Page 74 of For Your Consideration

“Asher Lawson,” he said with a dip of his chin, his arm going over my shoulder to keep me at his side. I didn’t mind the weight; it was like a safety blanket and soothed my nerves. She nodded back and looked at Jaxson next.

“Jaxson Hayes. I have the PI guy I want lined up and waiting for your call. He can get you whatever you need,” he said as he passed her a piece of paper. My head was spinning with how fast this was all moving.

These Knight Enterprises men didn’t mess around.

“Do you think that’s necessary?” I asked. Asher’s other hand rested on my knee, giving me a squeeze of reassurance, and I leaned into him a little.

“Listen, from everything you’ve told me, this guy isn’t one to follow through, but in case he does, I want to have everything I can ready and at my disposal. You weren’t living together when she was born, he has never paid you child support, never visited his daughter, and never filed the paperwork to be put on the birth certificate.

“I’m not going to lie to you and say we will easily win you sole custody. It requires us proving that he is unfit, so we need to see what dirt we can get. I doubt he’ll want to fight the battle I’m about to hit him with. Ideally this ends with him signing away his rights and never going to court.”

I tensed at Maya’s words. “You’re saying there’s a chance that I have to share custody with him?”

Another squeeze from Asher.

“I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen but it’s a possibility and I want to be straight with you.”

I bit my lip and nodded.

“Don’t worry yet, okay? Will is right—I’m excellent at my job. Let me see what I can do and you just focus on loving your daughter and trying not to stress about something you can’t control. You might not know me but I have been called a pitbull many times and not in a nice way. Let me take this fight on for you. Can you do that?”

“I’m second chair.” Will spoke for the first time in a while.

“I don’t think—”

Asher cut Maya off. “He’s on it.” His tone left no room for argument.

“I won’t get in the way but I want to be able to have full access to all information and documentation.” Will crossed his arms, eyes narrowed on Maya.

“You aren’t in family law.” She turned to glare at him. “This isn’t your area of expertise.”

“I would prefer him to be included if that’s okay.” I stepped in as the tension in the room got thicker, Asher’s body tensing next to me. “I trust him. It’ll help keep me calm knowing he knows what’s happening. You can put him in his place if he gets out of line.”

I watched as she mulled my comment over.

“Fine,” Maya conceded after a few moments. She looked over at Jaxson with a nod. “You can walk me out. I’ll give you what I want the PI to get started on.” She looked back at me. “Call me immediately if he reaches out again. All communication now goes through me. Don’t speak with him, answer his calls, emails, smoke signals. Nothing. He calls here, you hang up and then call me.” She smiled at me, passed me her card, and then waved at Will as she walked back out.

“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart.” Asher pressed a kiss to my head as I collapsed into his side, and for just a moment I didn’t care about the friend line I had put in place. “We’ve got you. Soph isn’t going anywhere.” He said it with such conviction the only thing I could do was nod, take a breath, and push out of his hold, sitting up straight again.

“I’m good,” I said, forcing a smile to look at Quinn and Will as my hand went to my chest. “Thank you both. I can’t say how grateful I am that you got this organized so quickly for me.”

“Of course,” Quinn said softly. “You’re our friend, Sutton.”

“No one fucks with us,” Jaxson declared as he came back into the room. “We don’t put up with that shit, especially with Sophie involved. We’ve got her back.”

I couldn’t stop my eyes from watering at his words.

“Thanks, Jaxson.” I cleared my throat. He didn’t reply, instead just smiled and winked.

“Alright,” Asher grunted out as he stood up. I looked up at him, pushed my shoulders back, and then rose as well.

“Thank you for—” I started but stopped when he shot me a look.

“Quinn, you good if we take off?”

It took me a moment to realize he meant me and him.

“Yeah.” Quinn gave me a gentle smile. “There are only a few hours left in the day anyway. Get out of here.”