Episode 99

Episode 99

One Thousand and One Chances

RHODES

"Who the fuck are you, and why are you in bed with my daughter?" I awoke to the sound of my ex-wife's shrill screech.

I bounded out of bed naked as the day I was born. "Fuck!" I hissed, searching my bedroom floor where I'd dropped my sweats. I tugged them on as fast as humanly possible and was out the door and down the hall.

"Mom?" my daughter croaked, her voice terrified. "What are you doing here?" I was just about at the door when Portia's body went flying backward and banged into the opposite wall. Like a Tasmanian devil, my little fiery fiancée had slammed into Portia with her own body. Before I could intervene, Maia was already swinging.

Maia punched Portia in the face, then reached around Portia's neck, and pulled her lithe body forward as she kneed her directly in the stomach. If I hadn't been in complete shock, I would have intervened sooner. Alas, Maia yanked Portia to the ground and was on top of her, straddling her and about to rain hellfire down on Portia's face.

My belated reflexes finally kicked in, and I bolted into the fray, looping my arm around Maia and physically lifting her up and off of Portia. She was scrappy as fuck though, kicking and punching, trying to get more shots at Portia.

I shifted Maia away and plastered her to the wall with my body. I cupped the side of her face as she wailed like a gladiator in the middle of a battle. Her eyes were wild, her snarl feral. She wanted to rip Portia into pieces.

"Maia! Stop!" I barked while looking straight into her terrified eyes. She was lost in the haze of what I suspected was a full-on panic attack, the same way she'd been that first night in Paris when we'd shared a bed. Portia apparently triggered her fight or flight response. But instead of running away, escaping and saving herself, she stayed and fought to protect Emily.

Maia's gaze went from me to Portia bleeding on the floor, rolling from side to side.

"Emily," she growled like a wounded animal, still pushing against my chest, a mama bear ready to protect her cub.

"Emily's fine, Maia. She's okay." I bodily turned us so she could see my daughter in Marisol's arms. She was crying, nuzzled against Marisol's chest as tears ran down her cheeks. Marisol, on the other hand, looked murderous, her gaze laser focused on Portia.

"What the fuck!" Portia cried, blood seeping from her torn lip and busted nose. She gingerly sat up then crab crawled backward until she was leaning against the wall. "How dare you attack me in my own home. Rhodes, do something!" she whined. "I need help, and she needs to be restrained. I'm pressing charges."

I ignored her blathering to focus on the precious woman now trembling in my arms, her eyes wild, still seeming scared and ready to strike out. "That's my ex-wife, Portia. We'll get to the bottom of this, but no one is going to hurt, Em. Not ever again. There's no threat here. See? Em's okay. You protected her, Maia," I cooed. "She's safe."

"Safe." Maia whispered, and suddenly, her rigid body relaxed, and her bottom lip quivered.

I kissed her forehead. "Emily, honey, come here." I gestured for Em, and she let Marisol go, avoided her mother entirely, and as I moved back, Maia reached out and enfolded her within her arms.

"I'm o-okay. Just…just got scared for a minute."

Maia nodded against Emily's neck but held on. "No one will ever hurt you again. Not as long as I'm alive," she promised Emily who cried harder and held on to my woman.

While they held one another, fury tore through my body. It took me a full minute to wake up and figure out what had happened.

"Hello? Bleeding over here? I was the one that was attacked," Portia complained, her blood staining my carpet a bright crimson.

"Mari, please get some wet cloths and the first aid kit," I instructed.

Marisol simply nodded and then mumbled something profane at Portia as she passed.

"Are you going to help me up, or what?" Portia extended a slender arm.

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down at her. "How did you get in?"

"I have a key," she rolled her eyes.

"How did you get past my guards?" I demanded, knowing I would be having an unpleasant conversation with each member of my protection unit.

"Frank was at the gate. If you remember, I hired him," she smirked. "One wave from me and he buzzed my car right through. Why all the questions? This is my home and that's my daughter. Though you wouldn't know it for how little she obviously cares about her mother's pain," she snarled, then winced when the gesture pulled at her split lip.

