Page 17 of Grand Love

Charlie looks at me, and I nod in understanding. She’s a victim, as we thought. “He won’t find you.” I frown, wondering what the hell I’m doing.

“I can’t.” She shakes her head.

“But you want to?” Charlie asks.

She shakes her head, but tears fall and then she shrugs. “I’m…”

“Pack a bag. Before I change my mind.”

* * *

She’s jumpy,looking around us as we load the car. The street is quiet, but a few people are watching from their balconies in curiosity. It’s a bad idea—terrible even, and I have no plan to speak of, but I know I can’t leave her here. A child. A baby. I can’t leave a minor in this hellhole; Charlie couldn’t either.

“Has she had her injections, health checks?” I ask, looking at her through the rearview mirror once in the car.

She nods her head, not meeting my eyes. “My friend is a midwife. She helped me deliver.”

Charlie scrubs at his face, his frustration starting to creep into his calm façade. He already knows this is now damage control, especially if she had help.

“Do you have a child?” she asks, her voice shaking.

“Why?”

She looks anywhere but at me. “The baby seat, I just presumed.”

Everything becomes real in that moment.

What the fuck am I doing?

This woman fucked me over and I’ve just pulled her from her home.

* * *

“You’re goingto hand Betty over to the authorities.”

She stands from her spot on my sofa and starts rushing to grab all her things, Betty grasped tight in her arms. “No way. She can’t be without me.”

“Charlie’s looked into every other option. There’s no way they’d let you keep her in your current situation.”

“Bullshit!” she spits out, panic washing over her pale face. “You can’t take her. Please. I’m sorry,” she cries.

“This isn’t about what you did, Jasmine. You said you wanted to get your children back. This is the first step if you want to get them back for good.”

“No. I can do it myself. I don’t need your help.”

“We both know that’s not true. Not like this.” I gesture towards Betty, feeling like the worst person in the world. I don’t want to take them away from each other, but this really is the only option.

“Fuck you!” she snaps, getting worked up, tears streaming down her face.

“Jasmine, you need to listen to Mason. I know this is hard, but it’s an opportunity for you to get better and back on your feet. He’s offering you something not many would, given the circumstances.”

She looks at me, swallowing thickly, then shakes her head no.

“I will put you up and give you a job. Keep your head down and stay away from the shit littered in your apartment—”

“That wasn’t mine.”

“And you will get your children back. All of them.”

She thinks on it, and I see the moment she gives in, her lip trembling as she bounces Betty in her arms, her chin resting on her head as she looks to the ceiling. “What do you gain from all of this?” she croaks.

Me? Nothing.

Nina? Eventually… a sister.

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