Behaving Badly in Vegas (Vegas Love #3)

44. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Hunter

What the actual fuck?

I stared at the woman and tried to place her but came up totally blank. I’d been searching for this woman for months, to no avail, and here she was at my fucking door. “You got proof of that?” I barked.

She tilted her head to the side. “Sapphire Club. You were drunk off your ass and took me to a private room, mumbling something about how unfair life was and getting shafted again. You were pissed at the world. For ten thousand dollars, I took away your troubles for the night.”

All that sounded familiar. Too familiar. “You got a name?”

“You didn’t really care about names that night.” She laughed.

There wasn’t a damn thing funny about this situation. “You got a fucking name or not?”

She reached out and ran her finger down my chest. “What do you want it to be?”

I grabbed her hand and pushed it away. “Stop fucking around! ”

“Officially, I’m Jennifer Johnson, although I haven’t used that name in years.”

“You told me your name was Ginny. You lied to me.” I’d almost forgotten Charli was still standing there. The shock on her face mirrored mine. One minute we were about to have sex, the next we were confronted by a woman claiming to be Carina’s mother. What a clusterfuck!

The woman waved away Charli’s accusation. “Honey, in my business, you change your name all the time. One day, I’m Ginny; the next, I’m Darla. It’s all part of the job.”

“Give me your driver’s license,” I demanded. She dug through her purse, pulled out a tattered card from her wallet, and thrust it at me. I inspected it, turning it over and checking the back. The Michigan license indeed said Jennifer Ann Johnson . “It’s expired.”

“What are you, the police? You gonna arrest me for an expired driver’s license?” she asked as she ripped it from my hand.

“You tricked me,” Charli blurted. “You knew who I was the whole time, and you never said a word.”

“I don’t owe you anything. I wanted to see my daughter. Where is the little munchkin anyway?”

Jennifer, Ginny, Darla—whoever she was today—tried pushing her way into my apartment. With a hand to her chest, I pushed her back into the hallway. “You’re not seeing Carina.”

The woman stomped her foot. “She’s my daughter!”

“You should have thought about that when you abandoned her.”

“You can’t keep her from me!”

“The fuck I can’t!” I slammed the door in Jennifer Johnson’s face.

This was exactly the scenario I’d been worried about. It’s why I hired Rudy Mendosa to find her before she showed up claiming parental rights. Mr. Mendosa was getting a call in the morning. If he thought I was an asshole before, he hadn’t seen anything yet.

“I swear I didn’t know,” Charli said, wringing her hands together. “She had this little Pomeranian that Carina loved. She kept showing up when I was at the park. I knew something was off, but I never thought… I’m so sorry. ”

I grabbed Charli’s face between my hands. “It’s okay. There’s no way you could have known.”

“She said her name was Ginny. What if she had tried to kidnap Carina?”

“You would have never let that happen.” I wasn’t sure who was freaked out more, Charli or me.

“She’s going to come back. What do we do?”

There was no doubt Charli was right. This wasn’t the last time we’d see Jennifer Johnson.

The next morning, the conference room at Mystique was full, not with employees, but with everyone who’d fallen in love with my daughter. Even Sam Steinburg, our attorney, was here and I’d tested his patience plenty.

Charli bounced Carina on her lap while I addressed the room. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I called this meeting. Some of you I’ve known my whole life, others much shorter, and I can guarantee I’ve done something to piss each and every one of you off.”

There were grumblings of agreement around the room. Finally, Brett spoke up. “Why am I missing a meeting with investors right now?”

“I need your help. I need everyone’s help. I’m asking for Carina.” I finally had everyone’s attention. “Her birth giver showed up at my apartment last night.”

“What?” Gia exclaimed. “She’s been gone for months.”

“It was a shock for us too,” I assured her. “Apparently, she’s been keeping tabs on Carina. She befriended Charli at the park.”

“I didn’t know who she was,” Charli defended when all eyes landed on her .

“I know I can be an overprotective big brother, but I don’t want Charli alone at the apartment to deal with this woman. We don’t know what she’s capable of,” Tom said.

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“She can come stay at the house with me during the day,” Rose volunteered. “We have a top-notch security system.”

“Or our place,” Penny offered. “The building is totally secure, and nobody can get up to the penthouse without a key card.”

It was amazing seeing my family and friends rally around us, if not for me, then for my daughter. “I appreciate that, but it’s only a temporary solution.”

My father looked at Sam. “What are our options?”

Sam tapped his fingers together. “I was afraid this might happen. Right now, you have physical custody per the court, but she still has joint legal custody. Since it hasn’t been six months since the abandonment, she still has rights.”

Fuck! “So, what do we do?”

“She could claim postpartum depression, financial troubles, or a change of heart. The chances of the court granting her physical custody are minimal, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t grant her visitation. They’re going to do whatever is best for Carina and most of the time, they side with the biological mother.”

This was a fucking nightmare. “How is visitation best for Carina? The woman dropped her off without a second thought.”

“Obviously, she did have second thoughts,” Trent piped in.

Even though he had a point, I scowled at him. “What can I do?”

“There are two routes,” Sam said. “Route one is you go through the court system. It’s risky. The court could grant the mother visitation. In that case, she’d be allowed to take Carina on a predetermined schedule. You wouldn’t have any say in how that visitation time was spent. If she’s desperate enough, she could take Carina and run.”

I folded my arms across my chest. The thought of Jennifer Johnson disappearing with my daughter was enough to make my blood boil. “That’s not an option. What’s route two? ”

“The fact that she didn’t go through the court system works to your advantage. Route two is that you handle it on your own. Get to know this woman. Allow her supervised visitation with Carina in your home, where you can monitor the situation. Get as much information about her as you can, starting with a maternity test. You need to be sure she is who she says she is.”

The last thing I wanted was this woman in my home, but my options were limited. “And then what?”

“You either find evidence that she’s an unfit parent and get the court to terminate her rights or maybe you find out she’s a decent woman who deserves a second chance.”

“If she were decent, she would have come to me to begin with. I wouldn’t have had to wait until Carina was six months old to find out I had a child.”

“Be that as it may, you have to think about Carina.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “What do you think I’ve been doing? She’s the only one I’m thinking about.”

“Are you? If Carina has the chance to know both her parents, shouldn’t you give that to her?” Sam asked.

My father put his hand on my shoulder. “He’s right, son.”

I didn’t like it.

At all.

I thought about how my life might have been different if my mother had come back for me.

Maybe I wouldn’t have felt like the black sheep.

Maybe I would have felt good enough.

Maybe I would have felt loved.

If I wanted to save Carina from the fate I endured, I didn’t have a choice.

Jennifer Johnson was going to get a chance to prove herself.