Chapter 7

LEANDRO WAS NOT USED to having his mind wander. His focus was famously laser-like, and there was more than enough happening at Acto to keep him busy. In fact, he thought with a hint of something like guilt, he should have been burning the candle at both ends here, rather than curtailing his schedule to fit around Skye's.

But her work hours were erratic, and now that he knew she had a daughter, he was conscious of not eating into her time too much.

Which was completely unlike him.

This whole thing was.

It was easy to put that down to the discombobulating discovery that he was adopted. At twenty seven, for the first time in his life, he was adrift. He'd wanted Skye the moment he'd seen her—something he'd attributed to the alcohol he'd consumed that afternoon and night. But he'd sobered up after Emme, and he'd still thought propositioning Skye was a great idea.

Because she distracted him. She made him feel present and in the moment, pushing thoughts of his family, his parents' betrayal and all the unknowns out of his mind. She liberated him from the darkness of his thoughts when they were together so naturally, he sought to be with her as much as he could.

She was a coping mechanism, nothing more.

And he made her feel good, too. He wanted to punch something to think of the life she'd lived with her ex. The bastard didn't deserve Skye—thank God she'd had the courage to leave him. It couldn't have been easy, but then again, Skye was strong. She was brave.

…and he was thinking about her again.

He ground his teeth together, tried to bring his focus back to the report he'd been reading, but in the back of his mind, a countdown clock was running, ticking away the minutes until she'd be back in his bed.

"Who the hell is he?"

All the colour drained from Skye's face as she stared at Jay. Harper was on her hip, because they'd been walking back from the park and her little legs had grown tired a few blocks from home.

Fear was a normal response when she saw Jay, but ordinarily, she knew when he was coming and arranged to have her parents home. She avoided being alone with him as much as possible.

He wasn't violent, but he still scared her. She'd been conditioned to fear him, and it was a difficult training to erase.

"Who?" She asked breathlessly.

"The blonde in the Range Rover," he demanded. "Bringing you home in the middle of the night, three nights in a row now. What the actual hell, Skye?"

"Jay," she lifted a hand placatingly even when shock, terror and confusion burst through her. Harper burrowed her face into Skye's shoulder. Jay didn't even seem to realise she was there. "Calm down, this isn't a big deal."

"You're screwing around, leaving our daughter home while you're off spreading your legs?"

"Jay," she hissed, a warning in her voice. "Cut it out."

"Don't you dare tell me what to do," he responded, ice in his voice. Fear flared in her heart.

But she had to be strong, for Harper's sake. "We can't have this conversation while you're in this mood. Call me when you've calmed down."

She began to walk past him, her knees shaking, but he grabbed her arm, his fingers digging into her flesh. He wasn't violent, he wasn't violent, she kept telling herself, but her teeth were chattering. Because she wasn't an idiot. She knew that violence didn't come out of nowhere. Abusive behaviours escalated and it was entirely plausible that he'd progress from being emotionally controlling to physically violent. She could see that his temper was holding on by a thread.

Fear was knotting her stomach.

"Jay," she whispered. "Think of our daughter."

"I am thinking of our daughter. I'm thinking of the fact I don't want her being raised by a slut."

Tears filled Skye's eyes. "That's not fair."

"You're the one who's out screwing around. I thought I could trust you."

"You can trust me," she whispered. "I'm not involved with anyone."

"Don't fucking lie to me," Jay ground out.

Skye winced. Harper cuddled in closer. "Mama," she whispered. "It's okay, mama."

"Damn you, Jay," she said quietly. "You're scaring her."

"That's on you. This is all on you." He got right up in her face, spittle in the corners of his mouth. "I told you what would happen if you stepped out, Skye. You have only yourself to blame when you lose her."

"Jay, no," she shook her head quickly. "No."

"Shut up," he muttered. "I don't want to hear it. You're such a cheap whore. You deserve everything you get." And he turned and left.

Skye was shaking from head to toe, but she did her best to hide it from Harper, encouraging the little girl to talk the whole way home, while Skye was numb all over from the awful encounter.

She felt disgusted on so many levels.

How did he know what time she'd been arriving home and with whom? Had he been watching her house? All night, every night? Surely not. Her schedule was too unpredictable for that, and he had a life.

So how had he known then? She looked around the street, at all the houses that surrounded their own. She knew their neighbours. She'd grown up here, and the houses changed hands so rarely that she could recite almost everyone's name and phone number. No way a neighbour was keeping tabs on her for Jay. So how?

And what was she going to do?

She hugged Harper closer, her dear little body so warm and comforting. Inside the house, she closed the door and double locked it, then fixed Harper some lunch and put on a cartoon before making herself a sugary tea.

She knew one thing for sure: she couldn't see Leandro again.

She was pretty sure she could calm Jay down, but if he found out about Leandro, she had no doubt he'd be true to his word and take Harper away. She couldn't risk that.

With shaking fingers, she retrieved his business card from her bedside table and dialed his number. She wasn't prepared for the sound of his voice when he answered though, and waves of familiarity, affection and awareness washed over her.

