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Get the lawyers on the phone…Gloria’s been stealing money from me… And is getting arrested.
Asher
Shit. I’ll call the lawyer. The school. The landlord of Gloria’s apartment…any other place?
Me
Nah, man. Thanks, tho. I gotta take care of this. Can you meet me at Florence’s? Apparently, she stole my card… And I’ve got Ly…
Asher
Yes. On my way.
Nothing preparesyou for facing down your own flesh and blood. Especially when that person is your mother. My life bringer. The one who carefully cooked me in her belly for nine months, shot me out, and then ruined my fucking life.
She’s the one individual who is supposed to look after you. Not take advantage of you. Not steal from you—multiple times. Fuck. Her. The only person that matters now is Cami. I’ll protect my sister from everything.
“Mr. Knight.”
I stop dead in front of the manager’s office with a grim expression, clutching tight to Lyric in my arms. Her eyes dart around, soaking in everything happening. Maybe it was a mistake bringing her with me. But I couldn’t pass this up and let Gloria go straight to jail without knowing what I have to say.
Gloria and I are about to have a lot of words.
“Yes. I’m Kieran Knight,” I say, holding out a hand to the police officer standing guard outside the door. “I was told my mother was here?”
His lips roll tight, and he nods. “Yes. We were told you wanted to speak to her before we took her in. And that you wanted to press charges?”
“I do. For using my credit card without permission. I have the records with my finance guy. He’ll be able to prove without a doubt it was her who spent over fifty-K of my money.” I seethe on the inside, thinking about all the cash her grubby hands got onto before I was alerted.
“Okay. We’ve got her for theft of merchandise with a value of over a thousand dollars,” the officer says, looking down at his notepad.
“What exactly did Gloria try to steal?” I ask with a tic forming in my jaw again. Shit. Even saying her name now puts a bad taste in my mouth.
“Diamond earrings,” he states flatly with thinned lips.
“I’m here,” Asher says breathlessly, wiping his hand across his forehead as he jogs toward us.
“Daddy!” Lyric lights up at the sight of Asher, grinning at him over my shoulder where she’s snuggly cuddled against my chest.
“Who is that?” the officer asks, eyeing Asher with concern.
“My brother.”
At that, the officer drops his shoulders and nods.
Asher grins, stepping right into his element. Being a damn good father. Nothing lights up his face more than baking, cooking, and helping Lyric with whatever she wants.
It’s like he’s trying to prove the exact same thing I am. We are not our fathers. We take responsibility and love the little human we created. Or I created—but that’s semantics. We’re all fathers in Lyric’s eyes.
“Did you have fun?” Asher asks, cocking his head to the side with a chuckle. “Looks like you ate some sparkly ice cream.” Shit. I didn’t even think to wipe her face off before we left.
She immediately nods. “Daddy and me had lots of unicorn ice cream. I ate all mines. Daddy only took a few bites.” She side-eyes me with so much sass I choke on my spit.
How will I survive raising a tiny little River clone? At this rate, she’s going to give me gray hair before I’m thirty. And so will River. Lord. Thankfully, I have the other three guys to balance out the chaos.
“It was good, Little Blue. Daddy just had an important phone call.” That’s the understatement of the century. Vital. Life changing. All those words ring through my mind.
“Come here, Little One,” Asher says, curling his fingers in her direction as she practically climbs over my shoulder and into his embrace.
