Impact

by Tymber Dalton

  “And he’s been after you ever since.”

  “Well, I had to go back to Florida the next day, so he lost track of me for a while. This all happened a couple of weeks ago. I honestly expected him to start tailing me before now but fortunately the condo is listed in a different trust name than either the production company or Landry’s business, so it’s not as easy to track down. Is the dude behind us?”

  “Nope. I’ve been watching. No cars following us.”

  “Maybe I should head back to Florida.”

  “And give him the advantage? Never!” Loren grinned. “Besides, this is fun.”

  “Again, Lor, you’re using that word wrong.”

  * * * *

  Dale Waters stopped by the condo that night on his way home.

  Tilly knew this couldn’t be good news.

  “For starters,” the attorney said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Cris nodded. “Thanks.”

  “If you want me to file a wrongful death lawsuit—”

  “We do,” Landry said. “Immediately.”

  “Will do.” He held up a sheaf of papers. “Wow, Cris,” Dale said. “You sure know how to make an impression on someone.”

  “What?”

  He handed Cris the papers. “Your cousin Santino has already hired an attorney. They’ve filed notice they plan to sue for custody of the baby. They want an emergency hearing before the judge.”

  “I hope he can afford it,” Landry said as Cris passed the paperwork to him to look over. “You have our permission to run up their legal bill as much as humanly possible. Call their attorney and chit-chat, if you wish.”

  “Oooh, fun,” Dale said, rubbing his hands together. “I don’t get many cases like that not involving celebrities. I also took the liberty of filing a counter-motion on your behalf and getting the hearing set before the same judge who handled the guardianship. Friday morning, so clear your calendars.”

  “Excellent,” Landry said. “That soon works to our advantage, no?”

  “Yes. The original hearing will still be reasonably fresh in his mind. There’s a huge difference in her forcibly losing custody and her voluntarily choosing to hand over custody to someone else.”

  The attorney turned to Loren. “I’m guessing you’re the amateur videographer?”

  “That would be me.”

  “So what’s the deal with the paparazzi? Can I get the whole backstory?”

  Everyone looked at Tilly, who uncomfortably filled them in.

  “Wow. Okay,” Dale said. “Let me see the footage.”

  Loren showed him her phone. He watched, laughing when she knocked the camera out of the guy’s hand. “Okay, that’s good. Usually it’s a clear-cut case of the celebrity knocks the camera out of the photog’s hand. This one, it looks like he walked right into the door as she was opening it.”

  “Pure luck,” Loren said. “I was absolutely trying to hit him, but that’s not what I told the cop.”

  “Well, obviously.”

  “I’m no dummy. My husband’s an attorney.”

  Dale laughed even harder. “Man, where do you get these people?” he asked Landry. “Please e-mail me a copy of that. I’ll give it to the guy handling it. I couldn’t have scripted something more perfect.”

  “We have the best friends anyone could ever ask for,” Landry said. “They’re our adopted family.”

  * * * *

  Landry’s only concern was that Cris had referred to Tilly as his “wife” when speaking with his cousin.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Dale assured him. “Out here, all that really matters is what the court documents say. We have an ironclad custody arrangement.”

  “Would we be better off filing for adoption in Florida?” Landry asked. “Cost them more money and have the home-court advantage, as it were?”

  “Maybe, but maybe not. We have a law here now, passed a couple of years ago. A child can actually have three legal parents here in California. Does Florida have something like that?”

  “You can?” Tilly asked, looking shocked. She stared at Landry. “I wonder if Nick, Leigh, and Lucas know that?”

  “Shush, love, and let him continue.”

  “It came about to help same-sex couples whose child has a third, biological parent, but it certainly could be applied in this case.”

  “How long would it take to file for adoption here?” Landry asked.

  “I don’t know. We won’t be able to until the judge rules on this motion. The fact that Sofia swore in the custody motion that the biological father is dead is a huge help. Otherwise, you’d have to track his ass down and get his permission.”

  Tilly rocked the sleeping infant in her arms. “If the guy wasn’t dead,” she snarked, “I’d be willing to help make that happen, based on what Sofia told us.”

  If Sofia’s version of events were the truth.

  Landry didn’t want to go there. Whether Sofia had lied to them or not was irrelevant at that point. The woman was dead, supposedly the baby’s father was dead, and now they had a custody fight on their hands.

  Once the attorney left, Landry turned to Tilly. “Call Leigh. I’ll have Loren drop you at her place in the morning.”

  “Why?”

  “Loren can go to work first, in your car. Put a hat and sunglasses on her and she’ll resemble you enough. If there aren’t any paparazzi hanging around, she can call you and Leigh to come in.”

  “Oh. Good plan.”

  “I do have one or two of those from time to time.”

  She stuck out her tongue at him but handed the baby off to Loren and went to make the phone call.

  Loren studied him. “You’re not so sure it’s a slam-dunk, are you?” she softly asked.

  “It never pays to take things for granted. That leaves one unprepared.”

  “And you should know,” Cris teased. “You’re the Master of taking precautions and hedging your bets.”

