Page 51 of Retribution

His smile grows wider and wider until I could almost count every one of his teeth if I wanted to.

“There they are.”

I stop laughing immediately and force a grumpy face, only causing him to erupt into laughter.

I truly feel like I can’t win here.

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain why you asked me here. I thought this wasn’t a date?” I state.

“Does this seem like a date to you?” He smirks.

I’ve really drew the short straw.

I’ve made it seem like I think of it as a date, and if I try to deny it it’s only answering my own question. Damn.

“Stop avoiding my question. What do you want my help with?” I deadpan.

He sighs, sitting forward, his eyes dancing around us, before landing back on my own.

“Okay, so Allie’s parents are in town, and they’ve filed to obtain full custody of Willow, excluding me from that completely.”

Eyes widening, my hand rises to my mouth in shock. Willow must be absolutely heartbroken right now; she has just lost her mom and now she may also be losing her dad too. I nod, beckoning for him to continue.

“I have a few issues that could prevent me from gaining full custody of her, and her parents are completely set on winning this. They don’t leave me many options; they could use anything from my past against me and I need to go into that court room with the strongest case possible.”

I’m still waiting for him to explain how he thinks I could help.

“I was hoping we could come to some sort of agreement.” His look is skeptical, watching my face closely.

My mouth dries at the word ‘agreement’.

Whilst it sounds very white-collar, nothing about our relationship so far has been anything close.

“Agreement?” I ponder, initiating a response.

“It wasn’t my idea, I swear. I’m not like… setting you up or anything. Trust me, being in this situation is far beyond anything I’d want right now, she’s all I’ve got left.” His eyes drift away at the end of his sentence, the guilt rising in my throat.

I can’t even begin to consider how hard it must be to be in his position. Despite my known love-hate relationship with him, I would hate any child have one less parent, let alone two. My upbringing wasn’t the easiest in the slightest, the constant ongoing battle between my mother and I proved challenging. Enough so, I moved out as soon as I could.

Swallowing dryly, I offer him an understanding nod.

“What’s your grand idea?” Smiling gently, trying to provide him some sort of reassurance from the difficult subject.

“Basically, you enter into a contractual marriage with me. You receive a large sum of money in return of course, but it does mean we’re going to have to date in the meantime. Kind of prove that we’re not faking it, even if we kind of are?”

I’m pretty sure my jaw sits on the plate that’s holding the leftover flakes from my croissant.

“Are you out of your mind?” I fume. He is absolutely insane.

This doesn’t even make the slightest bit of sense. What would getting married have to do with keeping custody of Willow?

Shaking my head, I struggle to comprehend the logistics of the situation.

“I can assure you, I am of completely sound mind.” The fierceness behind his voice, evident.

Combating the thoughts running at a million miles an hour, I attempt to process each of them one by one.

My mind drifts off, thinking of the way I have always wanted to provide free scholarships to those who can’t afford tuition, and get to pursue their dreams in ballet. I have been on both sides of the spectrum, the insanely rich and have everything you could ever ask for, and the side which built me to be the woman I am today. I taught myself the importance of becoming strong and independent, and everything I have in my life is what I have worked my damn ass off for. I would absolutely love if I could relieve some of that pressure from young aspiring ballerinas, the incredible art and grace behind it, the competent brilliance of it.

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