Page 39

She let out a shaky breath. “My family got to my attorney and she bailed.” She nodded when my eyes flashed shock.

“He’s made a deal with my family that they’ll basically get the kids to raise as they want if he gets the official custody.

He’ll get money from me and them to go be happy with his mistress.

Apparently, he hasn’t been raising them at all and they’re behind all of this—involved in their lives and I didn’t know. ”

I pulled out my phone and texted Gerald that I needed his help in my office as soon as he could.

Not an emergency but issues with a new hire.

“That’s a lot. So you wanted a stable job where you would be home to take care of your kids and flexible so you can show the court you can handle their needs. ”

She nodded. “I just found out about my attorney bailing and how bad that looks—everything with my family when Dr. Carpenter called. I thought he wanted another job done and I told him that I had to get out of the game. He’d heard I was getting a divorce and thought this would be perfect.

He didn’t know all the details, but honestly the timing saved my sanity. ”

I could only imagine… And was curious why Alan had needed a PI before.

Probably bullshit with the board or—I could only imagine, but it wasn’t my business.

Gerald showed up a few minutes later and he was pissed when he heard Ms. Dillon’s story. “Okay, I’m not a family attorney, but I know who to call. It will be costly, but it’s your best chance and a big gun while I’m looming in the background with the power of ASH as your threat.”

“Tell Beth to put into her contract that we’ll cover the attorney’s fees in advance and Ms. Dillon can pay us back without interest from her pay,” I told him, nodding when they both seemed shocked.

“It’s not the first time we’ve helped in this sort of situation.

A few needing funds to get away from their abusive mates to start over. ”

“Yes, that makes sense when the hospital’s staff is overwhelmingly women,” he accepted.

True, but one was a warlock who had his vampire mate abusing him horribly. Practically draining him anytime she got jealous.

Monsters were in all sexes and species. That was for damn sure.

Gerald promised he would get everything started and get filings going on her behalf that informed the court of her new position starting today… And trying to get a new judge. Apparently, Ms. Dillon had already gotten enough information about the judge being a sexist dickhead to make that happen.

I asked to see that because a judge like that shouldn’t be handling family law filings. I didn’t agree that the mother was always the winner by default and got the best deal. It should always be fair , and whoever was best for the children was the one to win.

Was that really too much to ask for and expect?

Apparently.

Once HR informed me that her paperwork went through and she had a hospital email address, I sent out an email introducing her to all of the department heads.

I ended up adding Beth and Gerald since they were heads of their departments and would be putting in a lot of hours too.

I didn’t mind if they added to the easy things, but… Yeah, they could have the perk.

A bit at least.

Ms. Dillon was definitely going to be worth her salary because she already had information on Dr. Tate by the end of the day. I couldn’t hide my shock at what she handed me, slowly blinking at her.

She chuckled. “Clearly, you have good instincts to trust. You definitely dodged a bullet there.”

“More like a damn nuke,” I mumbled and kept flipping through it. “Wow, she—the balls on this woman are unreal. To try and push in here for—wow.”

“Yeah, some people are seriously nuts,” she agreed. She cleared her throat. “Thank you for the salary. It’s higher than I expected.”

I wiggled the file at her. “You’re worth it for the extras you’ll help with. We’ve been trying to get information for days and got nothing.”

“It is what I know best,” she muttered. Sadness filled her aura and my heart went out to her. She’d loved her work and now had to give it up.

Life was horrible like that sometimes. But on the bright side, the hospital had one of the best day cares in the country and now she had access to that for her kids.

Gerald admitted that he hadn’t known that, but the attorney he’d called in for help had been adamant that he include that fact in his filing.

Also, to file an emergency order for Ms. Dillon to take possession of her kids full time given her mate was in contact with her family who had tried to sell her.

Illegally at the time even by vampire standards.

That with the proof she was disowned for running from the sale it should have been a slam dunk.

It should have been.

The judge ruled that her mate would keep physical custody of the children while the proceedings were going on but he was to cut communication with his in-laws. That was it. Nothing about the proof he’d allowed them around them when the mother had forbidden it—nothing.

Gerald and the attorney were beyond pissed because they’d also asked to block the mistress from her damn kids.

But the judge denied it, saying they needed a mother figure now and clearly Ms. Dillon had failed in that area. She was beyond heartbroken to hear that but… Fucking judge.

It fired up both attorneys though because the next morning they had already filed an emergency appeal along with what was needed to remove the judge from the case because of biases. I mean the judge was so blatant that it was disgusting.

And I put in a call to the governor about the situation. He hadn’t appointed this judge, but clearly a review needed to be made on the man. In the message, I said I would send all of the proof, but it was a disgusting breach of our justice system and needed to be handled.

I also made it clear he should agree with me on that.

That was all I was able to get involved with because I had my own mess dropped on me… And her name was Mandy Tate.

Big mistake, Mandy. Huge.