  “That I am,” Landry agreed. “That I am.”

  * * * *

  “Don’t look at the Internet this morning,” Loren warned Tilly when she emerged from the bedroom Tuesday morning.

  “That bad?”

  “I think it’s funny, but you…not so much, probably.”

  “What’d they say?” Tilly grumbled.

  “To be fair, they included my footage and the other sites are making the asshole look like he tried to come after me with a baby in the car. Only the one site he works for is trying to portray him as the martyr.”

  “Well, that’s something. I’d be willing to bet there will be more of the fucking bloodsuckers waiting for us at the office.”

  “That’s why we’re going to use the decoy approach. But, honestly? You said you didn’t want them focused on the gang. If they’re focused on you, doesn’t that accomplish the same thing?”

  “Yeah, but now we’ve got a baby to worry about. And a custody battle.”

  “A slam-dunk.”

  “I don’t want to jinx it.”

  “You won’t jinx it,” Landry said as he emerged from their bedroom and walked over to kiss her. “Stop worrying. If Dale Waters isn’t worried, I refuse to worry.”

  Sure enough, that morning there were three photographers across the street from the office building. When Loren called back and reported it, Tilly sighed in frustration.

  “Dammit. How am I supposed to work like this?”

  “What difference does it make?” Leigh said. “This isn’t going to be a reflection on me and the guys. You look like you’re hiding something by hiding from them. It’s going to be more stuff in the court records when the hearing happens on Friday anyway.”

  “True.”

  Loren met them outside at Leigh’s parking space and helped them get their things inside.

  Across the road, Tilly was well aware of the photographers at work.

  She resisted the urge to flip them off.

  That’d be like tossing a rare steak into a piranha tank.

  Upstairs,
Tilly looked out the window. From that vantage, she could barely see across the street.

  “Are you going to let them run your life?” Loren asked. “Or are you going to be the usual kick-ass woman you normally are and go about your day as if they don’t matter? Because they don’t matter.”

  Still, Tilly found it difficult to concentrate. She tried to come up with multiple excuses to get out of there, Loren expertly corralling her every time and redirecting her back to work.

  “It’s like trying to keep up with a sugar-hyped toddler,” Loren joked.

  “I feel like one.” Tilly drummed her fingers against the desk. “Friday feels like years away.”

  “Yet it’ll be here before you know it.”

  Tilly sat back. “I also feel horrible,” she quietly said. “Like I should have gone and visited her. Or at least gone to identify her body. What if it really wasn’t her, and it was someone the cops planted there?”

  “Yeah, and the one-armed man killed her.” Loren leaned forward. “Honey, don’t you think Landry and Cris are on top of that?” she gently asked. “You’re grabbing at straws. You barely knew her. It’s okay to sit here not crying your eyes out like we did for…”

  Loren looked down. It took her a moment to speak again, and Tilly didn’t need to be a mind reader to know she meant Kaden. “There is no requirement to mourn someone you don’t know.”

  “She’s Cris’ cousin.”

  “Then be there for him. Support him. Love Katie and give her everything you can, but don’t absorb some random guilt just because you think you should.”

  “It’s not random.”

  “And you didn’t murder her. You are a talented woman, but psychic killing isn’t one of them.”

  “Damn good thing, too,” Tilly muttered. “I’d be fucked.”

  “Wouldn’t we all,” Loren agreed. “Hell, the world would be fucked. You’d have burned it down by now.”

  “To the ground, baby. To the goddamned ground.”

  “Want me to get you some coffee?”

  Tilly leaned back in her chair and rubbed at her face. “Yeah, even though that’ll make me want to get up and run around with scissors even more than I already do.”

  They’d set up the portable crib in the corner of Tilly’s office. Katie was currently sound asleep with a full tummy and a clean diaper, courtesy of Auntie Loren.

  “Focus on her,” Loren said, pointing to the crib as she pulled herself to her feet. “She’s the important one now.”

  “Thank you. Seriously. I appreciate it.”

  Loren paused at the doorway. “Honey, I’m your best friend. I’m always going to be here, just like I know you’d be there for me if I needed you.”

  Tilly was already immersed in another phone call when Loren returned with her coffee. She set it on Tilly’s desk and retreated to the sofa, where she stretched out with her laptop.

  Tilly mouthed thank you at her. Loren nodded, smiled, and went back to whatever she was doing on her laptop.

  Forcibly shifting her focus back to the call, Tilly made herself go back to work.

  Chapter Nineteen

  As of Tuesday afternoon, Cris had received a string of calls on his phone from Santino, his mother, and his aunt, all of them singing the same tune.

  Give up the baby.

  He didn’t bother responding to the calls. In fact, he regretted giving them his phone number. He wished he’d never mentioned the baby to his aunt and uncle in the first place.

  Now they would be embroiled in a completely avoidable custody battle all because he’d lost his cool and opened his big fucking mouth. Had he just stopped with, “Sofia is dead,” and left the rest alone, his life would be relatively stress-free at this point.

  By four o’clock, Cris had enough. He logged into their corporate cell phone account manager and deactivated the number. The only person he’d really wanted to call him on that number was dead, and Santino had obviously figured out how to get in touch with Dale Waters.

