Page 63 of Brandishing Betrayals
“Fuck,” Kara took a deep breath. “You need to establish paternity. You’d have to either get her to agree to a paternity test, or subpoena her for the test. That’s basically suing her though, just so you’re aware of the consequences that can of worms can open.”
I nodded slowly to myself. “So I’d need a lawyer?”
“Yeah, Marquitos. I’ll make a call; I have a friend in family law. I’ll text you her info after I talk to her. If you want to go down that route, you have to know it’s a slippery slope, and with your record—”
“I could lose Luke.”
“Yeah, brother,” Kara said softly.
“So, I sue for paternity and then have to wait for the results? We know that he’s mine, he looks just fucking like me.”
“Yeah, but you have to follow the law and that’s sticking to due process. Establish paternity, then fight for custody. Not going to lie, brother, single fathers have a hard time getting full custody. It would have been different if you and Maya had been married. Unless you can get the court to rule that she’s unfit to parent, you’re only looking at every other weekend, or joint custody at best.”
“Right.”
“You need to talk to Maya, Marcos. Find out what’s really going on.”
“I know.”
“If Nico’s right, and she’s been threatened this whole time, if that’s why she left in the first place...that changes things, doesn’t it?”
I couldn’t answer her. That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? If she’s been threatened this whole time, what would that mean for us?
Why didn’t she come to us?
There was only one person who could tell me the truth…only I didn’t think she would.
Maya
Ipacedoutsidetheschoolsummer camp pick up area, waiting for Luke to come out. I had gotten off work early and called the camp stating I’d pick up Luke instead of sending him on the bus. When Marcos’s hadn’t brought him back home last night, I was terrified that Marcos was going to try to keep Luke away from me.
When I had texted him last night, Marcos’s reply had been short.
Marcos:
I’ll drop him at camp tomorrow
It was enough, I supposed. I had been so terrified though; my boss had let me leave an hour early to pick up Luke before camp ended. I needed to see my son.
A moment later Luke came walking out with his black hair mused and in need of a haircut and his dark brown eyes soulful and worried. “Mom?” he asked as he walked over to me.
I wrapped him up in a hug, lifting him off the ground. “Oh, my boy!” I cried. “I missed you so much!” I tried to play it off as missing him his weekend away, but knew I was worrying him.
“I missed you too. Mom, are you ok?” Luke asked, pulling away slightly to look at me.
I quickly set him back down and wiped away my tears. “Yes. I just missed you so much.”
“Dad said you had someone at the house that wasn’t safe.” Luke’s hands were still on my shoulders and he met my gaze with a stare that was older than his nine years of age.
I frowned slightly. “Yes. There was someone there that wasn’t safe. It was a good thing your dad took you back to his place. But don’t worry, he won’t be coming back. The house is safe now.”
Luke was watching me warily. “Dad asked if you were dating someone.”
I sighed and shook my head. “No. I’m not dating anyone; it was just an old friend that came by who shouldn’t have. He left right after your dad.”
Luke finally nodded, accepting my explanation. “Alright. Why did you pick me up early?”
“I missed you! I thought I’d get off work early and we could go get ice cream and hang out since you don’t have practice tonight.”
