“And talking to you, may I add,” I said with irritation. “You know Ellery, and you know how she can be. She’s pissed off, and she told me to leave the bedroom because she needed space.”

Denny got up from the chair and started walking towards the elevator. He stopped, turned around, and shot me a look. “You’ll feel like an ass soon enough.” He smiled.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I yelled as the elevator doors shut.

As I sighed and walked over to the bar to set down my glass, I heard the elevator door open. At first, I thought it was Denny, but I was pleasantly surprised when I looked over and saw Mason and Julia.

“There’s my baby girl.” I smiled when I took her from Mason’s arms. “Did you have fun at the park?”

“We had a fabulous time. She has made the most amazing friends and all the mannies love her.”

I looked at Mason in confusion. “What?”

“Once a week, I meet the other mannies with their babies in the park. You wouldn’t believe the stories they tell me about the families they work for, and I just sit there and brag about you and Ellery. Speaking of Diva Girl, where is she?”

“She had a little accident earlier, and she’s upstairs lying down.”

“What?!” Mason exclaimed. “What happened?”

“She fell and hit her head and needed a few stitches. She’s okay.”

Mason put his hand over his mouth. “Did she fall here?”

“No. It’s a long story. She’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. She needs to rest.”

“Do you need me to take care of the princess for a while longer?” he asked.

“No. Consider yourself done for the day. Go home and relax.” I smiled.

“If you need me, just call.”

“Thanks, Mason. I will,” I said as the elevator door shut.

I looked at Julia and kissed the tip of her nose. “I love you, baby girl.”

I took Julia upstairs, changed her diaper, and then walked to my room. Ellery was still asleep across the bed. The bandage on her forehead started to bring back the memories of when I almost lost her. But it also reminded me of how close we became during that time. I smiled as I looked at her and then at Julia, who was also looking at her. My emotions were running deep from the events of the day. I was still so angry with her for lying to me and going to see Ashlyn. Julia started babbling, and Ellery opened her eyes. As she looked at Julia, she held out her hand. I walked over to the bed and sat down so Ellery could touch her.

“Hi, baby girl,” she said as she took ahold of Julia’s hand.

“How’s your head?” I asked her.

“It hurts,” she said as she looked down. “I’m still really angry with you.”

“And I’m still angry with you.”

Ellery sat up and held her arms out. I handed Julia over to her and she took her and hugged her tight. Then Ellery began to cry. It broke my heart to see her sitting there, holding Julia and crying.

“Baby, don’t,” I whispered.

“You weren’t there. You didn’t hear how that bitch threatened our daughter.”

I sighed as my phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and saw it was Lou calling.

“Hello, Lou,” I answered as I got up from the bed. “Yeah, tonight will be fine; see you then.”

“What was that about?” Ellery asked.

“Lou’s coming over tonight to discuss the events of today.”

Ellery didn’t say anything. She laid Julia on the bed and got up and walked to the bathroom. After a few moments, I went in to check on her. She was standing in front of the sink, looking at herself in the mirror.

“I have no regrets for what I did today,” she said.

“I don’t want to discuss it any more right now,” I said as I stood in the doorway.

“That’s fine. I just wanted you to know that because, like you, I will not let anyone hurt or destroy my family,” she said as she pushed me out of the way and walked out of the bathroom.

She picked up Julia from the bed and took her downstairs. As I stood there, contemplating what to do next, a text message came through from Cassidy.

“Ellery’s studio is finished if you want to come take a look at it.”

“Thanks, Cassidy, we’ll be right down,” I replied.

Ellery was in the kitchen, heating up a bottle for Julia when I walked down to let her know about her art studio.

“Cassidy just texted me that your art studio is ready. I told her that we’d be right down.”

“Okay,” she said as she held Julia and grabbed her bottle.

We stepped onto the elevator and rode it down to the tenth floor. As we stepped off, Cassidy was standing there with the door open. She took one look at Ellery’s head and instantly became concerned.

“Ellery, what happened?” she asked sympathetically as Ellery handed Julia to her.

“I fell and hit my head. I’m okay.”

We walked inside the apartment, and it was finished to perfection. As Ellery smiled, I could tell she was pleased with the way it turned out.

“Thank you, Cassidy. I love it!” she exclaimed. “I can’t wait to start painting.”

I walked over to Cassidy and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, sis. It’s beautiful. You’ve really outdone yourself.”

“You’re welcome. Now, I have to get going. Ben and I are taking Camden out to dinner.”

“Have fun.” Ellery smiled as she gave her a hug.

I took Julia from her and continued to feed her as Cassidy left the apartment. Ellery stood in front of the easel that held a big blank canvas on it.

