Page 121 of Never Bet Against A Hockey Player

“I’m not sure why,” I argued. “She shouldn’t care. I freed her of the burden she always complained about. I gave her the chance to go live her life without us.”

“In her eyes, you also sent her to jail. She’s probably doing this solely for revenge against you. I’ve seen people like her far too much in my line of work.”

Hannah was always blunt. Good. I didn’t need pretty words, I knew exactly who my mother was. I always had.

“You’re probably right,” I said.

I had to forcefully swallow down the lump forming in my throat at the fact that my own mother hated me so fucking much that she would fight me for custody of the child she’d abused and neglected his whole life.

“The lawyer will get back to you with the actual court date,” she promised, “but I wanted you to hear this from me. Keep an eye out. If we need to do an emergency no-contact order, you call him immediately and get one. Keep me in the loop. Remember, as far as the law states, she has no right to contact you or Gavin.”

“Okay,” I said. “Okay. I’m going to make some calls. Thank you, Hannah.”

I ended the call and immediately dialed Gavin’s school. The poor secretary who answered was met with my frantic voice.

“Hello. Hi. I am the current legal guardian of Gavin Livingston. It was said before that I am the only one allowed to pick him up, well, me and my pack. I need to make sure that every staff member there knows because his mother is out of jail and is likely going to attempt to show up. If she does, call the cops. Do not release him to her.”

“Oh wow, yes, definitely. I’m opening up his file now.” I heard typing in the background. “I see the note in bright, bold letters. I will let security and staff know, along with sending out a school-wide memo.”

“I’m trusting you to protect him,” I said, voice hard to drive my point home. She had my whole world in her hands and I needed her to know this was serious.

“I promise, ma’am. We will.”

After that call ended, I started shaking so violently that my phone clattered to the floor. Lydia found me before I could pick it up. She took one look at my face and simply tugged me closer, holding me tight.

“It’s okay. Tell me what’s going on. What can I do?”

“She’s out of jail. She’s trying to get Gavin back. She filed for custody. She’s making us go to trial.”

“It was always headed there, sweetheart,” she said gently. “This just speeds it up, and no one in their right mind would ever do anything that would send him back into danger.”

“She’s calling my lawyer. I need to call the guys,” I rambled on, still shaking.

“You’re going to sit down before you pass out,” she said, gently guiding me to one of the extra chairs.

She picked up my phone and put it back into my hands.

“You call the guys. I’m going to work on character witnesses. We’ve seen everything she’s done. We’ve seen the bruises you’ve tried to hide. We’ve seen both of you barely scraping by. I watched her stalk you to keep control. We will get every person we can to come forward and write a character statement for you against her. You have a whole community behind you here in South Lake.”

Part of me doubted they’d say a word against her. No one ever intervened.

Bitterness aside, I knew that wasn’t true. People reported. The system just failed us every time before now.

“Thank you,” I said, swiping at the tears that wouldn’t stop falling. At the moment, all I could think was that I needed my alpha. I knew my deltas would be here in a second, but for some reason, my omega just needed her alpha.

Conrad answered on the first ring. “Hey, baby. How’s your morning going?”

“Conrad...” My voice cracked before another sob escaped. I tried to hold it together and explain what was going on, but I failed.

Just hearing his voice had the dam blowing wide open again.

“Baby, where are you? Are you at the diner?”

“Yes,” I choked out between sobs.

“We’re on our way.”

“What’s going on? Is she okay?” Lachlan’s voice was just as frantic.