Chapter 2 - The Attorneys in the Parking Lot
Felicity stepped out of the black SUV wearing a cream-colored coat, dark sunglasses, and the same calm smile she used whenever she wanted people to believe she was the most reasonable person in the room.
The two attorneys followed her.
Josephine’s body immediately went rigid.
She shifted the twins higher against her chest, protecting them with both arms. One baby stirred, making a small unhappy sound, while the other slept with his cheek pressed against her collarbone.
I stepped in front of them.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
Felicity removed her sunglasses slowly.
“Bennett,” she said softly. “I was worried about you.”
“Don’t.”
Her smile flickered.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t stand there and act concerned after what you did.”
The lawyers exchanged a quick glance.
Josephine stared at Felicity with quiet terror in her eyes.
That look told me something I had not understood until that moment.
She was not only afraid that Felicity had ruined her life.
She was afraid that Felicity still had the power to do it again.
Felicity folded her arms.
“I have no idea what Winston Perry told you, but I am sure there is an explanation.”
“An explanation for fabricated hotel photographs?” I asked. “For blocked calls? Deleted emails? A paid witness? For planting my mother’s necklace in Josephine’s dresser?”
Her face turned pale.
Only for a second.
Then she recovered.
“You’re listening to a desperate woman and a private investigator who wants more money from you.”
Josephine’s lips parted.
“I never asked him for anything,” she whispered.
Felicity looked at her.
The softness disappeared from her face.
“You should be careful what you say, Josephine.”
I felt something cold settle inside me.
“No,” I said. “You should.”
Felicity’s attorney stepped forward.
“Mr. Carter, our client is concerned that you may be making false accusations based on incomplete information. Ms. Danforth has retained counsel to protect her reputation.”
I laughed once.
“Her reputation?”
The lawyer handed me a folder.
“Ms. Danforth has also filed an emergency petition regarding the children.”
Josephine froze.
“What petition?” I asked.
The attorney’s expression remained professional.
“Ms. Danforth has reason to believe the children may be in an unsafe and unstable environment.”
My head snapped up.
“You are accusing Josephine of being unfit?”
Felicity sighed sadly.
“She is living in a shelter, Bennett. With newborn twins. She has no steady income, no family support, and she has been collecting cans on the roadside.”
Josephine’s face burned with shame.
I turned toward her.
She looked away.
That hurt more than I could explain.
She had carried my sons alone. She had been abandoned by the man who should have defended her. She had survived on almost nothing while trying to keep two babies warm, fed, and safe.
And now Felicity was trying to use Josephine’s poverty—the poverty she helped create—as proof that she did not deserve her own children.
“You did this,” I said to Felicity. “You cut her off from me. You destroyed her marriage. You made sure she had nowhere to go.”
Felicity’s eyes flashed.
“I saved you from her.”
“No,” I said. “You wanted me for yourself.”
Her mask cracked.
“You were miserable with her.”
“I was miserable because you made me believe lies.”
“You chose to believe them.”
The words landed hard.
Because they were partly true.
Felicity had created the lies.
But I had looked at the woman I loved and chosen suspicion over trust.
I had watched Josephine cry in our living room while my mother’s necklace sat inside her dresser drawer. I had listened to a fake witness describe a fake affair. I had let my anger become more important than her voice.
“I did choose,” I said quietly. “And I will spend the rest of my life regretting it.”
Felicity looked at Josephine again.
Then she smiled.
“Do you really think he wants you back?” she asked. “He only came because he saw the babies. If they didn’t look like him, he would have driven right past you.”
Josephine flinched.
I turned on Felicity.
“Get out.”
Her attorney cleared his throat. “Mr. Carter, we strongly recommend that you avoid emotional statements. There are legal matters—”
“Get. Out.”
Felicity stared at me.
For one long moment, I saw anger replace the sweet expression she wore for the world. Her eyes were hard, calculating, and full of hatred.
“You think this ends because you found a few documents?” she said.
“No,” I replied. “I think it ends because I am done being blind.”
She stepped closer.
“You don’t know what Josephine did while you were gone.”
I looked at Josephine.
Her eyes widened.
Felicity smiled.
“There are things she never told you.”
Then she turned and walked back toward the SUV.
The attorneys followed.
Before getting inside, she looked over her shoulder.
“You’ll hear from mine.”
The black SUV disappeared down the road.
For several seconds, no one moved.
Then Josephine began shaking.
I wanted to touch her.
I wanted to take the babies, bring all three of them somewhere safe, and undo every terrible day she had lived without me.
But I had lost the right to assume she wanted anything from me.
“Josephine,” I said carefully, “are you okay?”
She laughed softly, but the sound held no humor.
“No.”
Her honesty broke something in me.
“I’m going to get a lawyer,” I said. “The best one I can find. Felicity will not take the boys from you.”
“Our boys,” she whispered.
I nodded, throat tight.
“Our boys.”
She looked down at them.
“They’re named Noah and Eli.”
I repeated their names quietly.
“Noah and Eli.”
Noah made a tiny sigh in his sleep.
Eli opened his dark eyes.
My eyes.
He looked directly at me.
And I realized that no punishment could be worse than knowing I had missed their first eleven months because I failed the woman who gave them life.
But Felicity had made one mistake.
She had come to the shelter herself.
May you like
And now I knew she was scared.
---
