Whatever It Takes (Second Chances #2)

by L. E. Bross

  My father snorted and something like victory flashed across his face. “Three years to get a two-year degree? How long will it take you to get a BA? Five years this time? And then your master’s like you planned. You’ll be thirty before you even get out of school. How are you going to earn your degree taking care of him?” When he jerked his head at Noah, but couldn’t even bother to look at him, I glared at him and resisted the urge to wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze tight.

  “The same way I’ve done so far. I’ve managed to take care of him and me, Dad. I want full custody. You don’t care anyway.”

  “Well, see, this is where there’s a problem with your plan, your future aside. I get out in three months.”

  My mouth dropped open. He was supposed to serve eight years. It had been only a little over three.

  “Overcrowding. Good behavior. Whatever the reason, I’m out very soon. I have nothing. People will pay good money for a healthy toddler. Private adoption. I was damned surprised when I looked it up on the Internet.”

  Bile rose in my throat. Oh, God, he was selling Noah for the money?

  He was a monster.

  “How much?” I managed to get out past the thickening of my throat. Maybe there was some way I could—

  “Thirty thousand. Already got someone interested.”

  My vision went hazy. “You can’t do this.” Tears burned my eyes and I fought the urge to throw back my head and scream.

  “I can. You’re only a temporary guardian, Tess. This will help you too. You’ll be free. You can go back to Brown. Get your real degree just like we planned. Then you can start the life you should have, not this one you’re settling for.”

  “Please just let me have him,” I pleaded. “You won’t ever have to see him, won’t have to have anything to do with him, but I can’t lose him.”

  My hands shook as I held them out, begging my father.

  “It’s not a negotiation.”

  At those words, my heart broke. I knew there was nothing else I could say to him. Nothing I could do. This was a path so familiar that there were deep worn spots.

  I reached blindly for Noah. “Why don’t you put those away, okay, sweetie? We’re all done now.”

  When my fingers brushed over the curls at the back of his neck, I almost lost it.

  Noah put away his things and I stuffed them into my bag. I got up without looking at my father and took Noah’s hand.

  “Who is that?” Noah finally asked.

  My father lifted an eyebrow at me. Daring me to tell him.

  “That,” I said with a shaky breath, “is a very bad man.”

  I walked away without another word and didn’t let the tears fall until I was back on the road toward home.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  ryan

  I’d been waiting for Tess to text or call since this morning.

  When the guys broke for lunch, I jumped in my truck and hauled ass to her place. I didn’t even know if she was back yet, but I had a sick feeling in my stomach that I couldn’t shake.

  Her car was in her spot when I pulled in.

  So why hadn’t she called?

  I ran up the steps and knocked on her door. When it swung open, it wasn’t Tess who answered. Louisa, who I’d met a few weeks ago when I stopped by and Tess was at work, looked worried.

  “I’m looking for Tess.”

  “Ryan!” I heard, and then a bundle of a four-year-old came flying toward me. I kneeled down and he threw his arms around my neck.

  “Hey, buddy, how are you?”

  Noah leaned in close. “We saw a bad man today. Tess cried in the car.”

  I glanced up at Louisa. “Where is she?”

  After only a moment’s hesitation, she answered. “There’s a dive bar two blocks from here. She said she needed to think. She looked . . . not in a good way. I’m not sure what happened today, but it’s almost as if her spirit broke. I’ve never seen her look so defeated.”

  Louisa frowned, and I stood and handed Noah back to her.

  I could feel my heart thumping against my ribs. The meeting with her father must have gone worse than she thought it would. Goddamn that man. I hated him seven years ago and I loathed him now.

  There was no way in hell Tess was going to lose Noah.

  I ran down the steps and pulled out my phone. When Avery answered I didn’t waste any time. “I need the name of the best fucking family attorney in the area.”

  “Ryan? What’s wrong?”

  “I just need a name.” I was jogging down the block and realized I hadn’t even taken off my tool belt. The hammer hanging from it bumped my thigh with every step. “Like yesterday.”

  “Let me talk to my dad and I’ll call you back. It would help if I had more details, though.”

  “Someone who can terminate parental rights because the father is a blackhearted bastard. That enough detail?” I snapped. The bar was just ahead and even in the middle of the day, it really was a dive.

  “Oh. Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”

  I exhaled. “I’m sorry, Ave. This is just really screwed-up. I’ll tell you more when you call back with a name, but I have to go now.” I pocketed my phone and pulled open the door below a sign that read TIME OUT.

  The place was fairly empty, so it was easy to find Tess. She was in the corner, draped over a mug that sat untouched, but there were three empty ones around her on the table. Her shoulders were shaking so hard that the table shook. I clenched my fists. God, I just needed three minutes alone with her old man. To make him pay for hurting her so much.

  “Tess?” I croaked out.

  She looked up and everything inside me shattered. She looked destroyed. Utterly devastated, and all I could do was groan and pull her up and into my arms. I held her against my chest and felt her whole body shaking. Low moans were coming from her throat, and it scared the living shit out of me.

