“I fucking hate this.”
“So do I,” he muttered.
✯✯✯✯✯
“Ms. Younge, Mr. Wesley.” The lawyer sat down across from us in the conference room looking a little grim. “I’m sorry to meet again under these circumstances. I’ve looked into the case that Ms. DeWitt has started, and I’ve had my investigators start digging into their lives. Hopefully we’ll find something we can use against them.”
“Mr. Claussen, I’m confused,” I started. “We have legal guardianship of Reid. Doesn’t that give us some kind of leverage against these people?”
“If it was anyone else petitioning for custody, then it would, but these are relatives. The courts always try to keep families together, so it’s very likely that a judge would rule in favor of Mr. and Mrs. Fuller.”
“Even though he’s been with us for eight months,” Alec stated.
“Again, it’s up to the judge and what he thinks is best for the child. Now, Reid can talk to the judge and give his preference, but that doesn’t mean that the judge will grant you custody based on what he says. And anything he says could end up hurting you.”
“How?” I asked incredulously. “We’ve been good for him.”
“I can guarantee that opposing counsel will bring up the fact that you two aren’t married. On top of that, you live in a panic room-”
“Which keeps him safe,” I snapped.
“And would make the judge question what you’re keeping him safe from,” the lawyer continued. “Look, the fact is that the government can’t come in and take your biological children from you because you choose to live in a bunker or are armed to the teeth. But they can decide that you wouldn’t make good guardians to an impressionable young man that needs to learn his way in the world. Now, I’m not saying that what you’re doing is wrong, but a judge may not see things the same way.”
Alec grabbed my hand to keep me from snapping at the lawyer. “Alright, so what do we do? I mean, we’re engaged. Should we go get married now?”
“That may or may not help. In the court’s eyes, rushing into a wedding could be seen in a bad light.”
“But Ryan married Cassandra,” I pointed out. “Friends of Sebastian’s. They got married right when her ex decided to fight for custody.”
“But the child in question was her biological child, am I correct?”
“Yes.”
“Ms. Younge, you have to stop thinking of this as a typical custody case. While you do have legal custody at the moment, he is not your biological child, which means a judge can come in and decide he belongs with family if he deems it necessary. This is nothing like when we were first requesting custody. Back then, there were no family members stepping forward. Reid had been staying with you and he liked you. But you haven’t even told Reid about this. How do you know that he won’t want to go stay with them?”
I was beginning to really hate this lawyer. I felt like he was attacking us, making it sound like we were unfit parents or something. “Why wouldn’t he want to stay with us?”
“That’s something you’d have to talk to Reid about. Look, I understand that you’ve given Reid everything he could ever want, but having family around that wants him, that could be a game changer for him. I suggest you sit down with Reid and have an honest discussion about what he wants. Don’t try and influence him in any way. You have to put your feelings aside and really listen to what he wants.”
“Okay, aside from talking to Reid, what do we need to be prepared for going forward?”
“A social worker will come out again and look into how Reid is living. Be prepared for that. It’ll probably be more intensive than last time. On top of that, a social worker will do the same with the Fullers. If a judge deems it appropriate for Reid to stay with the Fullers, there will most likely be a trial period where Reid will stay with them for a weekend twice a month or something similar. Again, the judge will place Reid where he feels he best fits and has everything he needs, so you need to prepare that that will most likely happen.”
“When will we know for sure?” I asked, feeling completely shell shocked.
“It could take months. Honestly, it depends on the judge and the social worker’s recommendations. This is not a fast process, but I’ll be honest, it’ll feel like it’s coming at you full force.”
Alec squeezed my hand, forcing me to look at him. “Hey, we just take this one day at a time.”
One day at a time. That seemed like such a stupid thing to say. Every day that brought us closer to a decision would feel like one day closer to the day I would lose him, and I wasn’t sure I could handle that.
CHAPTER FOURTEENAlec
Florrie, Craig, and I were in the conference room with Cap, waiting on the other teams to show up. We were meeting with Derek’s team and Storm’s team to decide how we would split up our team and move forward. Of course, the other teams had no idea that’s why we were meeting.
“It’s not too late,” Craig huffed. “You can still back out.”
“Yeah, because Alec is known for backing down when he’s already made a decision,” Florrie snorted.
“Cap, you can’t be serious about letting this happen. How could you let him break up another team like this?”
“Because I have to do what’s best for the company, and if Alec is saying that his team is suffering, I have to listen to that.”
“This is bullshit,” Craig pouted. “I went through counseling for you two,” he said, jabbing his finger in our direction. “The least you could do is stick it out and find a way to make it work.”
“Alright, everyone just
