while, and then, just when she was about to leave it alone, her phone chimed.
Get over here.
“Rude,” she muttered to Indie, standing up. “He's only getting a pass because he must be frustrated beyond belief.” Making sure Indie didn't follow her, she came to a stop outside Alex's office, wondering what approach she should take to get rid of Heidi. She briefly debated calling security and having her escorted off the property, figuring that would embarrass her enough to stay away from the hotel at least, but she wasn't sure how Alex would react to it. Figuring she would follow his lead, she knocked lightly on the door and opened it, poking her head in. “Everything okay, Mr. West?”
She noticed Heidi stiffened slightly when she recognized Danica's voice and stifled a giggle behind the most professional demeanour she could muster. Alex immediately stood up, looking beyond relieved that she was there, and gestured for Danica to approach him as he began collecting his things. “Everything's fine. Please call a car to take Ms. Ashford to the airport. She was just leaving.”
“Alex, this is ridiculous, I made a mistake...” Heidi trailed off as Danica reached them. Danica noticed she didn't acknowledge her presence, barely glancing in her direction as Danica pulled out her phone and sent a text to their driver to bring the airport shuttle around to the front. “We can work through this.”
To Danica's immense surprise, Alex placed his hand on her hip in an intimate, almost possessive gesture, as she cameto a stop beside him. “No, we can't. I told you, it's over, we're divorced, and I've moved on.” He growled, pointing at the door. “I'm asking you to leave one more time, take the car back to the airport and stay away from me, or I'll have security throw you out on your ass.”
Heidi finally looked at Danica, her eyes drifting to where Alex's hand rested on her hip, her lip curling in disgust, but she seemed determined to ignore Danica's existence. “You wouldn't do that to me,” Heidi settled back in the chair, folding her arms over her chest and looking smug. “I bought a one-way ticket, anyway. I've been awarded a temporary visa so we can work on our relationship.”
Alex tensed, his hand squeezing Danica's hip painfully for a brief second. “That seems like a you problem.” He informed her dryly after a slight pause, “Luckily, they have these wonderful people called 'ticket agents' at the airport who can help you book a flight back to London.” He leaned in close to Danica's ear, and she had to force herself not to react when he whispered to call security if she didn't leave in five minutes. Realizing that from Heidi's point of view it looked like Alex was kissing her cheek, she smiled at him adoringly and gave him a slight nod, so he knew she heard him.
“The car is waiting downstairs.” She didn't speak to Heidi, speaking to Alex as if she wasn't there. She could tell the show Alex was putting on with Danica was starting to get to Heidi, because there was an angry red flush making its way up the other woman's neck and if looks could kill, Danica would be dead a dozen times over with the way she was glaring at her. There was a moment of silence, and then Heidi let out a huff and stood up.
“I'm not going to the airport.” She snapped, anger obvious in every line of her body. “We're not done here. You'vehad your fun with the little gold digger, although I can't for the life of me see why you would want your father's sloppy seconds.”
For a brief moment, Danica saw red, and then a wave of calm washed over her as she felt Alex tense beside her, and she smiled sweetly at her. “Gold digger?” She looked up at Alex and let out a little giggle. “Me? Didn't you spend four nights in jail after you were arrested for trying to steal from your husband because neither you nor your father could afford to pay your bail?”
She watched with satisfaction as the colour drained from Heidi's face and her mouth dropped open, clearly shocked that Alex had told Danica why he divorced her. “And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you fly across the ocean to beg your ex-husband to take you back because you're so broke you can't even afford to get those nasty roots touched up?” She knew attacking her appearance was a low blow, but she also knew, thanks to Alex, that Heidi's appearance mattered to her, and after the remark about Danica being Alexander's sloppy seconds, she felt like Heidi deserved it. “Also, just for the record, do you really think Alex would want to fuck me if I had been with his father?” Danica knew Heidi knew Alex better than that and couldn't deny what she was saying. “Unlike some people here, I have too much respect for myself to sleep with a man for money.”
There was a moment of silence, and just as Danica was starting to panic that she had gone too far, she felt Alex start to shake beside her. Looking up at him, she saw he was struggling to hold back laughter, when their eyes met, he couldn't contain it anymore and let out a loud peal of laughter. “Christ, you don't hold back at all, do you?” He choked out before laughing again.
“You're just going to - to stand there and let her talk to me that way?” Heidi looked like the blood vessel in her forehead was about to pop as she got to her feet, her hands on her hips asshe finally looked at Danica. “Who the hell do you think you are anyway?”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Danica countered, feeling emboldened by Alex's response to her takedown of his ex-wife and knowing he wasn't going to be upset with her. “You're nothing, you're less than nothing. You're a thief and liar whose crimes and lies caught up with you.” She looked her up and down dismissively as she leaned into Alex's side. “Get over yourself and move on, he has.” She swallowed her surprise when Alex stepped in close behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against his chest.
“You fucking bitch!” Heidi hissed, her face almost purple with rage. “Like you could hold his attention for more than a few months.” She stepped closer, shoving her finger in Danica's face. “You're not his type, and he'll be bored soon.” Before Danica had a chance to react, Alex shifted her behind him, glaring at Heidi with the coldest expression Danica had ever seen.
“Enough.” His voice was like ice, and Danica actually felt a shiver go down her spine. He was talking to Heidi in the same tone he used with Greg, and she knew instantly he was done with dealing with his ex-wife. She quickly sent a text to Nigel, asking him to send security up to Alex's office ASAP. “My relationship with Danica is no one's business but ours, and I will not allow you to disrespect her or me anymore. Reconciliation will never happen. Go back to London and stay the hell away from us.”
Before Heidi could respond, two security guards appeared in the doorway. Alex waved them in and pointed to Heidi. “Escort Ms. Ashford out. She's permanently banned from every Rose Gold Hotel everywhere.” The security guards nodded and approached Heidi, after some arguing and the threat of having her trespassed, she was finally removed, andAlex dropped into his chair, running his hands over his face and groaning loudly.
“You okay?” Danica asked softly. She could feel the tension slowly dissipating in the room, and felt terrible that he felt he needed to pretend to be in a relationship with someone else to make Heidi leave him alone.
“Fine.” He grunted, glancing at her. “Thanks for going along with all that, and I'm sorry if I made things awkward between us.”
