Emily glared at her new husband. He wasn’t going to enjoy it when she poked him in the eye with her fork, she thought.
“I’m sorry for laughing but Lana is perfectly harmless. She’s very happily married to the pilot in front so you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Do you really think Amy and Jessica would allow their husbands to travel the world with a single lady?”
Emily didn’t know why she hadn’t asked the girls if Lana was single. The topic had just never come up in their whirlwind trip.
They reached their destination far more quickly than Emily had expected and were driven to an attorney’s office. They had a scheduled meeting with the Jackson’s before the hearing the next day. Mark said he thought he could get them to drop the case.
She was praying Mark was correct and the whole mess could be left behind them. She wanted nothing more than to have a worry free and normal life. She was a little afraid though, after the danger went away Mark wouldn’t feel the marriage was necessary.
They’d only been married a few days and it would destroy her if he asked her to get an annulment. She was strong though and could make it through anything, as long as she had her son with her.
They walked into the fancy attorney’s office, holding hands, showing a united front. She was shaking on the inside but to anyone looking at them, she looked confident and at ease. She was thankful no one could see the pounding of her heart.
“Just breathe,” Mark whispered to her as they neared the conference room.
“I’m trying.”
They were led into a huge room with a square table surrounded by chairs. There were two extremely well dressed men sitting at one end, otherwise the room was empty.
Mark led her over to the chairs next to the men and sat down. A woman came in bringing coffee and tea. There were several baked goods sitting out as well but there was no way Emily would be able to get anything down her throat. She was barely even able to sip the coffee and did so more to occupy her hands than for any other reason.
“Thank you for arriving early Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. We have the papers all drawn up and the investigators report. I think this meeting will go in your favor and you can put all this behind you and get on with your lives,” the older gentleman said.
Emily was a bit confused, as there hadn’t been much time for Mark to fill her in on everything. He’d told her a private investigator had been hired to look into the Jacksons past and current lives but she didn’t know much beyond that.
Mark glanced through the papers and then sat back with a huge smile on his face. “You’ve done your usual amazing job Dillon, thank you,” Mark said.
Emily looked at him questioningly but at that moment her ex in-laws stepped through the door with their attorney. Mrs. Jackson glared at both Emily and Mark but didn’t say anything as they moved around the table to sit across from them.
“Hello I’m Mr. Abrams and I’m representing Mr. and Mrs. Jackson. I’m glad you wanted to meet before the hearing, as this could speed things up. My clients went through the legal system to secure custody of their poor and neglected grandson. Ms. Jackson, um excuse me, Mrs. Anderson now, thought she was above the law and fled. It’s pretty cut and dry she’s not fit to raise the child. We have agreed to a supervised visitation schedule, which I think is more than generous, considering the circumstances,” the man said as soon as were seated.
Mark smiled at the attorney and at the Jackson’s. So they thought by jumping right in and going for intimidation was their best tactic, well they had never dealt with a man as powerful as him before. He found he was actually enjoying himself.
He glanced over at Emily and saw the fear in her eyes and his enjoyment evaporated. He may have been used to dealing with crooked people but she wasn’t and he needed to remember that. He placed his hand on her leg and gave it a reassuring squeeze, to let her know it would all be okay.
“Mr. Abrams, I don’t want this to turn into a power match, so we’re going to get right to the point. We have documentation here showing the harassment your clients have done to Mrs. Anderson. We also have witness statements from personal friends of the Jacksons, showing they’ve shown no interest in the child, ever. Here’s the video from the wedding showing Mrs. Jackson’s true intentions for taking custody of the child,” their attorney began.
“This is all hearsay and you know it,” Mr. Abrams said, seemingly unconcerned.
“We also hired a private investigator, who has managed to find some interesting information on how Mr. Jackson runs his business,” the attorney said and passed copies of all the evidence. Emily watched as both Mr. and Mrs. Jackson turned white as they glanced down at the papers before them.
Their attorney, who had seemed so confident and smug only moments before, now looked confused as he bent his head to speak privately with his clients. Mark sat back and watched them try and regroup. Their own attorney said nothing else as they waited for the full realization of the situation to set it.
“This has nothing to do with the custody case,” Mr. Abrams sputtered, trying to recover from the shock.
“You’re very correct that it doesn’t have anything to do with the custody case but Trevor has nothing to do with the case either. The Jackson’s are trying to take custody for some sort of position within their community, or for revenge but not out of concern for the child. My client’s a loving mother and isn’t going to relinquish custody. If your clients want to pursue this matter further, then we will bring all of this evidence to court. If they would like to go ahead and sign these papers here, giving up this battle, we’ll leave them alone,” their attorney said, with a deadly calm.
Emily realized why Mark had chosen this particular law firm. The men were really good at their job. She was actually starting to have some real hope.
“We will return in a moment. I need some time to talk privately with my clients,” Mr. Abrams said, as he stepped out of the room with her ex in-laws.
Mark turned to smile at her. “We have them on the run. This will all be over in a matter of minutes,” he reassured her.
“Are you sure?”
“They’ve never wanted Trevor. They just wanted to play some power game with you and they’ve lost. They’re going to have no choice but to admit defeat,” he reassured her.
Emily wouldn’t celebrate until the paper was signed. If and when it was, then she’d jump up and down for joy. She warily eyed the Jacksons and their attorney as they walked back into the room. They seemed older to her somehow, as they stepped through those doors.