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“Whaaat?” Genevieve screams. She’s flailing in her seat.
Clay is on his feet. He looks like he wants to hop over the benches to get to me.
“Order! Order!”
The gavel pounds.
I turn to look at the man I adore, my emotions swirling in my chest.
His blue eyes slam into mine, scanning my face like he can read every one of my rushing thoughts.
“Your Honor,” I face the judge, “I can testify to two truths in this courtroom today. The first is that Clay Bolton should keep his children. The second is that I am explicably, uncontrollably, and hopelessly in love with him.”
CHAPTER20
WORLD ON FIRE
CLAY
My fingers diginto the bench in front of me. I half-rise, but the judge’s stern glare keeps me in my seat. If not for that silent warning, I would have already cleared these benches and swung Island into my arms.
“That was… dramatic,” Cody whispers, glancing at Island as she sashays out of court.
I barely hear him over the blood pounding in my ears.Hope is roaring through my body, making my heart beat again for the first time in weeks.
She loves me?
I struggle for breath.
This woman.
She put me through the damn ringer.
I thought I’d gotten used to the agony of losing someone. After Anya’s death, I figured love wouldn’t barrel over me again.
Wrong. So wrong.
Living without Island Hayes has been absolute hell.
I regretted it. Every day that I didn’t fight for her, every day that I wasn’t showing up at her door with flowers and a freaking orchestra, it haunted me.
Seeing her walk into court today, I couldn’t get angry.
I couldn’t even feel betrayed.
Even if she was here just to point out all the ways I’d wronged her, it felt too good to see her face.
But Cody didn’t share my enthusiasm. He’d been muttering under his breath, only shutting up when Island started talking about loving me.
Loving me.
The last thing I expected was her to declare her feelings in front of the judge.
My chest swells with gratitude, relief and so much love that I’m about to explode with it.
Island is almost to the door when something clatters.
“How dare you!” Genevieve is on her feet, a veiny hand crooked at Island’s retreating back. “We had a deal!”