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“Whatever. I’ll do anything you want as long as it gives me a reason to stay close to my girls.”
My girls.
Those two words held such a magnitude of power, I slumped down into my chair. I had a family now, one that needed my full attention, but I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Lis was stubborn as hell. “I have a feeling she’s going to try her hardest to keep me away. Running the business gives me an excuse to stay close.”
Cali
“Where is Nova?” I asked, still groggy from all the drugs they kept pumping into me.
“She had to take care of something,” Felicity murmured quietly, stroking her hand over my hair. “Don’t worry, sweet girl. She will be back soon. I promise.”
“But where did she go?” I rasped. My throat was raw from where they intubated me during my C-section, so every word—every breath—that rubbed over the tissue was enough to make me grimace. Neither that nor the drugs was enough to make me miss the fact that Nova wasn’t there when I’d first woken up hours before, and she still wasn’t there.
Nova was my safe place. Without her there, everything felt wrong. Unsafe. Even with Guzman and several other guards changing shifts outside my hospital room doors, Nova was the one who had always been my protector. I needed her there.
Through my drug-hazed mind, I didn’t miss the indecision on the brunette’s face before she finally repeated, “She will be back soon.”
“You sent her after Garret,” I whispered accusingly as what energy I’d started to gain vanished like a puff of smoke. “She wouldn’t have left me—she wouldn’t have left Justice unless you made her.”
My daughter’s grandmother sighed heavily. “Justice deserves to be held by her father just as much as she does you, Cali. If something were to happen to her before he can do that, you won’t be able to forgive yourself.”
A dry, pained laugh left me. “Trust me, I wouldn’t have lost a moment of sleep over your asshole son never holding my daughter,” I gritted out. “You might be her grandmother, but where my child is concerned, you have no say in who enters her delicate little life.”
“You didn’t create Justice alone, Cali,” she reminded me, her voice growing firm, turning into that tough-love tone.
But it didn’t work on me any longer. My baby had already been delivered, and to my surprise, I’d survived the birth. I wasn’t completely sure how I felt about that just yet. Should I be thankful that I would be around to watch my daughter struggle to survive because I hadn’t been strong enough to get her to thirty-four weeks gestation? Angry that I wouldn’t be waiting on her when she finally lost the battle to survive and passed on? Heartbroken that I would have to watch Justice suffer because there was such a small chance she would make it over all the hurdles in her way?
I closed my eyes, fighting the dizziness from the drugs along with the tears of all the emotions bombarding me. “No, Mrs. Hannigan. I didn’t create her on my own. But your son wanted nothing to do with his baby from the moment I told him I might be pregnant. By default, he gave up his right to see or hold her, in my eyes.” My lashes lifted, and I gazed up at her with all the anger that was choking me. At her, Garret, even a little at Nova for giving in and going to fetch her brother. “He’s your son, so I realize he can do no wrong in your eyes. But he’s a worthless coward, and I don’t want that kind of person to have a hand in raising my child.”
“You’re extra sensitive after everything that happened yesterday,” she said soothingly. “I know that you’re upset, but once you are more clearheaded, you’ll realize I’m right.”
“No,” I snapped. “You’re not going to stand there and tell me how I’m feeling and that I’ll get over it once the medication wears off. You came here to make me agree to be admitted to the hospital. The job is over. Take your false empathy and manipulations and get the hell away from me.”
Her face paled, and her blue eyes began to glitter with tears. “Cali—”
“Guzman!” I shouted, gritting my teeth through the pain I’d just inflicted on my throat. “Guzman!”
The door opened before I could finish calling his name a second time. He entered the room, his hand already under his suit jacket, reaching for his gun as if he’d expected me to be in imminent danger. “What’s wrong?” he demanded when he didn’t see a threat.
“Get her out of here,” I commanded, waving my hand weakly at Felicity. “As soon as Nova returns, I want her and Garret Hannigan on the plane back to the States.”
Guzman dropped his hand from his gun. “I’m sorry, Cali, but I won’t do that.”
Betrayal sliced through me. “Excuse me?”
“Justice deserves to see her father. I won’t stand in the way of that. And Felicity has done nothing to cause you harm, so I won’t force her to leave. You are incapacitated at the moment, and someone needs to be with Justice until Miss Nova returns.”
His tone was gentle yet firm, and in that moment, I hated him. I hated them all. It was so clear to me that no one had ever been on my side. That the only thing they had cared about was keeping me pregnant for as long as possible. Now that Justice was born, they were all turning their backs on me.
No one had ever been loyal to me when I was a teenager being tortured by my psychotic stepbrother, and it was still the same even though I was the Ramirez heir.
None of them cared except for Nova, and even she had given in to her mother’s demands to bring Garret there.
“Get out,” I whispered. “Both of you, just go.”
“Cali—” Felicity tried once more, but I cut her off again.
“Go!” I screamed so loud it felt like my throat was going to shred open from the pain. “Leave me alone. None of you care about me, so just get the fuck out of my sight.”