"Leandro, it's Skye," she said.

There was silence for a moment and then, "What's the matter?"

Damn it. She squeezed her eyes shut but the tears still leaked from the corners. "Nothing," she lied. "I just—I can't see you again."

Silence. Staticky, reactive silence.

"You know I have a lot of fun with you, but it's become too complicated. I can't do it. I'm sorry."

"Skye—,"

But she couldn't bear the thought of him trying to talk her out of this. She shook her head. "Goodbye, Leandro." She hung up the phone and sobbed silently, miserable to discover that she was still very much under the control of her ex after all.

"Leandro!"She stared at him, standing outside her home, his expression unreadable. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't appreciate being hung up on," he said, reminding her again of his natural, easy authority. But then he softened. "I was worried about you."

It was a tipping point, like someone asking if you were okay when you fell down. She would have been fine if he hadn't said he was worried, but concern was her undoing. She dipped her head to hide the crumpling of her features.

He wouldn't let her hide, though. He pressed a finger to her chin, tilting her face towards his. "Skye, what's happened?"

She shook her head. "This isn't what we are," she groaned. "You don't have to be here, saying this, acting like you care."

"If you are being bullied, I do care."

"Why?" She asked, eyes wide.

"Because you deserve better."

She swallowed past a lump in her throat and then blurted out everything that had happened with Jay. "I'm so scared, Leandro," she whispered. "I don't know what to do. I can't fight him for custody and win. If he takes her away from me, I won't cope. But he'll do it. He'll do it to punish me. Oh, God. I should never have gotten involved with you," she groaned, even as she dropped her head forward and pressed it to his chest.

He wrapped his arms around her, stroking her back. "That's not the answer," he said, simply. "This bastard doesn't get to dictate how you live your life."

"But he does. If it weren't for Harper, I'd be free of him, but I'll never be free. He's in my life, it's just how it has to be."

"No," Leandro said, and with such confidence that Skye almost believed him. Except…

"You don't know what he's like," she said. "He won't give up."

"You don't know what I'm like, so I will tell you, Skye. I do not like bullies. I do not like men who think they can treat women like garbage. And right now, unfortunately for your ex, I happen to be in the mood for a fight."

She stared at him, not understanding.

"How long will it take you to pack a bag?"

"Pack a bag?" She was back in parrot mode.

"You're coming to stay with me."

Her jaw dropped. "No way. I can't."

"Harper too."

"No," she shook her head. "That will only make things so much worse."

His nostrils flared. "Skye, do you trust me?"

She blinked up at him, the question strange, and the answer stranger. Because she did trust him. Though they'd only known each other a few days, in a thousand little ways, he'd shown her that he was worthy of trust, he'd shown her that he was decent and good.

"I don't understand. Why?"

"Because I can," he said after a moment. "Let me help you, Skye."

Leandro in actionmode was a hurricane of activity. He made calls while Skye packed a suitcase for herself and Harper and when they emerged twenty minutes later, Alec was standing grimly on the footpath holding two white devices.

"You were right," Alec confirmed to Leandro.

"About what?" Skye asked, clutching Harper's little hand in her own.

"Do these belong to your parents?"

She frowned. "I've never seen those before in my life. What are they?"

"Surveillance cameras. He's been watching you."

Skye stared at Leandro and then, out of nowhere, nausea assaulted her. She turned quickly and vomited into one of her mother's favourite potted plants. The thought of Jay setting up cameras so he could watch her made Skye feel sick, but it was so much worse because what if this wasn't the extent of it? What if there were more cameras? What if they were in her bedroom? Leandro's hand patted her back, his perfectly tailored shoes just visible.

"How could he do that?" She whispered, when she'd recovered.

"It's very easy," Alec said with sympathy. "He would just have needed to hook into the Wi-Fi signal and then he could monitor the cameras from anywhere."

"I can't believe it," she groaned.

"Would he have the Wi-Fi details, cara?" Leandro asked solicitously.

She thought about that and then remembered a day over a year ago when he'd been collecting Harper and had said he needed to download a big file. He'd asked for them then. "Yes," she whispered. "But Leandro…he's had them for over a year."

"Then he has probably been watching you for as long."

"Oh my God," she groaned. "I can't believe this."

"Can't you?" Leandro prompted, running a hand over her hair. She shivered. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

By the timethey arrived at Leandro's spacious penthouse, two men in suits were waiting in the lounge room.

"Bradley and Michael," Leandro introduced. "Family lawyers. We're going to have a chat to them about your situation," he said. "And this," he gestured to a woman that Skye hadn't seen at first. "Is Jane. She's a very qualified nanny, highly recommended by a friend of mine. She's going to play with Harper while we have this meeting."

Skye's eyes went wide. Now she knew what he'd been doing on the phone. But how could he have organized all this so quickly? Her head was spinning.

She looked down at Harper, who was a little tremulous after the day she'd had. Skye picked her up and hugged her tight, carrying her towards the nanny—a pretty woman in perhaps her thirties with red hair and matching lipstick.

