Drowning to Breathe (10 page)

Standing near the wall, Shea peered over at us.

Eyes brimming with fear and hope and love.

So fucking gorgeous that this girl once again threatened to drop me straight to my knees.

I tipped my head to the side and beckoned her forward. “Come here, baby.”

Warily, she glanced at Anthony, and I wondered just how much she’d picked up of our conversation, before she shuffled forward and nestled into the safety of my side. I curled my arm low around her back and pulled her as close as I could get her.

Anthony’s attention jumped between us.

“Anthony, this is my girl, Shea Bentley.”

I leaned down and kissed her temple, whispering at the sweetness of her skin, “Baby, this is Anthony Di Pietro. My agent and friend. He’s going to help us get Kallie back.”

An expression of understanding crossed his face. Lacking judgment. Like he saw all the torment swimming in Shea’s eyes.

He moved around the island and extended his hand as he neared. “Shea Bentley. If it isn’t an honor to meet the woman who finally took this one down.”

He cast me a sly glance then smiled softly at her.

Redness warmed Shea’s cheeks, Anthony easily putting her at ease when he wrapped up her hand in his.

“It’s great to meet you, Anthony,” Shea said, all genuine and real, real, real, returning his handshake. “Thank you for everything you’ve done to help us. You can’t imagine what it means to me.”

Everything about him turned warm, like maybe in the course of their brief interaction, Anthony witnessed it, too. The beauty and life. Something pure in her shining light on this wicked world.

“Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“How are you this morning?” I murmured.

A weak smile lifted just one side as she looked up at me, her voice hoarse from the many tears she’d shed last night. “As well as can be expected. I’m just ready to get started on whatever we need to do to get her back.”

Anthony nodded reassuringly. “We have a meeting with the attorney at nine. Kenny assured me he is the best family attorney in Savannah. We’ll be on this first thing and we won’t stop until Kallie is back safely in your arms.”

“Damn right, we won’t.”

Shea and I both jerked our heads to find the source of the voice coming from behind us.

Ash.

He slanted a cocky grin Shea’s way, dude all dimples and rumpled blond hair.

Lyrik and Zee bounded downstairs behind him, Lyrik dragging a shirt over the mess of black on his head, Zee watching with the unique concern that followed him wherever he went.

Didn’t miss that my baby brother edged down the stairs, too. Lagging. Slower than the rest. Wearing that same damned hoodie like maybe he was pretending he could hide away.

Still, he was here. Present.

A partner to my fucked-up family.

Anthony’s eyes widened in surprise. “Uh, you guys do realize it’s not even seven in the morning? Don’t think I’ve seen any of you even cracking open an eye before noon in all the years I’ve known you.”

Ash just grinned. “No chance in hell we’re going to sleep away the day when we have business to take care of. And by business, I mean taking that motherfucker Jennings down. We were all there and know exactly what went down that day. Not about to stand for that kind of bullshit.”

Zee came forward and leaned his forearms on the island. He clasped his hands together as he looked up at us. “Yeah, man. You know whatever we can do…whatever we can say…we’ll be there. We know where Kallie belongs.”

Shea drew in a sharp breath, like she was gaining strength from their encouragement, each word building a steel armor of courage.

Lyrik lifted his chin toward Ash and Zee as he rolled into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. “Like they said, whatever you need, it’s done.”

Silently, Austin made his way in, too, surrounding us like the rest. He seemed agitated, which wasn’t abnormal for him. But still, he cast me a look like he was telling me it was a good damned thing I’d finally come to my senses.

That walking away from Shea wasn’t ever gonna be the noble choice.

Not when this girl needed me.

Ash hooked his arm around Shea’s neck and dropped a swift kiss to her head. “See. You don’t have to worry about a thing, darlin’. We’ve got this covered.”

“Thank you,” she said on a broken breath.

“Watch it, man,” I warned, letting a chuckle slide. “That’s my girl you’re kissing on.”

Ash smirked. “What? Good friends share and all of that.”

I reached around Shea and punched at his shoulder. “Not on your life, asshole.”

A giggle slipped from Shea, all self-conscious and shy and every shade of perfect, and those expressive eyes peeked up at me, swimming with faith, hope, and beauty.

My life.

I turned and gathered her face between my hands. I pressed the softest kiss to that even softer mouth.

Anthony cleared his throat. “I think that settles it then.” He let his gaze fall on Shea. “Let’s get your daughter back.”

MARTIN JENNINGS SAT ON
the witness stand. Dark eyes gleamed back at me, the man intent to control my gaze as I faced him from where I sat at the table next to my attorney.

The way he’d always attempted to control me.

His expression conveyed every threat he’d ever dealt me, all under the guise of concerned parent.

“You are mine now.”

“I always get what I want, no matter the means to attain it. You’d be wise not to forget it.”

“I will guarantee your silence.”

A rush of fear trembled through my spirit, and I shifted on the hard chair. Painfully¸ I twisted my fingers together as if it could bind me with courage. My stomach felt as though it was tied in a thousand knots as I listened to the false sincerity woven in his tone, and a part of me wanted to cower and cave.

But when it came to Kallie, I never had, and that definitely wouldn’t change now.

If anything, I was stronger.

And
I had Sebastian now. I wasn’t alone.

The thought bolstered me, renewed with a charge of determination and fortitude.

Martin sat making a plea as to why he should be granted longer-term full custody of my baby girl.

Each word passing from his mouth only made me sicker.

Ill with the idea this monster could once again take that control.

But this time…

This time I refused to give it to him.

“And why is it now you’re just interested in obtaining custody of your daughter?” his attorney asked.

Playing devil’s advocate.