  Blissful silence ensued.

  He called Tilly a little after five. She sounded weary when she answered.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  She went silent for a moment. “Seriously?”

  “I mean, right now.”

  She sighed, a sound so mournful he wished he could pull her into his arms right that second and hold her.

  “I’m exhausted, I’m mentally drained, and all I want to do is come home and curl up in your lap and cry.” She didn’t sound like their Tilly.

  She sounded defeated, and that worried him.

  Greatly.

  “When are you leaving work?” he asked.

  “I have a budget report to go through. It’ll take me about a half hour to finish.”

  “Can you do that at home?”

  “I…” She hesitated. “I guess I could. I need to have an analysis ready for Lucas in the morning.”

  “Then come home. Load up, let Loren bring you and Katie home.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good girl. Love you.”

  “Love you, too, Sir.”

  He ended the call and headed right for Landry’s office. Once again, he was on the phone. Cris closed and locked the door and was already dropping to his knees by the time he reached Landry’s side.

  Landry had already turned his chair so Cris could kneel between his legs, his arms slipping around Landry’s waist, his face pressed against Landry’s groin.

  Landry stroked his head as he talked to whoever it was on the phone, and that’s all Cris needed. The physical contact.

  There’d been times during Landry’s first round of cancer treatments after the accident, when the man had been dead to the world, zonked out on painkillers, and Cris would close his eyes and press his forehead against Landry’s thigh, lift the unconscious man’s hand and place it on his head, and cry.

  He’d been strong for Landry because Landry had needed him.

  He’d been able to be strong for Tilly because she’d needed him.

  But with both of them in his life, he found it far easier to slip back and forth in roles with both of them than he ever imagined it would be.

  Landry finally ended the call and set the phone on his desk. Cris heard it. He didn’t open his eyes.

  “Tell me, love,” Landry softly said.

  “This is my fault.”

  He sighed. “You didn’t kill Sofia.”

  “I meant the custody battle. If I hadn’t said anything about Katie—”

  “We might still have had one months or years down the road when they eventually discovered her. Best to get it out of the way now, once and for all, so they can’t blindside us later and she is far too young to even know about it.”

  He hadn’t thought about it like that. “I’m worried about Tilly.”

  “And I’m worried about you both.” Landry’s fingers still stroked Cris’ hair. “I think tonight I know two pets who need some serious attention from me, yes?”

  “Yes, Master,” Cris whispered.

  “You need to mourn. Tilly doesn’t expect you to be stalwart and steady all of the time. She knows you’re human.”

  “This doesn’t feel real. None of this feels real.”

  “I know. It’s happening so quickly.” Landry’s nails gently raked Cris’ scalp, making him shiver in the good way. “One shock after another, we almost don’t have time to adapt accordingly.”

  “I feel horrible for not stopping to mourn her.”

  “We will have time for that later,” Landry said. “She sprang into our lives, dropped a baby on us, and left again almost immediately. It’s normal to have difficulty adjusting.”

  Cris felt the room rock a little and it took him a moment for his brain to shift into gear. He lifted his head. “Was that an earthquake?”

  Landry wore a playful smile. “Just a small one. They feel odd now, don’t they, since we don’t get them in Florida?”

  “Hope that’s not a bad omen.”

  �
��Perhaps it’s a good one. A literal seismic shift.”

  “Thank god for Loren.”

  “Indeed,” Landry said. “Indeed.”

  * * * *

  Loren looked up. “What the hell was that?”

  Tilly waited, heart racing. “I think it was an earthquake.” She hated them. Fortunately, she’d only felt two minor tremors in the past, nothing catastrophic.

  Yet another reason she wasn’t fond of California.

  “Are you shitting me?” Loren said.

  “I shit you not.”

  They both froze, waiting, even as they heard others in the office make exclamations. Blaring alerts filled the office from people who had USGS quake apps on their phones.

  Leigh stuck her head into Tilly’s doorway. “I’m calling it an end of day, folks. I hate those damn things.”

  “It was a little one,” Tilly said.

  “You’re a Florida native, too,” Leigh shot back. “That could have been a big one, as far as either one of us know.”

  “The building’s still standing and we have power.”

  “Don’t take the elevator,” Leigh called over her shoulder as she headed for her office. “And we need to get your car seat base out of my car.”

  Tilly sighed. It seemed the issue was settled for her.

  Loren got up and started packing her things. “I just changed Katie a little bit ago. She should be fine until we get home.”

  “The roads will be a mess,” Tilly said. “Everyone leaving work early because of this.”

  “Great.”

  “Like all the new residents trying to evacuate for a little ole tropical storm,” Tilly teased as she shut her laptop down. “Everyone loses their shit.”

  “No offense, girlie? I wish you guys would move the works to Florida full-time.”

  “We’re working on that.”

  Twenty minutes later, Loren was behind the wheel and making her way with what looked like the rest of Los Angeles toward the Interstate.

  Tilly still refused to call it a freeway. At this point, it was more to aggravate everyone else.