Chapter 8

Custody or not

Ari's POV

My feet began to shake slightly and I considered walking back to him,, grovelling before him and begging him to leave my life alone because I know what despicable thing Andrew was capable of.

I felt a strong mixture of rage and fear and decided that if I approached him, I could burst into tears. I didn't want to make a scene and become a topic of gossip for the rest of the day.

I ran up the stairs all the way to my room, trying to break a sweat and calm my nerves. I stuck in the room card and collapsed on the bed and after a while, I could feel the tears coming.

'Why? Why did I have to meet this bloody bastard again?'

I knew him, he wouldn't let go without a fight even when he was utterly wrong. Custody of Lima? I would rather die than watch him have custody of Lima.

The memory of a particular night comes to me. I was attending night classes to get a degree and Lima was about three years old. As I turned a particular corner, a nasty, foul-smelling man came out of nowhere and stood in my way. I was so scared that I pissed on myself. He snatched my bag and my phone and when Lima began to scream hysterically in fear, he brought out a sharp pocket knife and made to stab her. I remember the mad fear and rage that filled me, the crazy desire to protect my baby that I suddenly kicked him hard in the balls. As he crouched to the ground, I picked Lima up and ran as far as my legs could carry not bothering about my bag, money or phone. I wonder what would have happened if that man had stabbed my baby to death. Now Andrew wanted to claim custody? I made a mental note to tell Marco everything as soon as I returned home, he had vast understanding of legal issues and would know exactly what to do.

I sniffled and stood up to prepare my fit for tomorrow. There was going to be an idea pitch tomorrow. I had been looking forward to it because I hoped to be among the winners of the one hundred thousand dollars cash prize. This event gave openings for employees, regardless of their status and position to pitch an idea, project or innovative plan that they had thought up and believed could contribute to the development of the company. I had an idea since last year and had the whole year to expand and plan. I was going to pitch the digitization of

certain files within the offices of personal secretaries. Those particular files were highly confidential and was always locked in a secure safe with only trusted personal secretaries having access to it. The issue was that those files were a lot and kept increasing by the day making it extremely difficult to get a particular file from the safe whenever it was needed. On inquiry from other personal secretaries, I had discovered it was the same in almost all branches. It could be that the administration was scared that if digitized, the website could be hacked and the information would get into the hands of the wrong people. This was where I brought a solution : A complex site with three layers of authentication that no outsider would be able to get into. I got the idea from Marco who taught me all about it and even drafted out the plans for the pitch. So I was quite confident that would win one of the prizes for the idea pitch.

Fuck the bastard who wanted to ruin my mood. I was going to shine. I danced around the room for a while. After setting my outfit for tomorrow, I prepared to remove my coffee stained clothes, I didn't know what to do about it yet and..

There was a slight rap on the door followed by 'Ari, are you in there?' and my heart skipped a beat in fear. Andrew.

"Ari I know you're in there, open up"

I should have known he would go and check the register for my room number. I had no choice, if I didn't open up he would find a way to corner me somewhere outside my room.

He stepped in with his usual calmness and sat on my bed.

'Andrew, what do you want from me?' I sighed in frustration.

'Nothing much Ari,' he tapped the bed 'come sit'

I reluctantly walked up to the bed and sat beside him.

'You do not have any right to demand custody of Lima' I tried desperately to be calm 'you have no idea how she survived, how we survived and’

'shhhh' Andrew whispered against my lips in an instant. He sucked and lightly grazed my lower lips, drew me to him and slid a strong arm around my waist. I felt the heat rush down between my legs immediately. Like before, I was flustered and angry with myself. Why did he still have that effect on me after so long?

'Stop!' I almost screamed. I was mad at myself for being so weak that my body was responding to his touch. I tried to stand up but Andrew drew me back, forcing me to his laps and holding me so tight that I couldn't escape.

'Let me fuck you just this once Ari and I promise I'll leave you and your daughter alone.

He ran his tongue into and around my very sensitive ear and I felt all my resistance melting.

I knew from the lounge that he had been mesmerized by my body. He ogled my breasts shamelessly, licking his lips annoyingly from time to time as though he wanted to gobble me up.

His touch was as I remembered, controlling and yet sensual, light and yet sparking and I wondered as he began to fondle my breasts and I felt the lace thong I wore getting soaked if I should consider the offer for a promise of staying away from me and my baby.

He squeezed my breasts harder and whispered hoarsely,

'Deal?'