How ironic.

Still, he was asking all the questions I wanted to demand answers to.

Even knowing every single answer was a lie.

The attorney, Mr. Carbellero, represented the state, though it quickly became clear he was under Martin Jennings’s dime, pressing an issue that wouldn’t have been an issue at all had Martin not spearheaded it in the first place.

“I never sought any form of custody earlier because I respected Ms. Bentley’s wishes to step away from the limelight of the business to raise our daughter in her hometown. It’s a decision I’ve often regretted. When I saw the pictures of paramedics attending my daughter on the beach, I knew I had no other choice than to step in and intervene.”

He settled his soulless eyes on me. “Especially when I found out Shea was allowing my child to be exposed to someone as dangerous as Sebastian Stone.”

My daughter!
I wanted to scream. How could he sit there and try to claim her? After what he’d done? What I’d told Sebastian had been true. I’d foolishly hoped Martin had changed. That some sort of conscience had grown within the warped confines of his evil heart.

From where Sebastian sat directly behind me, I could feel the anger roll from him at Martin’s insinuation—the hardness of his breaths and the restraint radiating from his body.

“And you know from experience how dangerous Sebastian Stone can be?” More propaganda from Martin’s attorney.

“I’ve been involved in Sebastian Stone’s business dealings for some time now.” Martin went on to paint Sebastian in the most awful light, a strung-out addict prone to violence. Violence propagated against him.

Just as I knew Martin to be. A liar. A manipulator. Saying whatever needed to be said to get his way. To build himself up while he tore everyone down around him.

Using them as steppingstones.

My heart lurched with the memories.

A masochist.

A destroyer.

Martin acted out his role so perfectly, giving details of the assault, as if there had been no inciting factors. He implied Sebastian had assaulted him for no reason at all. Martin played himself out to be nothing more than an unsuspecting victim in Sebastian’s premeditated fit of rage.

It was just as Sebastian had warned. Martin had the edge. The law on his side. They presented the assault charges against Sebastian as the ugliest kind of blemish—almost as bad as the time he had served in prison four years ago.

My fingers twisted tighter, and I tried to decipher the judge’s expression as she listened to Martin’s testimony. I knew she could easily look at Sebastian in a negative light—view the rest of the guys in that same light—making judgments on appearances and assumptions.

It made me sad few would blame her.

But she didn’t know Sebastian like I did. She didn’t see beneath all the hard lines and scars to what burned bright below.

I guessed her to be in her late fifties, and she wore her hair in a smart gray bob. Thin and tall. Yet everything about her felt powerful and strong.

Stoic.

Giving nothing away.

God, I was just thankful she wasn’t the judge who’d issued the emergency injunction in the first place.

From behind, I could almost feel Baz’s apology pouring from him. Could almost hear the words of self-flagellation churning in his head. He was probably pleading for me to forgive him. Asking me to heed the many warnings he’d given me that he would never be enough, that he would always drag me down and leave me in shreds.

But, I wouldn't listen to those words. Especially when he'd been the only thing that had held me together over the last two days.

Two days I’d been without my daughter.

Two days of torment.

Two days of agony.

Two days of not knowing where she was. If she was scared or if she was safe. If she understood I was fighting for her or if she simply wondered if she had been abandoned.

Two days of Sebastian holding me through it all.

Promising he would
fix
this.

Somehow I knew his thoughts now. The energy traveling between us was alive, and those devoted places in him flared with doubt, the man thinking he would have been doing me a favor had he just walked away.

But in those days, while he’d kept me sane, he’d also filled me with faith. And I felt it now—sure in my heart Kallie would find her way home today.

Certain Sebastian was exactly where he was supposed to be.

Because somehow I knew he needed me just as desperately as I needed him. That the hollow place he had revealed in me had been created with the sole purpose of him filling it.

And I knew…

I knew there was a matching one inside of him.

When Martin’s attorney finished, Nigel, our attorney, declined asking Martin Jennings any questions of his own. He had told me earlier our job wouldn’t be to prove Martin an unfit father. That would come later if he sought some sort of future custody.

Instead, our job was to disprove the pictures, citing them as the lies they were, and bringing Kallie home.

As his first witness, Nigel called Lyrik. Lyrik strode to the stand, wearing a tailored dark suit, the tattoos on his hands and neck standing out in stark contrast against the obviously expensive clothing, everything about him menacing yet confident.

Nerves curled through my stomach.

Nigel did nothing more than ask him what happened that day, where I had been, where Sebastian had been, gathering his first-hand account.

“We were getting ready to grill some steaks. We’d been out playing on the beach all day, and Shea and Sebastian had just come back from a walk.”

He lifted a dark, dark brow. “Kallie had been with us during that time, playing in the sand, burying Zee…”

He gestured with his chin toward Zee who I knew sat behind me with the rest of the guys.

With Charlie, Tamar, and April.

Those who’d come together to support us.

To bring Kallie home.

“When Sebastian and Shea got back from taking that walk,” Lyrik continued, “Sebastian and his little brother, Austin, started tossing the ball around on the beach. Kallie was all excited, jumping around and begging her mom to take her out to play in the water.”

His tone grew serious. “I remember hearing them both laughing out there, playing in the waves, and then all of a sudden, Shea was screaming she’d lost hold of her. Kallie wasn’t ever out there in the water by herself. Never. None of us would have allowed that.”

“What happened then?” Nigel asked.

“Sebastian went running to the water. Dove in.” He swallowed hard. “It felt like forever, but I doubt more than thirty seconds or so could have passed when he got hold of her. Pulled her out of the water and onto the beach. By then, I was already dialing 911.”