“She wants them back,” Adrian said, voice hollow. “She’s filed a motion to reinstate her parental rights.”
“Can she do that?”
“If she can prove she’s stable, yes.”
“Is she?”
His silence was answer enough.
“What do we do?” I whispered.
He looked at me, and for the first time since I’d met him, Adrian Vale looked afraid.
“We protect them.”
The next week was a nightmare.
Vanessa’s lawyer filed motion after motion.
She claimed she’d been in treatment.
She claimed Adrian had manipulated the courts.
She claimed the boys needed their mother.
Adrian hired the best family attorney in the state.
But the judge ordered a hearing.
And Vanessa was granted supervised visitation.
When Adrian told the boys, Evan went silent.
Caleb cried.
Noah threw up.
And Luke climbed into my lap and wouldn’t let go.
“I don’t want to see her,” he whispered.
“I know, baby.”
“She’s scary.”
Adrian’s hands shook.
But the court order was clear.
Two weeks later, Vanessa walked into the house for the first time in four years.
She was beautiful—tall, blonde, elegant in a way that made me feel small.
She smiled at the boys like nothing had ever been wrong.
“My babies,” she whispered.
Evan stepped backward.
