by Ana Ashley
“I’m sorry, Mr. James, I wish I could tell you more, but”—he looked around as though someone could hear us, even though there hadn’t been anyone in the bleak corridor and it was just us in the room—“there was a shooting last night. We had to send all the resources to deal with that. My shift started after midnight, and I had specific instructions from the deputy chief to keep you here until he’s back. I don’t think he’ll be long.”
“Thank you, Officer…”
He nodded.
“Officer, can you tell me if my lawyer has been called? Is my sister okay?”
He looked back toward the corridor.
“I’m afraid I don’t have that information, Mr. James.” He paused before leaving. “I would get some rest if I were you. It’ll be a long day.”
And with that, I’d been left on my own again.
Without contact with the outside world, I was getting more and more anxious by the minute. All my worst nightmares were coming to life in my head: Lucy being taken back to my parents, destined to more physical and emotional abuse until she was old enough to get away from them; Isaac being deported to Portugal for being involved in this so-called kidnapping; me being trialed for a crime I didn’t commit.
When I thought of Isaac, my heart sank, and I felt so sick I thought I was going to throw up the contents of my nearly empty stomach.
Isaac couldn’t be in a relationship with me. His job and the kids he worked so hard to help were too important. He couldn’t afford to be associated with someone accused of kidnapping a teenager.
But I knew he wasn’t going to let me go; he was too good of a person, I knew that much. I was going to have to be the one to take that step, no matter how much it would break my heart.
Part of me wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all, part of me wanted to laugh at all the possibilities going around in my head. After all, what kind of evidence would there be against me? I hadn’t even known about Lucy until a week ago. She would be able to tell everyone that she’d run away from home and she wanted to stay with me. Wouldn’t she?
“Fuck!” I shouted to no one.
With exhaustion settling in and the frustration with the situation, I finally lost it and let go. I cried until I had no tears left because I knew what I would have to do as soon as I could see Isaac again. I just hoped my memories of our time together were enough to last me for the rest of my life.
I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep until there was a knock on the door to tell me I had a visitor. I shot up from the bed ready to get out of there.
The door opened and a tall, broad-chested, blond officer came in holding a paper bag and closed the door behind him. He looked to be in his early forties. There was something about him, an air of self-assurance and confidence, but also kindness. His expression as he asked me to sit down again was like a silent apology.
He pulled a chair and sat in front of me. He wasn’t armed like the lieutenant had been. Maybe he knew he didn’t need it since it was unlikely I’d be strong enough to match him. Despite the age difference and my relative good fitness level, I wasn’t trained to defend myself in a fight. I didn’t even enjoy action movies all that much.
“Mr. James, I’m Deputy Chief Micah Nowac. Please accept my apologies for keeping you here all night.”
He handed over the bag he was carrying. Inside, there was a coffee and a bagel. I wasn’t sure my stomach could take anything, but as soon as the comforting smell of coffee hit me, I decided to at least have some of it.
“Can I call you Max?”
“It depends on whether I can go home after this talk or not, Deputy Chief Nowac.”
He laughed.
“You are a free man, Mr. James. You can go home whenever you want, but I would like to talk to you about some things, and in particular, the reason for keeping you here all night. And you can call me Micah, please.”
“Right, well if I can go home after this, you can call me whatever you like.”
The coffee was strong and hot and just what I needed to prepare for whatever Micah was about to tell me, and I was dying to get home to Isaac and Lucy.
“Max, first I want to assure you that Lucy is okay. She’s at home with Isaac. I have one of my officers supervising them.”
“Why do they need supervision? Are they in danger?” I couldn’t believe I was asking the question. What the fuck was happening to my life?
“No, they’re not in any danger. It’s just a precaution and to help with evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“That Lucy is better off with you than with that piece of shit that is her father.”
I nearly choked on the bagel at the sudden display of emotion from the deputy chief.
“You know my dad?”
He shook his head.
“I knew Valeria Lopez.”
It took me a few seconds to figure out what he’d said. He’d known Lucy’s mom.
37
Isaac
I yielded the knife like I was doing something other than chopping vegetables. The angrier I got, the faster the knife moved. There were lots of new cuts on the chopping board. I dropped the knife when I realized I was focusing on the patterns of the cuts and not so much on the vegetables, and the last thing I needed was a trip to the emergency room.
“Isaac?” Lucy called from the living room.
I had been hoping to knock on her bedroom door to wake her up and explain what was happening, but it sounded like she was up already and must have seen the police officer that was there to watch over us. At least he was in plain clothes, which would prevent her panic before I had a chance to explain who he was and what he was doing here.
“Hey, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?” I gave her a hug that was tighter than usual.
“Where’s Max? Is he still asleep?” Then she whispered in my ear, “Who’s he? He’s cute.”
I laughed.
“We need to talk, okay? But first, why don’t you go get dressed. I’m making an omelet and bacon for breakfast.”
