That's called cheating, Maya. That's called creative strategy. Lily giggled at their bickering, and Marcus felt something warm bloom in his chest. This This was what family was supposed to feel like. Loud and messy and full of love.
3 months after the custody hearing, Marcus got a call he wasn't expecting. He was at the shop elbow deep in the engine of a vintage Porsche when his phone buzzed. He almost ignored it. He was focused in the zone close to solving a problem that had stumped him for hours. But something made him pull out the phone and check the screen.
Victoria. His stomach dropped. For a long moment, he just stared at the name. They hadn't spoken since the courtroom. He'd heard through Mr. Warren that she'd started a rehabilitation program, that her supervised visits with Lily had been postponed until she completed treatment, but that was all secondhand information.
He'd had no direct contact with her in months. He could ignore it, let it go to voicemail, deal with it later, or never. But that wasn't who Marcus was. He'd never been the kind of man who ran from hard things. He wiped his hands on a rag and answered, "Hello, Marcus."
Victoria's voice was different than he remembered. Smaller, tired. Thank you for picking up. What do you want, Victoria? I wanted to.
She stopped, started again. I wanted to apologize. The words hung in the air, unexpected and strange. For what? for everything. Her voice cracked.
For leaving. For the custody battle. For all the lies I told. All the pain I caused. For putting Lily through that.
For putting you through that. Marcus leaned against the Porsche, his legs suddenly unsteady. Why now? Because I'm 60 days sober and my therapist says I need to make amends to the people I've hurt. She laughed bitterly.
But that's not the real reason. The real reason is that I've been thinking about Lily, about what I did to her, what I almost did to her. You tried to take her away from me. I know. You tried to take her away from the only parent who was actually there for her.
I know. Victoria's voice was a whisper now. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Marcus. I was selfish and angry.
And I convinced myself that I deserved her back. that money could make up for all the time I'd lost, but it couldn't. Nothing could. Marcus closed his eyes. He'd imagined this conversation a hundred times. In his imagination, he'd been angry, righteous.
He'd told Victoria exactly what he thought of her made her feel every ounce of the pain she'd caused. But now that it was actually happening, he didn't feel any of that. He just felt tired and sad and underneath it all something that might have been pity. What do you want from me, Victoria? I don't want anything.