Chapter 14 · The Tape

"You think I won't use it?" Cade's voice was flat, but his knuckles were white around the folder. "Full custody, Avery. Filed this morning. Judge Reyes owes me a favor. You want to fight that on a public docket?"

"You want a war," I said, "in a house where your father throws people out windows for less than lying about a wife. Go ahead. File it."

He stepped closer, close enough that I could smell the whiskey he hadn't drunk and the cold night still clinging to his coat. "I'm not filing anything if you sign tonight. Move into the estate. Let Maya have my name. That's it. That's the whole ask."

"That's not an ask. That's a hostage note with better stationery."

His jaw ticked. For one second — one — something that wasn't a lawyer's face crossed his, and I hated that I saw it, hated that some idiot part of me wanted to press my palm flat against his chest just to feel if his heart was going as hard as mine.

"Mommy?"

We both turned so fast I heard his neck crack.

Maya stood in the hallway doorway in her unicorn pajamas, hair a wild nest,