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“Hello Melissa,” Matt said.
“Hi Matt. Long time no chat…” I said, forcing a chuckle. That last visit to his office seemed like ages ago. Almost another lifetime ago.
“Yeah. How are you holding up?”
I glanced at Chase. “I’m good. We’re good. Jackson loves it here on the—”
Chase shook his head. “Not too many details.”
“Right.” I licked my lips. “We’re good. Thank you for everything.”
“Of course. I’m glad you guys are all right. I hope Chase has been taking good care of you.”
I grinned up at Chase and he set his jaw. “He’s a complete gentleman.”
Chase dropped his head back and I laughed softly at his silent theatrics.
Completely oblivious to what was going on between Chase and me, Matt continued, “Listen, there’s something that I have to tell you.” His dark tone caught my attention and sent my systems back on high alert. “It’s never easy to deliver this kind of news to a client and Melissa, by now, you know you’re more than just a client to me. You’re a friend.”
Chase reached over and wrapped an arm around my waist. He held my gaze for a moment and then cleared his throat. “What’s going on, Matt?”
I sucked in a sharp breath and held it tight as if I could somehow freeze time. To keep him from dropping whatever bomb he was holding on to.
“Henry’s legal team has filed a kidnapping report on Jackson. He’s claiming you stole him under the cover of night, without a trace, and ran off to Mexico.”
I released the breath in a huff. “That’s absurd!”
“I know it is. And trust me, I’m battling with everything I have. But at this point Melissa, I’d be doing you a disservice to not tell you my advice. From a legal standpoint, it would be better if you came back. You need to come back to California, with Jackson, and we need to fight this inside the court room. If you continue to hide, it’ll only strengthen Henry’s case and then when you do come home—which is inevitable—you’re going to be walking into court with a red mark on your case. I can’t imagine you’ll find a judge who won’t question where you went and why you ran off with a bag of cash, your son, and disappeared without a trace.”
“I’ll tell them the truth!” I boomed, before remembering Jackson was sleeping a room away. I took a deep breath and started again. “I’ll tell them what happened. That Henry was going to have me killed.”
“But we don’t have any proof of that yet. It’s all circumstantial at best. The phone call you overheard will be thrown out as hearsay and the bag of money with the tracker can’t be considered anything more than a security measure.”
The room started to spin and then shrink in, like I was standing in a vacuum and the air was being sucked out of the small space. “What are we going to do?” I asked, pressing my eyes closed.
“You’re going to come home and we’re going to fight this.”
I shook my head. “I can’t, Matt. We won’t win. I’ll lose Jackson and I can’t let that happen. I can’t…” my voice broke into fragments as tears flooded my eyes. I swallowed hard, trying to regain my voice, but it was pointless. The darkness of the situation had dragged me under.
Chase tightened his grip on my waist. “How long do we have to decide? I mean, this isn’t something you can expect Melissa to decide right now. She needs some time to think and consider her options.”
Matt sighed. “There aren’t options, Chase. Melissa, I’m sorry but if you stay wherever it is that you are, not only will you risk losing custody of Jackson but you’ll be risking criminal charges.”
I shook my head violently, wishing away the awful words as soon as he said them.
“Criminal charges? She’s Jackson’s mother,” Chase argued.
“I know, but Henry is petitioning the court for full custody once the divorce is final. Eventually, with no contest, he will be granted everything he asks for. If Henry has full custody and Melissa keeps Jackson away, that’s kidnapping.”
“Son of a fucking bitch,” Chase whispered. He retracted his arm from my waist and scrubbed it over his face with a groan. “Okay. We’ll need a few days though.”
“That’s fine. I can hold things off and line up a safe place for Melissa and Jackson to stay while we wait out the trial process. I’ll arrange for round the clock bodyguards, top notch security, and location in case things go sideways.”
Chase nodded and I felt a stab of betrayal. He was really going to take me back to California and drop me off on Matt’s doorstep? After everything we’d been through together? Why wasn’t he arguing to stay with me?
Anger flooded my veins, overriding the desperate sense of helplessness. I snatched the phone from his hand. “And what if I say no? What if I decide not to risk it? I can stay in hiding.”
