Page 114 of For Your Consideration

“Sutton?” Knight asked as he came up beside me while Quinn and Asher argued over Sophie. He must have noticed that I hadn’t said a word and was looking a little shocked.

“What are you all doing here?” I asked quietly, trying to wrap my head around this.

“You’re family, Sutton, both of you.” He looked down at me. “There’s nowhere else we would be.” Before I could think, I threw myself at him, hugging him. He hesitated for a moment, clearly taken by surprise.

“I’m stressed and prepared for the worst, Knight. And having you all here just means a lot. I’ve never had a support system,” I murmured.

He let out a sigh and returned my hug. “You’ll believe we’ll always show up for our own eventually.” He patted my back and I pulled away, looking up at him with a grateful smile.

“Q finally stole Sophie,” Asher grumbled, coming up next to me, his hand on my lower back. I looked up. He and Knight were in some sort of eye lock, where Knight nodded and Asher nodded back.

“Let’s get inside, sweetheart. Maya will be here any minute and I want to make a round of coffee.” Asher kissed the top of my head. Oli had stolen the keys from Asher and had let himself into the house.

We all followed, including Thor.

30

Sutton

It wasn’t long before we were all settled in the living room. Sophie was sitting on the floor with Quinn. She was happy down there, slapping toys and making little noises. She was especially thrilled with Thor lying on the blanket beside her, not at all bothered when she patted his head or pulled his ears. He was a fantastic dog and it was making me want one for Soph.

I wrung my hands together as I watched her. All I wanted was to pull her into my chest and hold her close, convince myself that she was here and no one was taking her from me, but my anxiety wouldn’t do her any good. I was on edge and my leg was shaking even with Ash’s hand resting on my knee, trying to offer me some comfort.

The conversation around us stopped at a quick knock on the door. Will stood up, holding his hand out to Asher, and went to grab Maya. She came in wearing a pair of jeans and a cream sweater, her hair curled and down. She looked much more relaxed than she had been at the office. If she was surprised by the number of people, she didn’t let it show.

She gave the room a polite smile before her eyes landed on me. I held my breath as she came over.

“There is nothing majorly wrong here, everything is as I expected and I will explain it all, but I did want to walk you through everything in person.” Maya sat in the empty chair in front of me. “Take a breath.”

“I’ll try,” I said, appreciating that she was skipping the pleasantries and getting right into it. I’m not sure I could’ve handled idle chitchat about the weather.

Will passed her a coffee and I grabbed Asher’s hand for support, probably harder than I needed to.

“He did hire a lawyer,” Maya started. She put the coffee on the table and passed Will a stack of papers from her briefcase. “B-rate, at best. I wouldn’t hire that man to get me out of a traffic ticket, let alone handle a custody case.” She waved dismissively, sitting back. We all looked over to Will who flipped through the papers.

“He’s cheap,” Will summarized and the men nodded like it was a relief.

“Win rate?” Asher asked from beside me. He had sandwiched my hand between both of his now as his hard eyes were on Maya. This cold, intimidating Asher was the one I knew he pulled out with others and I was glad it was the one here today.

“Terrible.” Will snorted. “He uses TV ads.”

“Aren’t those expensive?” I looked between the men.

Noah shrugged. “Not really.”

“Knight Enterprises would never use a TV ad.” Oli made it seem like even the thought was offensive.

“I never have either, for the record,” Maya added before she sat forward. “Are you ready for the hard part?” I swallowed, took a breath, and nodded. “He notified me of his intent to file a petition.”

“First step in the filing process,” Will added.

“I was getting there.” Maya shot him a look before rolling her eyes and passing him another stack of papers. “Their position is weak. They even call Sophie ‘the child of,’ never once mentioning her by name. The information in the petition is lacking but we’ll now have to go to court to address this. Unless you want to settle outside.”

“Like agree to a custody agreement or something?” My stomach felt like rocks were settling in it, like I might be sick. I tightened my hold on Asher’s hand.

Maya nodded. “That would be one solution, but in the petition he’s requesting regular, sustained visitation periods including her living with him for longer periods of time.”

“Not going to fucking happen,” Asher growled from beside me. She moved her eyes from me to him and narrowed them. It was like she was getting ready for a fight.