“Okay,” she said, eyeing the officer and waving at him before going back to her room.
Officer Jones had turned up last night shortly after Max had gone with the other police officers. He’d explained that the deputy chief of police had requested that he stay with me and Lucy until further notice. He’d been nice enough to reassure me it was for our protection rather than that we were in any kind of trouble.
He’d also agreed to hide in the kitchen when Lucy came home from her date. After a day out that had resulted in her first date with Diogo, I didn’t want her to come home to a police officer watching over us.
Diogo had walked her home and given her a hug before turning around to go home. Lucy had sighed and put her hand on her heart as she’d turned and said how much fun she’d had.
“Isaac, can I tell you a secret?” she’d said.
“Of course.”
“I think Diogo likes me.”
“Of course he does.”
“No, I think he likes me, likes me,” she’d emphasized and then blushed.
“Anything else you want to tell me?”
“He held my hand in the cinema while we watched the movie.”
I’d put my arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead.
“How did it feel?”
“It felt nice. I know a lot of kids my age do more stuff, but I want to take it slow. Do you think Diogo will be okay with that?”
“You’ll have to ask him, but my guess is that he’ll be more than okay with that.”
And that had been, in my opinion, the right way for Lucy to end her day. She didn’t need to know there was going to be a police officer with us all night, and she didn’t need to know that there was a chance her dad was trying to get her back.
Peter, Max’s lawyer, arrived as I was serving breakfast. He declined the food but accepted the coffee.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Lucy asked.
I exchanged a brief look with Pe
ter and was glad Officer Jones was in the living room so we could break the news in privacy.
“Max is at the police station. He was taken in last night.”
“Why?”
I didn’t know where to start, so I was glad when Peter took over.
“Max and I have been trying to figure out a way you can live here. There aren’t many options, in fact, the only option is to apply for custody until you are eighteen, and then you can make your own decision about where you live.”
“I want to live here, with Max and Isaac,” she said.
“The problem with applying for custody is that we have to find a reason for it. The easiest way is to prove that a parent is unsuitable to raise their child, and if there is another family member willing to take the child, then a judge is normally fine with that. Does that make sense?”
“Does it mean I have to testify against my dad and tell a judge what he did?” She pulled her chair closer to mine, so I put my arms around her, tucking her curls behind her ear.
“That is a possibility, isn’t it, Peter?”
“Yes, I’m afraid it is.”
“But what if I tell the truth, and they still send me to live with my dad? Then it’ll make things worse.”
She cried and held me tight. “Please, Isaac, don’t let them send me back to live with them. They were awful. Dad’s wife doesn’t even want me there.”
“I know, sweetie, we’ll do everything we can. Even if I have to steal you and Max and take you both to Portugal,” I joked, squeezing her tight.
“Isaac, I filed the temporary custody application overnight. The judge hearing today’s cases is a family friend. It doesn’t mean it will be easier because she will still decide based on the evidence and witness testimony, but she’ll know there’s good reason for me taking this case on.”
“Thanks, Peter; I appreciate all your help,” I said before I turned to Lucy and pulled her into a tight hug. “Right, you beautiful girl, what do you say we go out there and kick ass?”
Lucy laughed. “You sounded really American just now.”
“Max must be rubbing off on me.” I winked.
“Ew.” They both replied.
I couldn’t stop fidgeting as we made our way to the courthouse in Officer Jones’ car with Peter following behind us.
Lucy was holding up surprisingly well, but I could see it in her eyes. It was the same look she’d had when we’d found her in Lydia’s Magical Gardens. Absolute fear.
My phone rang in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the screen.
“Hi, David.”
“Isaac, what’s going on? You left a strange message on my phone, and Joel has been trying to get hold of Max for hours.”
I sighed and told David what had happened. I realized I was on speaker when Joel let out a loud curse.
“What the fuck is he playing at? Why didn’t he tell me what was going on?” Joel sounded so angry. I dreaded his reaction when and if Max told him what he’d gone through as a teenager.
“Joel,” I called as loud as I could over the phone, “I know how you’re feeling, but right now we just need some support. Max needs you. You’re his best friend.”
“What can I do across the fucking ocean?”
“I don’t know. We’re on our way to the courthouse for the temporary custody hearing. If things progress, we may need you as character references. Will you be able to fly at short notice?”
“Of course.”
I heard a rustling in the background and muffled voices.
“Isaac. This might not be the best moment,” David said, “but I thought you’d like to know Aunt Teresa has applied for full custody of Filipe in view of adopting him.”
“When will you know?”
“I think it can take a few weeks. Tiago is doing a great job with the lawyer here. They made Filipe see a psychologist, and they say there’s enough evidence to suggest his grandparents aren’t fit to look after him.”
“Oh god, that’s great news, David. Send Teresa my love, and tell Filipe I will send him a new superhero to keep his Superman doll company.”
