Page 5 of Rough

As soon as I entered, someone gave me a disapproving look. Here we go.

"Picking up Neriah St. James," I said to the receptionist.

"My boss wants to speak to you. Neriah has been picked up twenty-eight out of thirty-one days late."

Wait.

"Tanya drops her off on the weekends, too?" I asked.

"She does."

I cursed to myself. I usually spent evenings with her and she stayed at my house on the weekends, but with shit on the streets being hectic, I'd slacked on the overnight stays. Not anymore. I'm sure the only reason Tanya kept Neriah when she found out that she was pregnant was that she thought I'd wife her gold-digging ass. I didn't, and she was too damn selfish to give her up to me. Tanya also knew that I worked for the Ekon mafia crime family and held on to it as leverage. She didn’t know enough to get herself killed, but she could point fingers my way if she wanted to.

I nodded my understanding, and she stood and disappeared. She came back a few minutes later with a smirk on her face.

"She'll be right out. She's on a call."

I sat down in the chair and waited. It took twenty minutes before her boss opened the door. I heard little footsteps running my way, and I smiled as Neriah rounded the corner.

"Daddy!" she squealed.

I picked her up and rained kisses all over her face. She giggled and held onto my face.

"Tickles." She said through laughter.

"Salt?" I heard the voice and froze.

"Lauren?" What the hell was she doing here?

"Are you Isiah St. James?" She looked down at her clipboard.

"I am." I raised my eyebrow and waited for her to say something more.

"Can I talk to you outside?" She smiled nervously.

"Sure." I walked out before her and held the door.

She followed and let the door close entirely before she spoke.

"I don't know how to say this." She sighed.

"Just talk."

"Not picking Neriah up on time is a red flag to children’s services. I've spoken to Tanya about it already, and she has done nothing to change her habits. If anything, they've gotten worse."

"Okay." I nodded, waiting for the rest. "I pick her up when Tanya can't, so when she texts me at quarter til five to get her, I do what I can," I admitted.

"That's understandable but doesn't change that there will be an investigation. Neriah is three years old and needs constant attention. You guys have to make sure someone is here by five. Nothing I could do about the investigation because her timestamps were all over the place. When they come to your house, you guys need to have everything together." She sighed before looking at Neriah. "I'd hate to see her suffer over something that can be fixed. From what I understand, Tanya has a long list of complaints."

First time I’ve heard about this.

"Not my baby girl. I'll talk to Tanya and see if we can work something out. This is getting out of control." And I wasn't about to let her unfit parenting skills be the reason I lost my baby.

"Not to get into your business, but why won't you take her? She seems to have a strong connection with you."

Neriah had her face squished against mine while she watched Lauren talk, arms around my neck.

"She knows what's up. Like I said, I'll handle it." I gave her a look so that she'd drop the topic. I didn't want Neriah to hear anything more.

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