  My girl was strong and determined, and seeing her completely falling apart like this made my knees weak. “Tess, baby. What happened?”

  When she didn’t answer, I leaned back so I could cradle her face between my hands. I wiped at the tears streaming down her face with my thumbs. Her eyes were unfocused and I lifted her face so that she was looking at me.

  “Baby, it’s Ryan. Talk to me.”

  She blinked. Then blinked again, and I could see her coming back to herself a little.

  “Ryan?” She hiccupped before I watched everything inside her collapse. “Oh, God. I . . . he’s . . . I can’t . . .” The words punched out between the racking sobs and I sat down and pulled her onto my lap.

  I needed to know what happened so I could fix it. I had to fix it, because seeing Tess like this was destroying me.

  I held her close to me and worked my other hand up and down her back. “I’m here. It’s okay. Whatever happened, we can deal with it.”

  “He’s selling Noah.”

  “What?” I must have heard her wrong. I swear she said . . .

  “My father is selling Noah to the highest bidder.”

  “What the fuck?”

  Tess finally sat back a little and looked at me. “He’s getting early release and he needs money. He figured out that people will pay a lot of money to privately adopt a healthy child. So he’s selling Noah so that he’ll have money when he is released.” Hysterical laughter bubbled from her throat.

  If that wasn’t the most fucked-up thing I’d ever heard in my life, nothing was. “How much?”

  “I guess you can buy a child for the bargain price of around thirty thousand dollars these days,” she choked out. “I don’t have anywhere near that kind of money. There’s only one thing I can do. I’ve been thinking about it since we drove away. I have to take Noah and go somewhere else.”

  “What?” A chill ran down my spine. She was thinking about r
unning?

  “Nothing is more important than Noah. We’ll just . . . disappear. I’ll get a fake ID or something and we’ll move far away and my father won’t be able to sell Noah because he won’t be able to find us. Ever.”

  Jesus. She wasn’t thinking clearly. “If you don’t show up at court, they’ll issue an arrest warrant, Tess. You’re father can have you charged with kidnapping. If you’re caught . . .”

  “We won’t be. I’ll be careful.” She blinked and looked deep into my eyes. Her hand was warm when it settled on my jaw. “I have to do this. There is no other way. I won’t lose him. He’s my life now.”

  God, she looked so calm while talking about breaking the law. She was drunk, not making sense.

  “Tess, I can—” Her hand moved to cover my mouth.

  “I’m glad that we ran into each other, Ryan. These last few weeks have been the best that I can remember in a long time. But I’m glad we never tried to make this more than it was. It’s hard enough knowing I won’t ever see you again.”

  Tess pressed her lips against mine and I wanted to yell loudly enough to bring down the fucking roof. “Tess, you’re not thinking straight. There has to be another way. I asked Avery to get me the name of the best attorney in the city. We’ll fight this. Do it right.”

  “I appreciate that you want to help, I really do. I just can’t take the chance that I’ll lose. This is the only way I can guarantee I won’t lose Noah.”

  Shit. I had to do something before she did something that was going to ruin her entire life. Kidnapping was a federal offense. Her life would be over if she did this and got caught.

  “Baby, I’m going to take you back home. You need to rest, okay?”

  She gave me a sad smile but let me help her to her feet. We walked out of the bar hand in hand, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt more disconnected from someone. She threw a switch between us. She was already pulling away.

  I’d never been more scared in my life.

  What if she disappeared before I could take care of this? Because I was going to. If that bastard wanted money, I was going to shove it down his throat. If karma was the bitch everyone says she is, he’d choke on it.

  I got Tess back to her apartment and Louisa took one look at her and ushered her into the bedroom. A few minutes later, she came back out. “I had her take a couple of aspirin before she fell asleep. It should help.”

  “I need to go take care of a few things, but can you stay with her? I should be back in a few hours.”

  “Of course.” Louisa looked at Noah and then back at me. “Noah really likes you. After you left, he told me all about the things you do with him. He needs that, a good man in his life. She does too.”

  “And I’m going to make sure they have that. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  As soon as I hit the pavement I pulled out my phone.

  “Ryan. I was just going to call you,” Avery said.

  “Slight change of plans. I need someone who can take care of a business transaction for me. Discreetly.”

  “Okay, now I’m going to need a little more information, Ryan. And don’t worry, this is just between us. I may not be an attorney yet, but I know how important client confidentiality is.”

  So I told her everything, including what I wanted to do.

  “Jesus,” she said when I finished. “I’d like to kick that man in the balls with my pointiest shoes. So you’re sure you want to do this?”

  “No question about it. And I need it done yesterday. Ave, Tess is thinking about taking Noah and running.”

  “Shit, that’s serious. Does she know—”

  “I told her and she doesn’t care. All she sees is protecting Noah.”

  “I’ll go to my dad. He may be the mayor, but he’s still an attorney. He can draw up the papers so they are ironclad and he’ll be able to find out who that bastard’s attorney is. And, umm . . . the money? Do you need some time . . .”

  “Is a bank check okay?” I asked. “I can have it in about an hour.”