“What Superman doll?” David asked.
“I gotta go; we’re arriving at the courthouse.”
“Good luck. Call us later, okay? No matter what time.”
His back was turned, but I would have recognized him in the middle of a crowd. If he was a needle in a haystack, my eyes would be the magnet that would find him.
“Max!” I cried. He turned around as I ran straight to him.
I caught his mouth like I needed to catch a breath. His arms were strong and tight around me. I didn’t care that we were on the steps of the courthouse or that everyone could see our display of affection. I wanted to touch him and never let him go.
“Baby,” he said in my ear as he inhaled my scent, “fuck you smell nice. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too. So fucking much,” I said between kisses to his neck. “You need a shower, though.” The rumble in his chest made me all hot inside, and I nearly forgot we had an audience.
“Micah!”
I turned to see Lucy hugging a tall guy I hadn’t noticed was standing next to Max.
“Hey, how about me,” Max called out.
Lucy came over and placed herself between us, hugging Max tightly. “Hey, big brother.”
“Hey, little sister. How was your date yesterday?”
“It was good. I’m sure Isaac will fill you in.”
I winked at Max, and he smiled back before kissing Lucy’s curly hair. “Lucy, I will do everything I can to keep you with me. I promise.”
“I know, Max. I love you.”
Max said, “I love you, too,” as he pulled her into a tight hug.
“We should go. We have a room we can use to prepare for the hearing,” the big blond guy said as he shook Peter’s hand.
“Isaac, this is Deputy Chief Micah Nowac. He’s the reason they kept me in jail overnight.”
“What?”
“Calm down, let’s go inside. I’ll explain when we get in.”
The room we were in was set up like a conference room with a big TV screen at one end and a whiteboard at the other. Peter took a seat, and Micah sat next to him. They went through Peter’s notes, although I still didn’t know what Micah’s role was in all this. Max pulled me and Lucy to the opposite side of the table and sat between us, holding our hands.
We spent the next hour preparing for the hearing. Peter explained the order in which everything would happen. He prepared us in case we were called.
“If I’m honest, I hope you are all called to the stand. You both have reputable jobs, no convictions, and it’s clear you really care about Lucy.”
“Does it go against us that Lucy hasn’t been at school?” I asked. I was afraid this would be a sticking point, but the reason we’d agreed to keep her off for now was because we weren’t ready to face questioning from the school about Lucy’s whereabouts and were worried it would somehow be fed back to her dad.
“There’s a small chance, yes, but Lucy ran away before she came to you, so there are extenuating circumstances.”
“Will they be here?” Lucy asked.
“Who, sweetheart?”
“Dad and his wife.” It was a testament to how Lucy was treated in the Moretti household that she never called Max’s mom by her name. She was always her dad’s wife.
“We don’t expect them to be here,” Micah said. “They were the ones who raised the alarm that triggered the investigation, but since they are expecting us to still be investigating, I don’t believe they’ll be here.”
Peter added that since he’d filed the paperwork overnight and the hearing was this morning, it was unlikely that their lawyers would find out about it in time to turn up. If the judge gave us temporary custody, they could challenge it but would still need to wait for a court date.
“How long do we have until the hearing?” I asked.
“About twenty minutes,” Peter said.
“Will you excuse us for a moment?” I got up and gave Max a silent message to come with me.
Max followed, not letting go of my hand. I’d seen a sign for the disabled toilets on our way in, so I located them and locked us both inside.
As soon as I closed the door, he pushed me against it and put his hands on my face, pushing my curls back, and looked into my eyes. I rested my hands on his waist.
“What did you mean earlier?” I asked. “You told Lucy you’d do everything you could to keep her with you. Not us, you.”
“Isaac.” He took a small step back and broke eye contact.
“Max?” I choked.
“I… we can’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“We can’t be together anymore,” he said.
He could have punched me right in the gut or ripped my heart out with his bare hands. It would have had the same effect as his words.
“Why?”
“Because I’m about to fight for the right to keep Lucy away from my parents, and if the judge has a problem with our relationship, they’ll send her right back to them. I can’t do that to her. I can’t…”
“Max.”
“And how about you? If they win, I could be charged with kidnapping.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
“How can you not? This could destroy your reputation. All the work you’ve done with the youth centers…”
“Is this what you really want?” My voice was barely a whisper.
“No, goddammit. Of course not,” he shouted.
I hoped we couldn’t be heard outside the bathroom. Max ran his hands through his hair, his eyes giving his true feelings away.
“I love you so much, Isaac. Last night… fuck, last night was the worst night of my life.” He came back to me and rested his forehead on mine.
“I had no idea what was going on,” he said. “All I could think about was you being alone in the apartment and having to tell Lucy what was happening. I didn’t even find out until Micah saw me this morning. We have more people on our side than I thought, baby. But I’m scared they’ll use our relationship against me.”
