Page 49 of The Omega's Savior

“What’s the situation?” He asks as the two of us take a seat across from him.

“How familiar are you with custody cases?”

“I’ve done a few cases here and there,” he says.

“Are you comfortable representing Olivia and I?” I ask him.

His eyes go wide as he darts his gaze between the two of us.

“The two of you have a child involved already?”

“My sister,” Olivia says, cutting in, her back going straight. “My mother is trying to get custody of her.”

She explains the whole situation to him, telling him about how she’s been taking care of Summer since she was sixteen and Summer was four and ending with the most recent kidnapping and CPS disaster at Summer’s school earlier today.

“Hmmm, well, in most cases it would be significantly easier for you to get custody of your sister, but considering your mother has already gotten CPS involved and this is going to a legitimate trial, her having legal custody will be a difficult thing to fight,” He says.

Olivia hangs her head. “I just didn’t have the money to go to court and get custody of her,” She whispers, her hands clenched into fists.

“No one’s saying it’s your fault,” I say, wrapping my arm around her.

“It’s not your fault at all, it just makes things more difficult because as of right now, your mother is just enacting her rights to see her child. What we need to do is we need to file for full custody of your sister. The best way to do that is by proving you have a stable life to provide for her.”

“Done,” I say. “If the courts want to see stability I can set up a 529 for her college right now. That should show stability, right?”

John winces. “If you want a slam dunk sort of case against this mother of yours, who, frankly, sounds ridiculous, you’re going to want to do something more. She’s unbonded, correct?”

“Yeah,” Olivia says, “She’s been unbonded since my dad died when I was thirteen.”

“Then the easiest way to get full custody in the court system we have today is for you two to bond. You both are fated mates, so you have the advantage of being able to show the most important form of commitment within our society.”

Olivia freezes. “What?”

I smell the way her mango scent goes sour at the mention of us having to bond. Part of me wants nothing more than to dedicate myself to Olivia like that, but I can only imagine what’s running through her head now with the bullshit she’s gone through.

“Like it or not, our court systems are biased towards those sorts of relationships,” he tells her. “Could we still win if you guys aren’t bonded? Maybe. But what if your mother starts asking what’s keeping Jax around if there is no bond? There are a growing number of fated mates rejecting each other these days.”

I reach over to squeeze her hand, doing my best to communicate to her that I’ll never fucking leave her. But I get what John is saying. It doesn’t matter that I say I’m not going to leave her to Olivia, I have to fucking prove it to a court.

“Then it becomes a question of which omega is better for taking care of this child,” John continues. “And then the court may lean towards the biological mother, at the very least for partial custody. And we want your sister out of your mother’s home one hundred percent.”

“You don’t have to give an answer now,” I say to her softly.

“But we don’t have time,” Olivia says.

“Well, it looks like you have three days. If I could have the contact of that CPS officer I can follow up with details for the hearing,” John adds.

“Okay,” Olivia says, handing over the business card of the CPS officer from earlier. He takes a picture of it and hands it back to her.

I see Olivia starting to stare out into space and know we should get moving.

“We’ll call you,” I say, standing from my chair. “You’ll update us with details?”

“Yes, of course,” John says. He looks down at Olivia, a look of sympathy on his face. “I know this is all rather sudden, but whatever choice you decide, please know I’ll do everything in my power to make sure Summer comes home to you both.”

“Thank you, John,” She says softly as she stands, giving him a weak, wobbly smile.

“Let’s get out of here,” I murmur, taking her hand. I throw a wave over my shoulder. “See you soon, John!”

---