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“Yes. They’ll give her to you.”
“Why would they do that, Luna? What the fuck is going on?”
Axel steps from his office. “Everything good?”
“Ivy’s been taken into care,” I say, the words angering me. “Why did they take her, Luna?”
She grabs my arm and tears spill down her cheeks. “Please, Grizz, go and see this lady.” She pushes a piece of paper into my hand. “First thing tomorrow.”
“And say what?”
“That you’re Ivy’s dad and you can look after her.”
LUNA
2 hours earlier . . .
Hours . . . it feels like hours since I was forced into my bedroom by Nate’s ‘friends’. After I returned last week, Nate’s been extra hard on me. That first night, he must have told his friends to punish me because I’ve never been so messed up in my life.
And it’s been a similar scenario all week.
And just when I thought it wouldn’t get worse, he sent four of his friends. Four men in the space of an hour is way more than my body can handle, and as the last guy shoves me from him, I fall onto my mattress and curl into a ball.
“You’re losing your touch,” one sneers as he dresses. “Getting as beat up as your mum.”
He’s right, this last week away from Grizz has taken a toll. I’m tired and hungry, and the men coming to see me are relentless.
I wait a good five minutes to make sure they’re gone before pulling on my dressing gown and going up to Mum’s flat to get Ivy. Nate takes her each day and gives her over to my mum, and even though she despises kids and has no bond with Ivy, she agrees to watch her because it means she doesn’t have to have sex with the men.
“Mum,” I call out.
I stop in the doorway to the living room to find two police officers and a lady who has Ivy in her arms. Nate is next to Mum, who is passed out on the couch. He gives me a smirk. “Here she is. Told you she’d be back.”
All eyes turn to me, and I pull the dressing gown tighter around myself. I can feel them judging me. “What’s going on?”
“Luna Carter?” the woman asks, offering a friendly smile. I nod. “I’m Becki Alcott from Social Services.”
My blood runs cold as I stare at Ivy safely wrapped in a blanket in this stranger’s arms. “Okay,” I whisper, fear gripping me.
“We were called today to run a welfare check on Ivy.”
“By who?”
“It was anonymous,” she says gently.
“Can I have her?” I ask, making a move towards her. The police officer steps between us and the seriousness of this situation hits me like a tonne of bricks. They’re going to take my baby. “Why can’t I have her?”
“Where have you been today?” Becki asks.
I glance at Nate, who’s looking smug, and it crosses my mind that he’s done this so I’ll have nothing to hold me back. My tears begin to flow silently down my cheeks. “I left her with my mum,” I whisper.
“Your brother tells me you work from your own flat upstairs. Can we see it?”
I give a slight nod. The flat is a mess, I haven’t had time to clean up, and sometimes the men who come order food for themselves and leave their rubbish behind. But refusing these officials will make the judgement worse. It’s only a little mess after all.
I lead them up to my flat, with Nate following. As we get inside, he pinches my upper arm hard. “Keep me out of it,” he hisses.
I stop in the hall and push Ivy’s bedroom door open. It’s the only room I know is clean, and Becki smiles. “It’s beautiful.”
