“I know that,” she says. “And you know that. But by law, they will investigate it. I’ll drag your name through the fucking mud. I’ll say I found out you’ve been molesting her for years, and I’ll add Arlo to that, too. How’s that sound? How friendly is he going to want to be with you while I ruin his fucking life?” Her evil smile widens. “He’ll probably throw you out on your ass if I tell him to, just to save himself the trouble. Or Zoey will. She seems smart.”
I’ve never been struck speechless in my life.
Until now.
She’s not done, either. “Meanwhile, I’ll get an emergency order allowing me to take Katie to California with me, pending the outcome of the investigation. Once I’ve established residency out there, I’ll file to move the jurisdiction to California, and you’ll have to pony up money to fight me out there. Not to mention I’ll file to modify child support so you’re paying it all. You and Arlo will both look guilty by the time I get done with you. Maybe I’ll even add Lucas to it, hmm? Ruin his life before he’s even eighteen? How about that friend of his who’s always hanging around? Caine, is it?”
She grins. “Won’t that be fun? I’m sure Zoey and Arlo will despise you by the time I’m done with them.” She clicks her tongue. “Of course, you could always move to California with us, live with us. Maybe we can try again? I’m going to need someone to take care of her for me out there anyway. Might as well be you. About all you’re good for.”
I feel my fists clench and will myself not to punch her. “You’re evil, Jerilyn.”
“No, I’m smarter than you. I know how to apply leverage. I always did, with you. No one will believe the four of you are innocent. They’ll believe me. They always believe the mother about something like this.”
I feel like puking over her smug smile. Then I hear a noise behind us and look to see Lucas standing there with his phone out.
“No, they won’t,” he says. “Because I just got you admitting alll of that on video, lady.”
Her eyes widen and she lets out a screech. “What? Give me that, you little shit!”
“I don’t think so.” He’s laughing now as he backs up, the phone still up and recording. “I think the judge is going to be interested in watching this whooole thing. You try to file a false police report against any of us, especially against me, my mom will sue you for every penny you’ve got. I’m sure Arlo will want a piece of that, too. So will Caine’s parents. They’ll make you their hobby. And I dare you to try to file a false report against Nolan. I’m also a witness to this, in addition to the video evidence.”
Did I mention the kid’s planning on becoming a lawyer?
When she lunges for him I step between them and smile down at her even as my heart is galloping in my chest from a mix of rage and relief. “Get the hell off this property, Jerilyn. Before I call the cops. You’ll be hearing from my attorney in the next day or two. Hope you’re ready for a fight, because since you want one, you’re going to get it.”
If looks could kill, Lucas and I would both be dead. “This isn’t over, Nolan,” she spits. “I’m not through with you.”
“You’re right about that. It’s not over. It’s just getting started, Jer. I’m filing for full custody now. You’re not taking Katie to California. I’m going to play that video for the judge and enter it into evidence, part of the record. So you might want to watch what you say. Assume every interaction I have with you from this moment going forward will be recorded.”
Her face contorts with rage. How did I ever even think she was remotely attractive? “You always did love them more than me. If it hadn’t been for them—”
“Stop right there. They warned me about you, and they were right. The only good thing that came from my relationship with you is Katie. Like hell am I letting you take her away from me. If you want to move to California, that’s up to you. But Katie’s staying here, in Florida. With me.”
She sends another dark glare toward Lucas before she turns on her heel and storms off the property.
Once she drives away, the shakes hit me. I turn and clap Lucas on the shoulder. “Thanks. Please tell me you really got her on video and that wasn’t a bluff.”
He laughs. “Oh, I got her on video, all right. Mom always has hated her and never trusted her.” He shows me his phone and plays the video back.
You can hear every word she says. He filmed everything from when I answered the door. He almost immediately followed us outside, but he opened the door so quietly I never heard him.
Especially with my focus on Jerilyn.
I hug him. “Buddy, I love you so dang much right now, you have no idea. Upload a copy of that to Dropbox and send me the share link, please.” A plan’s already rolling through my mind as I pull out my phone to call my attorney.