"I warned you that Emily had been through a traumatic experience. One I planned to discuss with you when we got settled. You never answered any of my numerous calls about the situation before. When I finally got a hold of you, we confirmed we'd have dinner in a couple weeks. Did we not?" I growled.

She shrugged and then groaned in pain. "I decided I wanted to find out what happened now. Then I come in to find my daughter in bed with a woman I've never met, that same woman sleeping soundly as though she had a right to be there."

"Portia, you have no idea what any of us have been through. You being here, reacting the way you did just pushed back Emily's healing once again."

"I'm her mother." she fired back.

"You haven't been her mother her entire life! Maia's been more of a mother to her in mere weeks than you have in all her thirteen years!" I bellowed, my anger taking over. "This is not your home! You shouldn't even have a key anymore. We've been divorced for years, Portia, and you pull this shit? Do you ever want to see Emily again?"

"She's my daughter!"

"Do you think a judge in their right mind is going to give you any custody when you broke into my house, frightened my daughter, and tried to press charges when you were attacked for breaking and entering? Maia was protecting her soon-to-be stepdaughter. What were you thinking? Coming here at the crack of dawn, using your ex-boytoy Frank to access my home on the sly? I knew I should have fired that fucker when I had the chance. At the time I only cared that I got rid of you. That's not a mistake I'll be making again."

"Rhodes, I'm sorry. I got excited you guys were coming back to LA. I told you, I was going to do better by you and Emily. Show you how I can be a good wife and mother. If you'd only give me the chance…"

I huffed and shook my head. "Portia, I gave you chance after chance. And I haven't thought about you romantically since the divorce. You and I are long over. And yeah, I'd hoped you'd get your head out of your ass and make more of an effort in your daughter's life, because she needs a female figure to look up to. Then I realized, I don't want Emily to be anything like you. And now she has women in her life who mean something to her. They treat her with respect. Give her their time, attention, and love."

" Alana ." She hissed the woman's name as if the five letters were poison on her tongue.

"Yeah, Alana. A woman who has chosen to be in Emily's life since the day she took her first breath. Someone who has always been there. Not missed important days like her fucking birthday or her first play at school. Was her mother anywhere around? Nah, she was too busy having her picture taken in a bikini while she fucked the photographer and planned to marry him. What is it, the fourth or fifth proposal since we were divorced?"

"Sixth, Daddy," Emily added, still in Maia's arms.

"Six. Fuck me. You need to leave. I'm calling my lawyer. This last stunt you pulled is it. You're done. If you want to see Emily from here on out, you're going to need to request that through the lawyers. I'm taking you back to court."

"Rhodes, no! Please, don't do that. I can be better. I can. Let me try…"

I shook my head. "I've heard this crap before, Portia. You never follow through, and right now, Emily needs the people in her life who are devoted to her. Willing to do what it takes to help her through recent events. That means visits to a therapist. Being present in her life. Talking to her daily, not once a week in between shoots for a couple minutes. That's not what a mother is."

"I can be that." Her pleading blue-eyed gaze went from me to Emily. "Baby girl, I can. I can be there for you. I swear this time. I'll stay in California. I won't miss my scheduled visits anymore. I'll change. For you, I can change," she begged, and it did sound genuine, but I couldn't risk my daughter's wellbeing on a maybe.

I ground my teeth. Emily shouldn't even be here for this conversation, especially after what she'd been through.

Marisol came back with the items needed to patch up Portia. Instead of helping her, she set the things on the ground next to her. Marisol despised Portia.

" Ven conmigo peque?a ," Come with me, little one , Marisol gestured for Em to follow.

Maia kissed the top of Emily's forehead and let her go to Marisol. She spoke a bunch of Spanish as she led my daughter down the hall.

"Can we have huevos rancheros today?" Emily asked, obviously uninterested in spending any time with her mother.

"Anything for mi chica ," Marisol smiled, her arm around Em as they went downstairs toward the kitchen.

