“Of course, she didn’t. She knows how much we all care about her and there’s no way she’d think we wouldn’t have her back,” Hannah said.
“She’s threatening to take them. I can’t let that happen.”
“She can’t take them from their mother. Not without good cause,” Laken told them as she put her phone in her pocket. “I was just talking to Duncan. He said CPS will need evidence that the boys are in danger to get a court order to remove them.”
That would make her feel better if she weren’t dealing with Winifred Hartfield.
“She’ll bribe someone. She had everyone in the police force in her pocket back in Alabaster. She’s probably going to bribe a judge to sign a court order.”
“Then we’ll just have to get one step ahead of her,” a deep voice said.
She looked up as Jake entered the room, beside him walked Jardin Malone. He was dressed in a shirt and jeans and boots.
“Oh, good.” Molly clapped her hands and stood. “You found him. Jardin, fix this.”
Jardin’s lips actually twitched, and he nodded his head. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Uh, Molly?” she whispered.
“Yes?”
“How’s a cowboy going to fix this?”
Jardin stared down at her coolly, and she felt bad about doubting him. In fact, she felt the urge to get on her knees and grovel. The man was terrifying.
“Oh, Jardin isn’t a cowboy. Well, I guess he looks like one and he probably knows how to ride—”
“I’m a lawyer,” Jardin told her. “I specialize in family law.”
“He’s your secret weapon,” Molly told her happily.
Molly had cleared everyone out of the room so she was alone with Jardin. She wasn’t certain that was a good thing. Jake had left after giving his wife an indulgent look and a command to behave. She’d just laughed. Aspen wished she could be as confident as Molly. So self-assured.
He’d told Aspen to call him if she needed anything but he was stepping away from the battlefield as he didn’t want to hear anything that might lead him to have to arrest someone. Especially his wife.
Aspen didn’t know what he thought they were going to do, but then knowing Molly it could be anything.
“So she paid you to abort your sons, but instead you took off and you haven’t heard from her since?”
She shook her head. Jardin was taking notes and hadn’t looked up at her once. It was unnerving.
“All right, did anyone hear her tell you to abort them?”
“No, but she did.” It was hard not to be defensive.
This time he did glance up. “Easy, girl. I’m not saying I don’t believe you.”
A knot inside her unraveled.
“I just can’t understand her motivation for coming to you now.”
“She said my mother told her about the boys. She wouldn’t have known otherwise. Apparently, she sent a private detective here, learned where I was living and decided I was abusing the boys because I-I—”
“Engage in BDSM? Live with a Dom who owns a BDSM club?”
“Well, she said it was a den of inequity, but, yes, I guess that’s it.”
“Nothing illegal about being into BDSM, and she has no proof of abuse.” He studied her with a steady gaze.