“I’ll start this painting tomorrow,” she said.

“Are you happy?”

She looked at me with an angry look and left the apartment without saying a word. I looked down at Julia and sighed.

Chapter 23

Ellery

I walked over to the bar and poured myself a shot of Jack. As I slammed it back, Connor stood there with Julia, staring at me.

“What?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to be drinking when you took a pain pill,” he replied as he put Julia in her swing.

“It’s fine, Connor. One shot isn’t going to kill me.”

“No, but Ashlyn could’ve and you seem to think that’s okay.”

“I’m not listening to you anymore,” I said as I tore up the stairs.

“You never do anyway!” I heard him yell.

As I glanced at the time on my phone, I noticed that Peyton and Henry were going to be over soon. After I changed into more comfortable clothing, I went into the kitchen and took out a bottle of wine. I heard the elevator doors open and Connor greeting Peyton and Henry. When they walked into the kitchen, Henry walked over to me and gave me a light kiss.

“How’s your head?”

“It’s sore, but I’m okay.” I smiled.

I stood there thinking that at least someone cared. Peyton walked over to me and put her arm around me.

“Are you and sexy man still fighting?”

“Yes. God, I’m so mad at him for keeping that from me.”

“I understand, but don’t forget you kept something from him too.”

I rolled my eyes and then flinched at the pain from the stitches. I reached up in the cabinet, grabbed four dinner plates, and then Peyton finished setting up the rest of the table. As the four of us sat down and ate our dinner, Peyton took out the recorder she had earlier. First, she looked at me and then over at Connor.

“Do you want to hear this or not?” she asked him.

“No, actually I don’t,” he replied. “It doesn’t matter what’s on there. You shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

“Fuck you, Connor,” I said as I got up and threw my plate in the sink and it broke.

“Way to go, Elle!” he exclaimed.

As I was on the verge of tears, the doorman rang and said that Lou was on his way up. I opened the door just as he stepped off the elevator in the hallway.

“Hi, Lou,” I said as he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

We gathered into the living room and Connor poured everyone their drinks. Lou looked at me as he asked, “Can you tell me what happened today?”

“This is what happened today,” Peyton said as she pressed play on the recorder.

Connor handed Lou a drink and then sat down in the chair across from where I was sitting. He stared at me and he listened intently. He slowly closed his eyes when he heard Ashlyn say how she was going to destroy not only him, but me and Julia as well.

“Talk about fatal attraction. Right, Lou?” Peyton said.

When Lou finished listening to our horrific altercation, he looked at me and smiled. “That is one damn good confession and threat Ashlyn made. I’m taking that to her lawyer and then submitting it as evidence. If she isn’t advised to change her plea, then we’ll continue to press the charges of assault and battery and she’ll get added time for that. Ellery, I have a question for you and I need you to be completely honest with me. Did you physically attack her?”

“Hell, yeah, she did!” Peyton spoke up. “You should’ve seen her. She knocked her ass to the ground and then grabbed a hold of her face and wouldn’t let her go and told her she better never threaten her daughter again. Well, you heard it.”

Connor looked at me with an expression of shock. “Oh, please. I already punched her out once; did you honestly think I wouldn’t go after her when she threatened our daughter?” I said to him.

Lou sat there, nodding his head. “We’re just going to keep that information to ourselves. She doesn’t have a mark on her and you have stitches. So, once the judge and jury hear what she had to say, they won’t believe her anyway.”

He got up from the chair, and we walked him to the door.

“Thanks, Lou,” Connor said as they shook hands.

“No problem.” He smiled. “Take care of that head, Ellery. I’m asking for a postponement and this could all be over within a week.”

A feeling of relief flowed through me when I heard Lou say that. Peyton took Julia from her swing and walked over to me. “It’s almost over, sweetie. Henry and I are going to leave. He has to be at the hospital in a few hours. Go take a pain pill, down a couple shots of that shit you like, and you’ll sleep great.”

I smiled at her and took the baby as we said our goodbyes. Connor picked up the dirty glasses from the table and took them into the kitchen. He still didn’t say anything to me, even after hearing what Ashlyn had said. Taking Julia upstairs to change her, I couldn’t stop thinking about how hurt I was finding out that Connor knew Ashlyn was out of jail and how he was tracking my every move. A sick feeling emerged in my stomach as I laid Julia down in her crib. The only thing I wanted and needed was a hot bath.

As I started the bath, I poured a capful of bubbles under the stream of the hot water. Closing the bathroom door, I undressed, twisted up my hair, and lay back in the tub. If there was one person I needed the most right now, it was my mom. Tears started to fall down my face as the bullshit of the day settled inside me. I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs as I sobbed into them.