I glanced at my watch again and sighed. Time was dragging, and I needed to get back to Reid. I was scared for him, wondering if he was comfortable around them, or if he wanted to leave them. Not that I had a choice. The court ordered this time with them, and I had to obey the law. For now.
“Time is almost up,” Alec said, like I hadn’t been counting down the minutes until this was over.
“I know,” I snapped, running my hand over my forehead. God, I was so frustrated right now. Part of me wanted to go to Alec for comfort, and the other part of me wanted to kick his ass.
“Florrie, if you talked to them, I think you’d like them.”
“Really?” I asked angrily. “You think I’d like them? You think I’d like the people that are taking him from me? Is that your way of trying to make me feel better about what you’re doing?”
He sighed and leaned back on the couch. I could tell that he was tired of arguing about this. So was I. I just wished that we could be on the same side of things. I didn’t know how to make him understand. Reid meant everything to me. From the moment that we found him, I just knew that he was meant to be ours. I had a connection with him. I loved him like my own. Now he was asking me to give that up, and for who? We didn’t know for sure that these were good people. We knew who they were on paper, but that didn’t tell us jack shit about who they really were. And them showing up when they were desperate for money was just a little too convenient for me.
“Come on,” I said, “Time’s up. Let’s go get him.”
I threw the door open and practically ran down the hall to the conference room to grab Reid. He didn’t look scared anymore, but the wariness in his eyes told me all I needed to know. He didn’t trust them, and that was good enough for me.
“Hey, Reid,” I said with a smile on my face. It was all for show. “Time’s up, bud.”
He hurried out of his seat and walked toward the door, only glancing back once he was by my side. “Uh, I guess I’ll see you later.”
He walked past me and met Alec in the hallway. I wanted to follow, but there was something I had to get straight with these people before I left. I shut the door as I stepped inside and put on my bitch face, because this was my kid they were messing with.
“Whatever it is you’re doing here, you need to stop it and go home. He doesn’t need you. Reid has a family and people that love him here.”
“We love him too,” Linda said. “We want him with us.”
“Yeah, and that’s just a little too convenient for me. Tell me, how is it that you suddenly realized that Reid was staying here?”
Linda straightened and her face turned angry. “We didn’t know that his mother had died. She cut off ties with us after her husband died.”
“Her husband? You mean, your brother.”
“Yes, my brother. After he died, she just stopped taking our calls. We heard that she married the senator through the news. She wouldn’t allow us to see Reid.”
“And now all the sudden you want him. Now that he has all the senator’s money,” I snapped. “Now that you’re broke and looking for a payday.”
“We would never touch his money,” she insisted. Her husband was holding her back, like he was afraid she was going to attack me. “We didn’t care about the money when we found out he’d inherited it. All we care about is him.”
I scoffed. I couldn’t believe the woman in front of me. There was nothing about her that I found sincere. “If you really loved Reid, you wouldn’t have walked away from him. He was the last living piece of your brother and you didn’t fight for him. Why should I believe that you’re going to fight for him now?”
“Because we love him,” she shouted.
“Right. You love a kid that you haven’t seen since he was a baby. Let me tell you something, I’ve only known that kid for eight months, but from the moment I met him, I knew that he belonged with me. I’ve known from the very beginning that he would change my life for the best, and there was nothing I wouldn’t do for him. I would never walk away from him just to let someone else take care of him. Can you say the same?”
I didn’t give them time to answer. I turned around and walked out the door. I couldn’t stand to be around them anymore.
✯✯✯✯✯
Alec was waiting for me in our suite like he did every night. It had been a week since Alec betrayed me. A week since I started wondering if I could ever trust Alec again. I still just couldn’t wrap my head around all he was doing for these other people. It was like he was taking more consideration with what they wanted and needed than me. I didn’t want to be selfish, but he was taking away Reid. He knew that I couldn’t have kids, and he was taking him away from me. Reid wasn’t just some kid off the street to me. He was someone that I knew was supposed to be in my life. I could feel it deep down inside.
“Are you talking to me yet?” Alec asked from where he was sitting