“Sure.” Lucas laughs. “Please tell me you’re going to upload it to Facebook.”
I grimly smile. “That’s even better than what I had in mind.” Then, I go totally Arlo, channeling my sweetly scheming guy. “You know what? If you upload it to Facebook and set it to public, I couldn’t stop you now, could I?” I grin.
He laughs again. “Damn, that’s stone-cold.” His thumbs quickly travel over his phone’s screen. “That’s why I think you’re so cool.”
I know it’s what Arlo would do. “I learned from the best, bud.” I find my attorney’s number in my contacts. “Make sure you put some sort of message on that when you post it, about warning people to stay away from her because she likes to file fake police reports for extortion.”
“Ha!” His thumbs move even faster. “I’ll do better than that.”
I thumb the contact for my attorney and put my phone to my ear. “What’s that?”
He evilly grins. “I’m going to post it to Twitter, too. Then I’m going to tag her employer’s Facebook page and Twitter account, among others.”
I’m laughing even as my attorney’s receptionist answers the phone.
* * * *
Fortunately, my attorney can see us right away. I take Lucas with me, because he’s eager to roll up and start something with Jerilyn after that little show of hers. I start by showing Mike the video, which I’ve already downloaded a copy of to my phone so I have it on hand.
Because, let’s face it, it’s self-explanatory.
Then I e-mail Mike the Dropbox link so he can download it, too.
Mike looks grimly amused and glances at his watch. “I’m guessing you don’t care how much this costs?”
“Damn right, I don’t. As long as you’ll let me make payments.” Fortunately, we went to high school together and were friends back then. Arlo and Zoey know him, too. Zoey’s attorney works out of this same firm.
“Then I’ll file an emergency motion this afternoon to suspend the visitation agreement and keep Katie with you until we can get a hearing scheduled. Is Jerilyn still using the same attorney?”
I sit back in my chair. “Don’t know, don’t care. Her address and phone number are the same as from the divorce, though.”
Mike’s making notes. “You want full and primary custody, full child support?”
“Yep yep yep.”
“What are you willing to settle for?”
“Full custody, no or partial child support. Either way, she will have to be responsible for getting Katie to and from California, if I even let her take her there for a visit. She’ll have to pay for all of it, too. She’ll have to fly her ass here to Florida to do it, because I want a stipulation in there that she can’t fly Katie unaccompanied while she’s a minor.”
“Restraining order?”
I shrug. “You’re the attorney.” I point to Lucas. “Can we get one against her for Lucas, Cain, Arlo, and Zoey?”
He nods as he jots down notes. “We can certainly try. Not sure what the judge will do, but I’d say that’s pretty compelling evidence.”
“Good. Fuck her up twelve ways to Sunday. Load up the legal trebuchet and launch everything at her, including plague-infested bodies and th
e kitchen sink. I don’t just want a war—I want a fucking apocalypse. I’m done being nice. I want to be a pain in her fucking ass to the point she’s willing to pay me to go away and take Katie with me.”
“Excellent. There’s my boy. I wish you’d have let me done this to her in the first place. I told you back then with the income disparity that you could’ve quit working and demanded alimony, child support, and primary custody from her. Keep your phone on you. I’ll let you know what happens by end of day.”
Once we’re back in the car, I realize we haven’t yet looped Zoey and Arlo in on what’s going on.
It’s like Lucas can read my mind. “Mom and Arlo are going to flip out.” He grins. “I cannot wait to watch Mom go off on her.”
“Yeah, let me handle telling them, bud. Please? We actually need to keep your mom from—”
My phone rings, and it’s Zoey. Crap. I answer. “Hey, sweetie. I—”
“I want that cunt’s scalp in my motherfucking hand so I can wipe my ass with it and shit in her skull.”
I’ve never heard her sound so…mean.
What does it say about me that I kinda like it, and now I’m fighting a chub?
I guess Lucas can hear her, because he starts laughing. “Hi, Mom,” he calls out.
