Nineteen

It has been two days since we visited Mr. Newton's office, and Charles and Lucas went to the police office with the evidence. My mother hasn't tried to contact me, and I'm not sure if I should be happy, or scared.

I expected her to reach out to me as soon as she was arrested, but my phone has been dead. I have tried to enjoy the bliss happiness I have experienced over the past couple days, but I have been so stressed and on edge about my mother, it's hard to focus on anything else.

While Ava and I are eating breakfast, my phone goes off across the counter. I all but dive to grab it and pick it up, not even looking at the name or number.

"Hello?"

"Ashton Bradford?" I recognize Mr. Newton's voice instantly.

"Yes, speaking."

"Great, just calling to give you a heads up. Your mother was arrested yesterday morning, apparently, she was caught trying to break down your office door, when your secretary refused to let her in."

What? Why hadn't she called me?

"She hasn't tried to call me, and neither has my secretary. I told her a few days ago I was taking a week off to deal with a few personal issues, but to call me if there was an issue," I grumble.

"Well, she called the police instead."

This is just great. It's like my mother is asking to be arrested.

"So, what happens now?" I ask.

"After she was arrested to destruction of property and disturbing the peace, and also trespassing after she was thrown off the property, but returned to try and break the glass at the front door, she was presented with the other evidence against her, that was brought to them earlier this week by two unknown figures."

Amazing! Everything is falling right into the palm of my hands.

"I'm actually also calling to say the police will be in contact with you, when they discover exactly who she is and whose office she was trying to break into, and they will probably ask if you want to press charges–"

"We both know the answer to that," I cut him off, trying to keep the grin out of my voice.

Mr. Newton chuckles lightly. "Very well, I will be expecting a call. Talk to you soon, have a good day, Mr. Bradford."

Ava enters the room just as I end the phone call, giving me a curious look when she sees the wide grin on my face.

I quickly explain the call and new evidence against my mother.

"Everything is falling into place, I'm getting more confident by the day that we're going to win this, and finally be free of my mother's oppression," I say and cup her face, giving her a loving kiss on the lips.

I feel her smile against my mouth, her hands coming up to cover mine and give them a light squeeze.

"That's wonderful, I can't wait to see the look on her face when this is all over." She pulls away and gives me a small smile. "I came to tell you I'm leaving for a few hours, I just want to check up on my shop and make sure nothing has gone bad while I've been away."

"I can go with you, I don't have anything at the office, since it's closed temporarily due to the damage," I offer, but she shakes her head.

"I asked Richard to drive me, it's alright. Why don't you take the time to spend some alone time with Emily? Now that the big secret is revealed, there's no need to hold back with her," she says, and gives me a knowing smile.

She has known all along that I've been holding back, keeping my distance with Emily, because I didn't want to come on too strong, and frighten them both, or confuse Emily in a bad way.

Now, there is nothing standing in my way.

It wasn't a bad idea to spend the afternoon alone with Emily, getting to know her one-on-one. It's something I have been looking forward too since the day I met her.

I give Ava one more kiss good-bye and make sure she is in the car, before I go to find Emily, already having an abundance of activities going through my head.

***

Ava is gone for most of the afternoon into the evening, with her shop being in Manhattan, the drive to and from is a bit long in afternoon New York traffic. Which is the same as the morning and evening traffic.

By the time I hear the front door open, Emily and I have already picked out a room for her permanently, painted it pink and went out to buy posters for the wall and light salmon colored drapes. I'm getting off the phone with the furnishing company, who are going to deliver her new bed tomorrow.

Emily runs down the stairs before I get the chance to, and rushes up to Ava with a grin on her face, and paint smudges on her cheeks.

"Mommy, we did a project!" she cries in her adorable gibberish. Ava looks up at me coming down the stairs, with a confused and concerned look on her face.

"What did you do?" she asks slowly. Emily grabs her hand and tries to haul her up the stairs without answering. I step off to the side to let them pass, chuckling to myself at her excitement as I follow behind them.

Emily pushes open the door to her new room and Ava gasps, her eyes going wide as she takes in the still messy room.

"Oh, my god. You guys did this today?" she asks.

"I figured today was the perfect day to do it, we had the time, and it was a great way to spend time together. Emily loved picking out all the posters and pictures, and she even helped the sales woman at the paint store, to pick out this color," I say and beam down at her proudly.

Ava turns to her and gives her a similar look. "Good job, sweetheart, it looks great. You and Daddy did a good job. Did you have fun?" she asks, bending down to the small girl's level.

Emily lets out a delighted cry and nods her head, hugging her mother around the neck. She snuggles her face against her shoulder, and lets out a yawn.

"Looks like someone is tired from their big day," Ava whispers. She picks her up slowly and carries her over to the guest bedroom she has been staying in for the mean time, the whole point of creating this room.

While Ava is tucking Emily into bed, I find Richard to inform him that there is going to be a delivery tomorrow at some point, and tell him I want it put in Emily's bedroom, and that I've already arranged for them to be paid extra to set it up when it arrives.

He gives me a tight-lipped smile and scurries off, something he has never done before. At least, not in front of me.

I shake off the feeling when I hear Ava's approaching footsteps. She has changed out of her day clothes, and into a soft white night gown, the material almost see-through, not leaving much to the imagination.

She saunters towards me, a loving smile on her face, melting my heart. I grab her the moment she is within distance, and cover that sweet smile with a hungry kiss.

This woman does unimaginable things to me. I can never seem to get enough.

"Have you eaten anything today?" I ask, remembering she was gone for most of the day. She shakes her head, her eyes slightly glazed over.

It fuels the fire in the pit of my stomach, but I push the feeling to the side and lead her towards the kitchen. The kitchen staff have gone home for the night, so I search the fridge for something quick but appetizing to eat, and settle on a boxed pizza, bought for those quick fix dinner nights.

We eat in a comfortable silence on the couch, nothing but the light crack of the still lit fireplace to accompany us. Ava lays her head on my shoulder after putting down her last piece of crust. I found it odd that she never ate the crust, even though it's just dough, which is what the entire pizza is made of.

"So, how was the store?" I ask her.

"What?" she says and lifts her head, giving me a confused look.

"Your store, the one you went to check on today with Richard?"

She blinks and shakes her head lightly. "Right, sorry I was lost in thought for a moment, didn't hear what you said entirely. It's fine, no one has tried to break in or anything, and the foods all good, just cleared the counters and displays."

She smiles at me and lays her head back on my shoulder.

But there is something slowly eating at the back of my head, something she isn't telling me.

***

I'm awoken the next morning by someone ringing the doorbell. I assume it's the delivery men dropping off Emily's bed, but when I roll over and see that it's only 7 o'clock in the morning, well before the time they said they would be here, I start to doubt that.

I throw on a robe and run down the stairs. I spot the police cruisers out front before I reach the door, swinging it open to reveal two officers.

"Ashton Bradford?" one of them asks.

I nod. "Yes, that's me. What can I do for you?"

"We're here to serve you a court order, you are to make an appearance on the appointed date found on this paper," he says and hands me a folded-up piece of paper. "I'm sure you're already aware of what it's for, so we'll spare you the speech. Have a nice day."

I wave them good-bye and slam the door, unfolding the paper and scanning it quickly. I am to appear in court, with my legal attorney, or one provided by the court.

Because my mother is trying to charge me with aiding and abiding in embezzling crimes.

That snake is trying to take me down with her. ​​​​​​​