"Hello, honey," Jane's smile encompassed both Skye and Harper. "How are you?"

"Actually, she's a little fragile. I'm not sure she'll want to leave me."

"I understand." Jane crouched down. "Harper, I've been trying to build a tower in the other room, but I can't make the blocks fit together. Do you think you could come help me?"

Harper looked up at Skye, who smiled encouragingly and squeezed her hand. After a moment, Harper nodded. "Okay then."

"Great," Jane said, putting her hand down to take Harper's. She said to Skye, "I'll take good care of her, I promise."

"Thank you," Skye whispered, her heart hurting. She watched Jane and Harper wander off together and was pleased to hear Harper talking by the time they turned into one of the guest rooms.

She turned her attention then to the meeting with the lawyers, and she was glad beyond measure for Leandro's presence at her side. Just having him there was reassuring, but it was more than that.

He asked questions she wouldn't have thought to ask, he seemed to know things about the law that she hadn't expected, like ways to expedite things and whether the emotional abuse she'd endured would have any sway on custody.

By the end of it, they were in agreement that their first approach would be to come in all guns blazing and try to scare Jay into giving up any custodial claim on Harper. It wasn't something Skye had ever contemplated, but having seen the way his anger today morphed into something physical, the thought of sending Harper to him scared her senseless. He needed professional help. Badly.

"Do you think it will work?" Skye asked no one in particular, as the lawyers packed up their documents and stood.

Leandro spoke softly, just to her. "Bullies like him think they can get away with it because no one stands up to them. We're going to stand up to him, Skye." And then, "Si, I think it will work."

She closed her eyes on a wave of intense hope and relief. When they were alone again, she kept a careful distance from Leandro, needing to say something, to get her thoughts in order.

"I'm so sorry about all of this," she whispered.

"Why should you be sorry?"

"This isn't what you signed up for."

His voice was measured. "I chose to get involved in your life."

"You chose to sleep with me. You didn't know what my life looked like," she pointed out a little sharply, her frustration all at Jay.

He brushed aside her concerns. "As I said, I'm spoiling for a fight. You've given me one."

"Why?" She asked, simply. "What's the fight you really want to have but can't?"

His eyes shuttered and she realized that for all she'd become an open book to him, she still didn't have any idea what he was trying to forget, what had put him in such a bad mood the night they'd met.

She shook her head, slowly, changing the subject. "How do you know so much about this?" She gestured towards the table.

"About…?"

"The legal stuff."

"I'm a lawyer."

Her brows shot up. "You are?"

"Well, not a practicing lawyer," he amended. "But I got my undergraduate degree in the UK."

"In law," she murmured, wondering why she should be surprised by that.

He nodded once, then narrowed his eyes, focusing on her with an intensity that made her stomach flop. "You have given me so much these last few days, Skye." His voice was graveled. "Let me give you this."

Her jaw dropped. "What have I given you?"

"Exactly what I needed." He crossed the room and cupped her cheek with his palm. "You've made it possible for me to forget. But also to remember—to remember who I am."

It didn't make sense to her, but it was clear that Leandro was being cryptic because he didn't want to talk about whatever was bothering him. And they'd agreed to that in the beginning. It shouldn't matter that she'd weakened and confided in him, but he hadn't trusted her enough to do the same. She shouldn't be focusing on that feeling of hurt rather than on the feeling of salvation—that he was helping her when he didn't have to.

But God, when she thought of what these lawyers must be costing…

"Leandro, I can't afford these guys," she said, face pale. "I can't even imagine what they bill."

"Relax, cara," he assured her. "My family has them on retainer."

"What does that even mean?"

"That they do work for us all the time."

"For you and your family," she wailed, hyperventilating. "But I can't let you pay for my legal defense."

"May I be frank?"

Her eyes widened.

"We both know you can't afford lawyers, Skye, and you need good ones. Lawyers who will scare him so much with the threat of pressing charges for stalking that he'll drop any thoughts of custody and get the hell out of your life once and for all. Michael and Bradley are two of the best in the country."

"So they're really, really expensive then," she closed her eyes on a shuddering breath.

"That's not something you have to worry about."

"I just don't get why you'd do all this."

"I've already told you: because I can. This is easy for me. I have money, and I want to help you. It's that simple."

And for Leandro,it was. But it was more than that, too. He knew that the explanation he'd given that was most accurate was that he was in the mood for a fight, and he relished the thought of boxing Jay out of Skye's life. He couldn't fight with his parents. Not until he'd cooled his thoughts a little and knew how he felt and what he wanted. If he picked that fight now, he'd undoubtedly say things he'd regret, so he wouldn't. But his anger had found a focal point, and it felt good to flex it.

Plus, he hated to think of Skye being under the thumb of some controlling freak. She was someone he'd just met, who he wouldn't even know in a week's time, but he could do this for her easily and he'd be proud of himself afterwards for making this difference in her life. It was just that simple.