Roundabout: A Creekwood Novella (Creekwood Series Book 4) by A. Marie

Author:A. Marie [Marie, A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: A Creekwood Novella
Publisher: Booktickets By AM
Published: 2022-09-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

Angela

The mediator gives me a tight smile as we get up from the long table. “Congratulations, Ms. Taylor.” He sticks his hand out to me.

After staring at the large, weathered palm free of the same sweat that’s been coating mine for the last five hours, I wipe my hand on my pants before giving his a shake. Congratulations. This doesn’t feel like a victory. It does, but not a whole one, not yet. I have to talk to Coty first, because without him…

I have to talk to Coty.

“Thanks,” I say, then turn to Marshall, telling him the same thing. This wouldn’t have been possible without his help.

“I gotta be honest, she had me nervous there for a bit,” Beckett’s father says.

I bob my head. “Me, too.”

Nora did exactly what I expected her to do, yet still managed to catch me off guard with her ridiculous demands. She didn’t just come to play today, she came to win.

And I let her.

I wouldn’t have custody of Brittni and Makya if I didn’t though, and they’re priceless. Their safety is priceless.

Hopefully, Coty sees it that way, too. I need him to because he’s my safety.

We take care of payments, then the mediator bids us goodbye, slipping out the door, probably to go do the exact same thing in the conference room just across the hall, minus collect payment because along with mine, I paid Nora’s fees, too. It makes my skin crawl imagining him congratulating her. She’s the one who lost, even though I’m sure she doesn’t see it like that.

Alone with Marshall, the man who resembles his son in so many ways except his height, I head for the door, already reaching into my purse for my phone. It’s been on silent mode the entire time we’ve been in here, negotiating the terms and price for the adoption of the girls. Not seeing my engagement ring on my finger makes me pause. It’s funny, I’ve gone almost twenty-nine years without one, but after wearing the ring Coty gave me for less than a week, I’m already used to it. Seeing my hand bare now is…sad.

“Would you prefer to hang out in here for a few? Just until she leaves?” Marshall asks me, before explaining, “Things can be tense afterward.”

Automatically, I drop my phone back in my purse and push through the door.

“I’m okay.”

I hold my head high as I leave the conference room, making sure I keep my arms glued to my sides so I’m less tempted to use them. After everything the girls told me at the Fall Fest, I want to. What Nora’s put those girls through… She’s lucky she’s walking away at all today.

Nora enters the hallway a moment after I do, instantly scanning me from head to toe, and I fight to keep my hands still.

There’s nothing she can use against me, I remind myself. I made sure of it before I stepped into the ring with her today. It’s not my first time squaring off against a manipulator.

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