"Maia, why don't you go take a shower and get cleaned up and join Emily and Marisol while I talk to Portia?"

Maia nodded, lifted her chin and proceeded to walk past Portia as though she wasn't even there. Suddenly, she stopped and turned around.

"You know, you should be ashamed of yourself. You're lucky I didn't do more damage. Sneaking into your ex-husbands house. Slamming doors open. Not only is it criminal, it's terrifying to a child who's experienced the worst week of her life. Being kidnapped at gunpoint isn't a fucking joke. But you know what is a joke? You." Maia sneered and then turned on a heel and left, disappearing into our bedroom.

"Kidnapped?" Portia croaked. "Emily was kidnapped?"

"Yeah, Portia. You would've known all about it if you'd answered any of my dozens of calls, texts and voicemail messages this past week."

"I was on a job! We shot in several locations."

"A job that prevented you from having access to your phone?" I snorted. "You're pathetic. Emily is a toy to you. One you only want when someone else is playing with it."

"That's not true. If I'd had known, I would have—"

"You would have what? Left the job? Held her hand through each interview? Laid in bed with her when she screamed in the middle of the night, afraid she was still living that nightmare? People died right in front of her. She was interviewed and had to give her statement, re-living everything that happened. And you know who was by her side? Maia. Emily clung to my fiancée as though she was a life raft. Her savior. Why? Because she was there. She calmed her down when the nightmares were too much, which is why I suspect she was in Emily's room. We've had to sleep with her the last couple nights because the fear was too much for her. Not that you'd care."

"And why was she kidnapped in the first place? Something having to do with your business or your money? The fact that you're a billionaire and try to pretend like you're just an everyday Joe. I warned you to get security when you were out and about, but no, I was being ostentatious and overbearing."

"Fuck you, Portia. Fuck you and your weak excuses for not being in our daughter's life. I've told you what's going to happen. Now get the fuck out of my house. You can use the bathroom to clean yourself up but that's the end of it. You, me, and Emily are done. You're more damaging to her life when you attempt to be in it for five whole minutes. We'll be fine without you. Actually, we'll thrive without you."

"Don't say that. Rhodes. Please. Don't take my daughter away from me." She stood up, one arm curving around her belly where Maia had kneed her good. "Look, I know I've been a shit mom. I know it. But I truly do want to change. To be a better mom. I came here today to surprise Em. I even have gifts for her from Prague."

I started to shake my head.

"No, no, please. I swear I had Emily's best interest at heart when coming here. I also have a mother and daughter spa day booked for this weekend. My weekend. You said I need to be in her life. This was my first step."

"You can't just break in and offer Emily gifts and a spa day to get on her good side. She's not five anymore, Portia. She's going to be fourteen soon. You think your crap has gone unnoticed by her? You know, when I introduced Maia as my fiancé, Emily was excited about the idea that she'd finally have a woman in her life every day."

"Not like she hasn't had Marisol," Portia griped under her breath.

"Marisol is like a grandmother. Fucking hell." I laced my hands behind my neck and breathed through the anger bubbling in my gut. "You see, it's this type of thing that proves you are not capable of being unselfish. You should be so happy Emily's had Marisol because she didn't have her mom! At least she had a mature feminine example but again, the thing you don't seem to get is she didn't want another woman. Emily wanted you! Her mother. And Marisol has been great, but she has a job to do. She isn't spending all her time bonding with Emily. She's running the house, doing the cooking, cleaning, laundry, the bills, taking and picking up Emily from school. But when the day is done, or the weekend comes along, she's spending time with her family. You'd know all of that if you talked to your own child for more than a minute at a time."

Portia's shoulders fell and she leaned against the wall, completely deflated. "I know. I'm a bad mother. But I really do want a second chance."

"Second… More like a thousand chances."

"Okay, fine, you've given me a thousand chances. I'm asking for one more. Please. I'll do whatever it takes."

