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As soon as he was close enough, Morgan swung the bat at the guy. It landed flush and hard against his back with a thud, knocking him slightly off balance. Morgan then swooped in with a solid left hook to the liver. The punch registered a major league yelp from the badass as he dropped to his knees. Yep, even the toughest boxers lost the use of their legs during a state of momentary paralysis from that old classic liver punch.
As Fawn’s incapacitated errand boy gasped for breath on bent knees he might as well have been a target dummy at the gym. After being attacked three-on-one with baseball bats ready to crack his skull open, Morgan was not feeling too sympathetic. He seized upon the moment for a finishing touch.
With the grace of a ballet dancer combined with the merciless intent of a kill-or-be-killed warrior, he executed a perfectly placed jawbreaker roundhouse kick to his attacker’s head.
As the man fell to the ground, Morgan said, “Tell Fawn, Ciara’s my daughter and she stays with me.”
Dotsy came running toward him with her phone out. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe what I just witnessed! Are you all right, Morgan? I called nine-one-one.”
“Thanks, Dotsy. I’m okay. But tell them to send an ambulance for these guys.”
* * *
A couple dayslater Morgan sent a bouquet of flowers to Dotsy. Blake was so grateful the woman from the notary public had been on the scene because the three men were trying to accuse Morgan of assault. But Dotsy had caught the whole thing on her phone. She submitted her recording to the police—and promised not to upload it to YouTube.
But she sent Morgan a copy and Blake could hardly believe her eyes when she saw it. Her fear for Morgan ripped right through her, but, yeah, he also looked sexy as hell giving those guys a beat down. Her very own action hero.
Morgan asked Blake not to let Ciara see it. “She has seen me in tournaments plenty of times, so she knows her daddy can fight. I don’t need her to see the real deal. Especially since the fight was about her. She already gets panicked over the possibility of Fawn taking her away.”
“Well, that video just demolished any chance Fawn has for a custody case,” Blake said. “Did I hear you say you are not pressing charges against those scumbags?”
He shrugged and held out his arms. “I haven’t even got a bruise on me. They all got a little trip to the ER, two of them needing surgery, so I’m good with that. I’m in no mood to waste time or money on any more legal crap. Plus, what happened is being used as leverage against Fawn.”
“Have you heard anything from your attorney?”
Morgan nodded. “Trent called this morning.”
“What did he say?”
“Fawn swears she did not tell those men to attack me, but that doesn’t get her off the hook since they used her name in the video and she indirectly encouraged it. Because the police came, there was a report in a small local newspaper, but I managed to keep both Fawn’s name and mine out of it. Beyond that, Fawn is terrified I will go to the press, not only with this story, but also with news of her recent cocaine parties and the fact that she’d once had an addiction problem. And of course, there is still the truth about her heartless abandonment of her daughter. All fodder for ruining her image and possibly her whole career— and for my unfit mother case. So she has backed off.”
Blake sprang to her feet. “Fawn is dropping the custody suit?”
“Yes. I retain full custody and will choose someone to supervise any visits she may want with Ciara. Although, now that Fawn is planning a different image narrative, I doubt she will bother with Ciara at all. According to what Trent told me, Fawn’s latest move will be to deny there ever was a daughter and to claim that reporter made up the whole story about it. And that is fine by me.”
He pulled Blake into his arms. “Ciara has a real mother now.”
* * *
“No,Gracie, this isn’t good for you,” Ciara said, taking her kitten that was almost full grown now off the table and carrying her to her food bowl in the corner of the kitchen.
Blake leaned over the counter and looked at the design Ciara had put on the big chocolate chip cookie she’d made. “Does that heart have a B and an M inside it?”
“Yes.” Ciara giggled. “It’s a Valentine heart for you and Daddy.”
“Awww. Thank you. That is beautiful.”
“Think Daddy will like it?”
“He will love it. And there he is now.” Blake could not help rushing to the door when Morgan arrived. Corny, yes, but what did she care? The very sight of this man flooded her with happiness every time she saw him coming in the door of the house that was now her home.
After he gave her a hug and a kiss, they walked into the kitchen where he greeted his daughter with a hug.
“Ciara and I are making Valentine cookies,” Blake said. “Some for her to take to school tomorrow and some we can have for dessert.”
“But this one you can’t eat until tomorrow when it is officially Valentine’s Day,” Ciara added, pointing to her big heart-shaped chocolate chip creation cooling on the counter.
“That is quite an elegant cookie there, young lady,” Morgan said, giving his daughter a pat on the cheek.