“How’d you find out?” I ask.
“My Facebook PMs and text messages are blowing up in sympathetic outrage. The angry mob is stocking up on pitchforks and torches. We need to talk to our attorneys ASAP.”
“We’re actually in the parking lot now. We just talked to Mike. He’s filing an emergency motion for me.”
I hear her take a deep breath. “Okay. Good. So now what?”
I fill her in. “So now we wait until Mike gets back to me. I’m going to go pick up Katie from school.”
My phone beeps with an incoming call.
Jerilyn.
“I need to go, sweetie. Jerilyn’s calling me on the other line.”
“Don’t you hang up for—”
“I’m going to take it inside in front of Mike.”
“Oh. Go. Call me back.”
Me and Lucas jump out of the car and rush back inside as I answer the call in speaker phone mode. Lucas already has his phone out and is filming when I answer.
“Yeah?” I say.
Mike is in his office and we hurry in there.
“Take it down, Nolan!” she screeches.
“Take what down, Jerilyn?” Because I’m being filmed, I keep a straight face, well aware the judge could ding me if I seem to be enjoying this too damn much.
“The video. Take it down. Now.”
“I didn’t post any video.”
“No, that little shit of Zoey’s did.”
“You mean Lucas? The same kid you threatened to file a false police report against to try to ruin his life? Why would he post a video of you admitting all of that? FYI, you’re on speakerphone, being filmed, and I’m at my attorney’s office.”
Mike speaks up. “Good afternoon, Ms. Shasta. This is Mike Cambridge, Mr. Fisher’s attorney. Long time, no see. How are you this fine afternoon?”
“You’re going to get me fired, Nolan! You’re going to ruin me!”
“Gee, Jerilyn,” I say. “Not like you were going to file a false police report against me, Lucas, Caine, and Arlo and try to ruin our lives or anything.”
“Take it down, or I’ll…I’ll sue you! I-I’ll sue you for slander! My clients can see that video!”
Mike jumps in again. “Sue my client? You were outside, in their front yard, and you made a direct, explicit, detailed threat to commit an illegal action against your ex-husband and his friends. The defense for slander is the truth, and that video is pretty compelling and self-explanatory. If anything, my clients already have the decent foundations of a defamation case against you. Oh, and I’m certain I can make a pretty strong case that what you were going to do veers into child abuse, too. Both for threatening to ruin Lucas’ and Caine’s lives, since they’re minors, and for how you were going to manipulate Katie. Then there’s filing a false police report, obstruction, extortion—”
“What do I have to do to get that fucking thing taken down?” she screams.
Mike smiles at me. “I’m about to leave my office for the courthouse to file an emergency motion regarding this matter. If you can appear here, in my office, in the next twenty minutes to sign a motion awarding Nolan full, sole custody, and admitting to the threat you made, I’ll make sure the video is taken down immediately.”
“Think again, asshole. I’m not going to do that! I’ll fucking fight you!”
Mike shakes his head. “Then I guess the video can stay up until a judge says otherwise, Ms. Shasta. Be advised, the longer it stays up, the greater the chance of people copying it and reposting it, making it impossible for it to be removed from the Internet. Maybe even hitting the media. That means unless the judge orders it taken down, it can stay up probably a couple of weeks, or longer, until we can schedule a full hearing to resolve this matter. Meanwhile, Katie will be staying with her father, and visitation with you is suspended, effective immediately.”
“And,” I add, “if you do this today, I won’t demand you pay me child support. If Mike files that motion and we go to court over this, I’m not only going after full custody, but I’m demanding full child support, too. And everything will be part of the record as to why.”
She doesn’t say anything for a moment, but I can see the call hasn’t dropped.
I give her another couple of seconds. “Okay, Jerilyn,” I finally say. “Then I guess we’ll see you in cour—”
“Fine!” It sounds like she’s about to start crying. “I’ll sign the fucking papers, just take the goddamned video down!”
Mike nods to me.
