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“Not your problem,” David said succinctly

“Have a heart,” Sam protested “I know she did her best to block our attempts to find out if I was Riley’s father, but we have to see her side, too”

“Why the turnaround? Just ten days you were so angry I thought you were going to ask et Riley out of her evil clutches”

Saan to pace anew “I know,” he admitted wryly “But I’ve had time to cool down To think She loves hiht so hard to block us I hate to admit it, but if the situation was reversed I probably would’ve done the same”

“Do you want to revise your bid for full custody?” David sounded confused

Not his lawyer’s natural state, Sa about this situation was natural or clear-cut any more

“Absolutely not,” he said e he was certain of Now even more so “But perhaps we can offer her visitation She bore him, after all She’s nursed him and raised him for nearly six months I have to show some compassion”

He held up a hand as David began to speak Knowing, without hearing it, that the laas going to refute what he’d just said He knew he didn’t have to be fair or reasonable about anything He had the money and he had the influence to make what he wanted to happen, happen—not to ht to raise Riley But since he’d left Lake Tahoe he hadn’t been able to get Erin out of his mind

“And a settleenerous one I don’t want her on the street because of all this She’s as much a victim as I am”

“Have you sustained a knock to the head or so a stony look from his client he just shook his head “I know, I know You’re the client, you call the shots Well, if you’re one hundred percent certain that’s what you want me to do, I’ll do it You know, the issue with Erin Connell is cloudy, but she hts she hasn’t legally signed away—yet Perhaps we can forestall any pitfalls here by acknowledging and defining those potential rights immediately I’ll draw up the papers in the next few days and we can go over the?”

His eyebrows rose when Sam named the sum he wanted

“You really are serious, aren’t you?” David said, his voice somewhat awestruck

“I’ve never been more serious in my life Call me when you have the details ironed out”

Sam turned on his handcrafted leather heel and walked out of David’s office trying to ignore the feeling that he still hadn’t done quite enough But he had He had done everything in his power to do the right thing by his son And Erin wouldn’t miss out With the settleh ain for another child It was the best he could do, he told himself resolutely

Erin tossed the mail she’d cleared from her post office box in town on the kitchen table She knew she should have been in earlier, but lately she’d barely been able to bring herself to leave the house When she’d stopped answering her phone, Sasha had made a point to come over each day, to check up on her, and she’d appreciated it, but she’d wanted sorieve, not just for the loss of the relationship she’d hoped to share with Sa she held dear

Riley had fallen asleep in his carrier and she’dSoh all this tiel At least she had hiht Sa to be a tough road, especially since the trustees had given her notice to quit the property so it could be prepared to be gifted to the State

It felt so When Janet had told her the trust’s details regarding descendants’s right to reside at the property atertight she’d known it would be only a matter of time before she and Riley would have to pack up their few personal possessions and leave She didn’t really knoas worse The years of abuse and neglect she’d endured at her mother’s hands, or this

It had been horrible growing up without any sense of her home as a safe haven, but in many ways it was harder to finally have the home she’d alanted and then have it taken away fro forced to walk away fro