That's when I remembered I needed to take Maia to Colorado this weekend for her grandmother's funeral. I had no idea what we were going to encounter with her stepfather and stepbrother but I knew it wasn't a situation I could bring Emily into. I'd planned on leaving her with Marisol and a dozen guards, but this might be a two birds one stone situation. With Marisol here, along with Portia, Emily could get the one-on-one time with her mother under Marisol's supervision. I'd pay her double to stay the weekend. After what happened today and last week, I didn't think Marisol was planning to be too far away from Emily anyway.

I clenched my teeth so hard my molars ached. "Fine. Against my better judgment, I'm going to give you your thousand and one chance. On Friday, Maia and I have to go to Colorado. Her grandmother passed away. After what Emily's been through, I'd rather not have her travel or attend a funeral."

"No problem. I'll take her for the weekend."

"You'll come and stay in the guest house, starting Friday until I come back. It may take a few days to settle things up with Maia's family. If you are the mother you say you want to be, you will cancel everything you have on your schedule and focus all of your time and attention on your daughter. Marisol will be here to supervise."

"I don't need someone to supervise me taking care of my own daughter." The sass oozed from her mouth.

"Well, seeing as you've never taken care of your child a day in her life, I view things differently. Emily trusts Marisol. She wants to trust you. Right now, she needs people that love her at her back. It's what she needs, not you . Do you understand?"

"Fine. But can I still take her to the spa day?"

"If you take her, you will also take Marisol and no less than four members of my new security team. Frank will not be included in that mix. As of today, your fuck buddy will be out of a job."

"Seriously, that's not necessary. It was years and years ago, Rhodes."

"What you don't understand is this: I don't give a fuck. He let an unauthorized person into my home. Our daughter had been kidnapped, Portia. Taken by gunpoint and held for hours before I was able to get to her. Emily's safety matters more than anything. Now, the next step for you is to clean yourself up. Go and apologize to Emily and Marisol for what you did. I'll see if Maia is interested in hearing your apology."

"But she's the one that attacked me! I'm bleeding, for crying out loud. And she better not have scarred me. My face is my moneymaker."

"No, the fact that you're my ex-wife and I'm a decent guy who pays you an exorbitant alimony is how you make your money. Let's not get it twisted."

"You're a real bastard, you know that?"

"Yeah, I'm also the bastard who decides whether you go or stay in your daughter's life. The bathroom is there, in case you've forgotten," I directed and then stormed toward my bedroom.

I heard the shower running and knew I needed to burn off some of this frustration before I went down and talked to Emily.

When I entered the bathroom, steam engulfed me. Maia was under the spray, hands braced on the wall, head down.

Sizzling need raced through my veins as I shucked off my pants and entered the shower stall taking in her strong body and luscious ass.

When Maia turned around to greet me, I grabbed her around the ribs and hoisted her up. Her legs automatically wound around my waist. I was already hard as I prodded at her entrance.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"This okay?" I grated through my teeth, the head of my cock resting between those pouty velvety lips.

She nodded succinctly, and I thrust all the way to the hilt, both of us crying out at the mind-blowing pleasure. I pressed her against the wall, fully imbedded, as I lifted my hand and wrapped it around her throat, my thumb holding her jaw. I felt wild and untamed, energy flowing through my veins as I stared straight into her soul.

"You protected our girl." My nostrils flared, my cock throbbing inside her.

"She's my family," she whispered, her eyes already dilated, her nails digging crescent shaped moons into my back while I could feel her pussy lock down around my cock.

"You would do anything for her." It was a revelation, not a statement. One so powerful I closed my eyes and breathed, sharing air between us.

"I'd die for her. I'd die for you." Each word was whispered against my lips as though we were both tasting her truth.

"Nothing's ever gonna come between us, Maia. It's you, me, and Em to the end," I growled, flicking my tongue against her plump bottom lip.

"To the end," she whispered.

I started to thrust, painfully slow, our gazes locked on one another, our mouths grazing as I made unhurried love to her. Putting everything I couldn't say into our lovemaking. And when she sailed over the edge of the cliff into bliss, I followed her. I'd follow her anywhere.