Impact (Suncoast Society #32)(52)

“What happened to it?” Julieta asked.

“We have her,” Cris said. “She turned custody over to me.”

His uncle sat forward. “That’s a joke. You can’t raise a baby, you worthless—”

Cris stood up, fighting the urge to slug the man. “We have custody, she named us guardians in her will, and we’ll take care of paying for the funeral arrangements. I’m going to have her cremated and take her back to Florida where she belongs. That’s where she should have been all along, and maybe she’d still be alive if I’d talked her into it.”

He walked over to the kitchen counter and scribbled the old cell number, the one that forwarded to his current phone. “If you want to call me, there’s my number.”

His aunt had followed him. “Can we…can we see her?”

Cris wasn’t sure which “she” she meant. “Sofia’s body is going to be autopsied, and then we’ll have a funeral home take care of her.”

“No…the baby.”

Cris glared at her. “Honestly? I don’t want that man anywhere near her. She’s mine now, and I plan to raise her as far away from all of you people as possible. I don’t want her to know any of you. The way Uncle Gonzalo used to beat me, god only knows what he did to poor Fi.”

His uncle shakily pulled himself to his feet, the two little dogs jumping down and nervously staring up at him. “You listen to me—”

“No, you listen to me, old man. I have money, I have friends, and I have a hell of a lot more fight in me than you do. I’ll be damned if that baby will ever be tainted by the bullshit of this family. She’s going to grow up loved and cherished no matter how different she wants to be, and we’re going to support her and not abandon her.”

“You don’t know anything!” the old man raged before a coughing fit took hold, forcing him back into his recliner.

“I know that the last thing I want is for her to grow up like you.” Cris stormed his way to the front door and unlocked it, fighting the urge to slam it behind him as he strode down to his car.

When he looked back, his aunt stood in the doorway, one hand at her throat and staring at him.

He got in, cranked the engine, and pulled away with a squeal of tires without even bothering to fasten his seat belt.

At the first intersection he stopped and buckled up, even as his rage made his hands tremble.

That went well.

He hadn’t honestly expected anything else from his uncle, but he had hoped perhaps the years would have mellowed the f*cker out.

Nope.

Cris was almost to the office when his personal cell rang. He sent it to voice mail without even looking at the screen. Whoever it was could wait. It wasn’t Tilly or Lan, because it didn’t ring with their special ringtones.

When he got there, he went straight to Landry’s office, shutting and locking the door behind him. Landry was on a call, but he nodded at Cris in acknowledgment.

Cris set his laptop bag down, walked over to Landry’s side, and knelt, placing his head against Landry’s thigh. He shuddered as Landry’s hand settled in his hair, tenderly stroking.

There were no interior windows in Landry’s office, so no risk of anyone seeing. Only an expansive fourth-floor view that looked out to the west.

Cris released his mind, shutting down his thoughts, his anger, breathing in the scent of his Master, focusing on the feel of Landry’s slacks against his forehead, Landry’s fingers caressing his scalp.

He needed to check out for a few minutes.

Desperately.

It was a long fifteen minutes while Landry finished the call. Cris knew he wasn’t dragging it out on purpose—it was a business call. When he hung up, Landry let out a sad sigh.

“Was it that bad, love?”

Cris nodded without speaking. He didn’t want to open his eyes just yet.

“Sorry. Perhaps I should have insisted upon going with you.”

“No, it wouldn’t have changed things.” Cris finally sat back on his heels and looked up at Landry. “It wouldn’t surprise me if we have a fight on our hands with them.”

Landry frowned. “Why?”

“Over the baby.”

“Ah. Well, they can try, and we’ll countersue them for legal fees. I talked to Dale Waters again this morning to update him. He insists that even if they try to sue for custody, since it was a voluntary arrangement on Sofia’s part, it will stand up in court.”

“I hope so.”

“He’ll take care of making the arrangements for Sofia as well. I told him we wanted to take her cremains back to Florida with us.” Landry held out his hand for Cris to take and helped him up. “Try not to think about this today, if you can.”

“I suppose Tilly told you what happened at her office this morning?”

Landry chuckled. “I do so love Loren. I’m glad she’s here. I’m afraid we might have been bailing Tilly out of jail for real had Loren not been there for her.”

“Yeah.” Cris’ personal cell rang again. This time, he looked and didn’t recognize the local number. Once again, he sent it to voice mail.

“Who was that?”

“I don’t know. I’ll see if they left a message. I’ve got one voice mail to play that came through while I was driving.”