Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
He dropped his head and stretched his neck left and right, all the while he continued to stay silent.
“Jessie…” I looked at him. “Did you hear what Mr. Cantos said?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes, but I just feel like, even getting the restraining order against her and stopping her visitation won’t be enough. She’s not going to be happy about that once she gets out.”
I digested that for a moment.
“No,” I said. “But right now, Linc is seventeen. Maybe when she does finally get out, he’ll be eighteen and an adult, and this will all be a moot point.”
Mr. Cantos grunted, his bushy eyebrows lowering in concentration. “That’s true. He’s seventeen now, and from what I’ve been able to find out, she’s voluntarily admitted herself to this program that she’s currently in. She won’t be let out for at least three months as they process everything, and by that point I should have all of this taken care of and ready to go. The day she walks out, she’ll walk straight back into the courthouse and be served with the restraining order, as well as the visitation cessation order. She’ll be allowed a lawyer, but this is open and close, in my opinion. They won’t give anything to a woman that so recently left a psychiatric hold.”
I tried not to squeal with happiness knowing that that woman wouldn’t be able to sink her claws into Linc or Jessie any longer.
But before my excitement could be expressed, Jessie’s phone rang.
He pulled it out of his pocket and pressed ignore, but the moment it settled down, it started ringing again.
He muttered something under his breath.
“I have to take this,” he apologized as he stood. “Whatever you need from me, let’s go ahead and get started. In the meantime, if you need any other answers to any questions, Ellen has full recourse to make any decisions on my behalf that she needs to.”
Pride at his words swelled in my body. He trusted me with his kid. That was enough to make my throat tighten.
Mr. Cantos nodded at Jessie, who disappeared not even a moment later as he answered the phone.
I tried not to listen in, and likely would’ve managed to accomplish that had Jessie’s voice not rose.
“You make sure she has twenty-four seven guards. She could be doing this because she wants out of there.”
I stood up and turned to survey Jessie’s angry face where he stood in the middle of the lobby, and I turned to find Mr. Cantos doing the same.
“I…”
He grinned at me. “It’s okay, ma’am.”
I nodded and hurried in the direction of Jessie, stopping just short of being on top of him as he listened to whomever was speaking on the other end of the phone.
“I’ll be there in twenty.” He growled. “Call my son and tell him he’s grounded at either the house or the clubhouse until further notice.”
Without waiting for an answer, he hung up and turned to me.
“Margot is having her baby and she’s on the maternity ward at Central,” he grunted. “I don’t want to…”
I held up my hand.
“You don’t want her to be up there without you watching to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.”
He nodded.
“And you want me to go home?” I guessed.
He shook his head.
“No, I want you to come with me.”
My brows rose. “Really?”
He nodded again.
“Well…okay then.”
Chapter 25
I never said I’d die without coffee. I said other people would.
-Ellen to Jessie
Jessie
I arrived at the hospital over an hour after Margot had and marched up to the maternity floor in time to overhear two nurses speaking in hushed whispers at the nurses’ station.
“They’re going to have the NICU team on hand. Not only is the baby over eight weeks early, but they suspect that the baby will be addicted to drugs—heroin.”
“Wasn’t she in a psych ward at Clemens?”
Clemens was the private facility that was detaining Margot and was also a highly-sought after program.
“They believe someone was supplying her with the drugs while she was there. They tested her blood and found it.”
I walked past the two women toward where I heard the cursing. It wasn’t hard to find her. She was screaming so loudly and angrily that the entire maternity ward could probably hear her.
I rounded the corner and strode into the room that she was in just in time to see her throw a cup of ice chips across the room.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed.
I barely dodged the ice in time so I wasn’t wearing it.
“Margot,” I said. “Please behave and allow these people to do their jobs.”
“Get out,” she screeched.
I looked up at the ceiling.
“The baby is yours, and you’re supposed to protect me. Why won’t you help me?” Margot hissed.
Was this woman stuck in the past or something? That baby wasn’t mine. I hadn’t allowed my cock anywhere near that woman in seventeen years. Since the first and only night I’d been stupid enough to get it anywhere near her.