  “Oh.” Avery sounded surprised, and I guess I couldn’t blame her. I was a construction worker who lived in a trailer park. About as cliché as they come. But for Tess, there wasn’t any question. I was going to use every cent of the money my mother gave me to help her. “When you have that, go ahead and take it to my dad. I’ll make sure his people know you’re coming. But, Ryan, if this guy’s the asshole you say he is, there’s a chance that he’ll want more.”

  “Whatever he wants, I’ll take care of.”

  “This is an awful lot to do for someone who’s just a casual hookup,” she said softly.

  I sighed. “It was never just that, Ave.” Saying it out loud made it feel more real, but I’d known it for weeks. I may have said I don’t do the whole picket-fence thing, but damn it, with Tess I wanted it all.

  I could hear the smile in Avery’s voice. “About time you admitted it. I’ll call my dad as soon as we hang up. And, Ryan, you should tell Tess everything. This is kind of a huge thing you’re doing and if she finds out after—”

  “When the time’s right I will.” Which would likely be never, but if she did and she ended up hating me, it would still be worth it. “Thanks, Ave. Seth is a lucky guy.”

  “I tell him that every day,” she said with a laugh. “See ya.”

  After she ended the call, I jumped into my truck to head to the bank. I wanted everything taken care of so nothing could go wrong. And it needed to be done right now, because Tess was crazy enough to do exactly what she said she was going to.

  And there was no way in hell I was going to let her walk away from me again.

  Not when I knew she was the only girl for me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  tess

  My plan was to work my regular shift the whole week and bank all my tips because I wasn’t going to worry about rent or power or anything except what I needed to get somewhere else. Mia, one of the girls at the club, even knew someone who could get me a new ID. Then Noah and I would take off.

  The ache that had been a permanent thing since I made my decision got worse.

  Walking away from Ryan was going to be the hardest part of all this.

  But it wasn’t like he was looking for happily ever after. We were having fun and for a little while, he’d made me feel like me again. I’d never forget that. Never forget him.

  “You are on fire tonight, girl,” Mia said. “Actually, this whole damned place is. I can’t keep up.” She laughed. “Get it? Keep it up.” She winked and I laughed. I had to agree with her—the testosterone in this place tonight was off the charts.

  The boss had hired some high-profile porn star to do a cameo this week, which couldn’t have been better timing. The place was packed, and it should stay that way all week.

  I’d been there for two hours and already made about a hundred and fifty, and there was still a line out the door. With any luck I might have over a grand when I left in four days. It wasn’t a lot but would get us away from the city. Away from my father.

  There was very little time for small talk, so I worked my ass off all night, mixing drinks and smiling and flirting. Every time I stuck money in my tip jar I grinned. This was the best I’d felt since I left the prison yesterday.

  Because I had a plan and it was going to work.

  My father thought he won, but the joke was going to be on him. A great big screw-you to the man who had controlled my life for the last time.

  By the time my shift ended, my feet and back were aching and I had half a dozen phone numbers on napkins tucked into my tip jar. As if. When the last customer left and the girls started cleaning up, I wiped down the bar and pulled the cash out of the jar.

  When I was done counting it, my jaw was on the floor. Six hundred and twenty-seven dollars. That’s more than I usually made in a week. I tucked the envelope into my
purse with a grin and headed toward the door.

  “Hey, Darla,” Mia called out. I swung around and she hurried over. “You forget something, girlie?”

  Shit, did I not do something?

  Mia held out another envelope. “You forgot your take of our tips. You did great tonight, by the way. I didn’t know one human could mix that many drinks for that many people.”

  I took the envelope with shaking fingers. In my excitement I’d totally forgotten the girls gave me 10 percent of their tips too. This was going to work. I threw my arms around Mia.

  “Thank you.”

  She hugged me back, then gave me the side eye. “You have a few of those drinks you were mixing? You’ve been getting a cut since day one.”

  “Just a good night,” I said with a grin. “See you tomorrow.”

  “’Night, crazy girl.”

  Jesse walked me to the parking lot and said good night. I drove home with a smile on my face. If I could make the same kind of money all week, then Noah and I could go practically anywhere. I’d always wanted to see Maine. Noah would love the snow in the winter.

  Would Ryan like the snow?

  I shook my head. It didn’t matter. He could never know where we were. Heaviness settled in my chest as I walked up to my apartment. I had only a few more days with him. That realization nearly sent me to my knees.

  I loved him.

  Had never stopped.

  And I had to walk away from him again.

  By the end of my shift Thursday night, I was floating on air. I had made over three thousand dollars the past two days thanks to the boss’s publicity stunt with the porn star. But the best and worse part was that tonight, I would get to see Ryan.

  Maybe for the last time.

  It was bittersweet, this financial victory, because it brought me one step closer to being able to leave. I headed up the steps to my apartment with a heavy heart. I wished things could be different. Wished that my life wasn’t on the verge of collapsing or that Ryan wasn’t the kind of guy to settle down with even if I had all my shit together.

  I shoved my key in the door. Ryan would be there any minute and I couldn’t stop my pulse from leaping at the thought.