“Oh.” She rubs the sleep from her eyes and sits up, careful not to jostle Maggie. “I’m so sorry, Logan. I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you. I didn’t know?—”
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Olivia. Jasper said you were amazing today. I’m the one sorry I wasn’t here. Sorry I let this happen. I should have been here.” The anger I’ve been battling since before we boarded our flight rises again. I’ll spend every fucking penny I’ve ever made to keep my daughter safe. “Never again, Liv. I’ll never let her take her again.”
“I spoke to Nina. She’s going to dig a little deeper into Monica. There’s more going on. I’m not sure what. But nothing about today felt right.” She looks down at Maggie and wipes her eyes as the first tears fall. “I’m sorry. I know you like her to sleep in her own bed, but I just couldn’t put her down tonight. I didn’t want to leave her alone.”
I pull Liv against my chest and rest my chin on her head. “I wouldn’t have been able to either.”
“I was so scared, Logan. When she didn’t show up and then called from the hospital, it was awful.” This woman who constantly keeps everything together for everyone else cries against my chest until there’re no tears left to fall.
And once she’s done, I lay her back down and climb in behind her, wrapping my girls in my arms where I can keep them safe.
Liv and I are outside with Maggie and Posey when Nina comes by the next day, looking as out of sorts as we all feel. She drops her bag to the table and presses both palms on either side of it. “She dropped the case.”
“What?” Liv pops up from where she was sitting on the grass, then steadies herself against my arm. “What do you mean dropped the case? Like dropped it, dropped it? Like surrendering her rights, dropped it?” She moves to Nina faster than I’ve ever seen my girl move before. “Explain.”
“I would if you’d give me a second to breathe, Livvy. Outside? Really? Have you tried to walk through this grass in heels?” Nina shakes her head as she cleans her glasses and sits down, mumbling something that sounds an awful lot like,“Of course you have. It’s like I’ve forgotten who I’m talking to.”
“Nina.” Liv mirrors the stance Nina had moments ago, and any peace she’d found this morning vanishes from her face. “What happened?”
Rita follows a few steps behind Nina, and I drop a hand to Maggie’s curls before asking Rita to take her inside. Maggie doesn’t need to be out here when I plan to destroy her mother.
I join the two women squaring off at the table and fight to keep my anger in check.
No use directing it at our attorney.
Olivia steps into my side and tucks her arm against my chest. “Nina...”
“Monica’s attorney called me this morning. The case has been dropped, and she’s decided to surrender her rights.” This sounds like it should be good news, but the tight lines on Nina’s face say otherwise.
“That’s good, isn’t it? Surrendering her rights means she’ll never be able to fight us for custody again, doesn’t it?”
“In theory,” Liv answers. “But she could always come for it later. But that’s not what has you worried, Nina. What is it?”
Nina grabs a folder from her bag and slaps it to the table. “We checked out Monica’s fiancé at the start of this case, and everything checked out. Nothing out of the ordinary.” She opens the file and turns it toward us, and there, paper clipped to one side, is a face I know but can’t place. “But after your call last night, Liv, my guy dug a little deeper...”
“Why the hell didn’t he dig deeper two fucking months ago?” I snap, and Nina barely lifts a brow.
“Because he checked out, Logan,” she clips back, her tone even but frigid.
Olivia leans forward, her body tense as she looks down at the file. “What did you find?”
“You were right, Liv. He has a history of domestic violence. Nothing documented with Monica, but charges were filed and dropped by a different woman five years ago.”
I slide the picture from the paperclip and study it. “What did you say his name was?”
“Do you want the one Monica gave us or his legal name?” Her lips tighten, and her body coils like a viper ready to strike, and I think I’ve just gotten a glimpse of the woman Olivia told me about. The assassin in the courtroom.
I push the picture her way. “I want the name of the man who worked at this ranch until he was fired earlier this year.”
“Damien Voss.”
Fuck. “That’s him. What the hell is he doing with Monica?”
“What?” Olivia snaps and grabs the photo. “This is the man from the hospital.”
“Yeah well, Pops fired him at the beginning of the year for dosing the horses with steroids.” I swallow when I realize just what the hell that means. “Son of a bitch... He fired him because I told Pops what I’d seen. I was looking for Jasper and caught Damien injecting the damn horses. Triple Crown Ranch has trained some of the best horses in the world. And we neverhad to resort to steroids to do it. So Pops fired him on the spot. And now you’re telling me this son of a bitch is engaged to Monica and just happened to be there when my daughter got hurt? I don’t fucking think so.”
“Logan.” Liv pulls me back to her as I step away. “Stop. There’s more to all of this. I’m telling you, Monica was hysterical when I got there yesterday. She looked scared and heartbroken. Her face was bruised, and the hold he had on her wasn’t normal.”