“Clock’s running, Jerilyn,” I say. “As soon as you walk through Mike’s office door and sign the papers, I’ll ask Lucas to remove the video. So the sooner, the better. If you aren’t here in twenty minutes, Mike’s heading over to file the emergency motion, and this offer expires.” I punch the button to hang up on her and damn, does that feel good.
Lucas stops filming. The three of us share a fist-bump before Mike turns to his computer and gets busy.
“I want something in there not just about her admitting what she tried,” I add, “but that she promises not to try to come back at Lucas, Caine, Arlo, or me later with this bullshit. That if she does, she agrees she’ll pay full child support from today forward, retroactively.”
“Oooh, don’t know if a judge would allow that, but we can throw it in and see if it sticks. Only matters if she fights it.”
My phone’s now blowing up with texts and calls from friends, and I can guess what all of them are about. I silence the ringer, ignore the texts, and send all the incoming calls to voice mail.
“Do me a favor, please,” I say to Lucas. “Text Mom and ask her if she can pick up Katie from school. And if she can’t, please text Arlo and ask him. I don’t want to tie up my phone in case Jerilyn calls back.”
“Sure.” He does.
Mike is grinning. “This is going to be the easiest couple of hundred I’ve made all month,” he says. “Soon as she signs it, I’ll run it over and get it filed before she can change her mind.”
“We need a provision in there about getting Katie’s things from her,” I say.
He nods. “You have someone—besides you, Arlo, and Zoey, that is—who can go get them from her?”
“Yeah. We can ask a couple of guys from Arlo’s work to go do it.”
“How much visitation you want her to have?” he asks.
“Can I get away with none?” Fuck being nice—that’s over. The nice guy is gone.
This is fucking war.
“I’ll put in there visitation at your sole discretion, and that it’ll be supervised by a third party of your choosing. And the stuff you said about not flying her unaccompanied should you decide to allow her to have an unsupervised visitation out of the state.”
> “Sure.” I slump back in my chair, tip my head back, and close my eyes as exhaustion rolls through me. “I did not need this shit today.”
“No one ever does,” Mike says. “But fortunately for me, that’s what keeps my bills paid.”
Chapter Fourteen
Nolan
Jerilyn blasts through the front door of Mike’s office with two minutes to spare.
Honestly? I’d expected her not to show up at all, or to call at the last minute with some sort of bullshit excuse and demanding a deadline extension.
Of course Lucas starts filming her as soon as she arrives.
Damnit, I love that kid.
She spots us sitting in Mike’s office and literally runs in. That’s the fastest I think I’ve ever seen her move. “Take it down. Now.”
“Hello to you, too,” I snark.
Mike holds up the papers and a pen. “Not so fast, Ms. Shasta. Sign first.”
His admin assistant is already in the office with us, because she’s a notary and witnessed my signature on the papers only a moment ago.
Jerilyn’s sending me and Mike death glares as she snatches the pen and papers from Mike’s hand and starts to read through them.
“Clock’s ticking, Jerilyn,” I say. “Longer you take, the longer the video stays up.”
“How do I know you won’t repost that after I sign?” Her tone drips with venom.
I shrug. “You don’t. But, unlike you, I don’t make a habit of fucking people over. That video is my insurance you’ll behave yourself and not try to fuck with my daughter, or my friends and family. When Katie turns eighteen, that video can disappear for good.”
Notice I didn’t say “will.” Because I have learned my lesson well and truly. Between Bill’s bullshit, and now this?
Yeah, I’m holding on to that video.
“I tried to get him to press charges or sue you,” Mike said. “He’s being a lot nicer than I want him to be. I’d advise you to sign, before he takes my advice and makes this even more adversarial.”
“Why can’t I let my attorney see this first?”
“Oh, you absolutely can,” Mike says as he holds up another paper. “But while he’s wasting a couple of days looking at them, because I called his office and found out he’s on vacation in Costa Rica, I’m going to walk across the street right now to the government complex and file this motion with the clerk’s office, which will then make that piece of paper you’re about to sign obsolete.”
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