Seduced 5 by P.A. Jones

her very much and I wish she’d get someone in due time. I really wish that for her.” I was getting emotional. It had never been easy to say goodbye.
    “She will,” Nikki sighed.
    We got in the car after putting Stephen in his seat.
    “Now what?” Nikki asked.
    “Peterson, we need to consult him. I already sent him the docs. He should be ready with some solution.” I hoped he would be ready with something for the case. Last night, I counted up all my property value with the help of Trisha, but it was nowhere near the debt Nikki’s company owed. Even if I decided to sell my bookstore business, I would be at less than half of the money required.
    ***
    “Give me a good news, chap.” I bumped my fist on Peterson’s table.
    He looked at me with wary eyes. ““I’m sorry, Tristan, but there is no way we can win this case.” His eyes darted away. He tried to hide them from me.
    “Come on, Peterson. We’ve known each other for more than a year now. There should be a way to get out of this mess. What about selling all my assets?”
    “No, Tristan, you can’t sell everything you have for my business,” Nikki insisted.
    “Stephen is more important than this, Nikki.” I looked at the little chap playing in his bouncer.“I can’t let Shaun do this to you. I’ll make sure we get out of this with Stephen.”
    I remembered the last few days we’d spent trying to figure out something. I even got Trisha to postpone her flight for me so she could help me in this. But nothing worked out. Nobody could find a way out.
    Finally, I contacted my sponsor, but nobody was willing to spend this amount of money. The more days we spent doing nothing, the more tension Nikki was experiencing. She was hiding it from me, but her eyes told me the story. Her usual calm had been collapsing on little things. She started making Stephen sleep in our room.
    Last night, I forced her to put Stephen in his room. She was doing it, but then at midnight I found her going to his room and weeping while holding him to her heart. I could imagine how hard it was for her when it was very difficult for me to think of Stephen not living with us.
    “Look at that boy, Peterson. We have to save him. We can’t make him spend his childhood without his mother. I can’t let that happen. Please do something.” My voice lowered. I was begging him. I'd never done that in my whole life.
    “I wish I could do something, Tristan. I even contacted one of the senior members of a council in another state, but he said it’s impossible. Sorry, but her drug addiction has killed this case already. We can’t get custody of that kid. And Shaun will make sure that her side will be portrayed as a drug addict mother in front of court.” He looked at Nikki, who was looking back at Stephen. “Sorry, Nikki, but this is the truth and I don’t want to hide it from you.
    Logically, he was right. I knew no jury would allow the custody to a mother who had been arrested for drug addiction.
    “If only you could get that money back somehow,” Peterson offered.
    “I’m gonna kill that bastard. I just wish I knew where he was right now.” I bumped my fist on his table again; this time the papers placed on it scattered away.
    “You better control your anger, dude.” Peterson got up to collect those papers. “I think you should hire some private investigator for this job. I highly doubt that jerk, Gerome, got out of the country.”
    “Private investigator?”
    “Yes, like a detective. He can help you.” He cocked his brows.
    “That sounds like a good idea. Do you know anyone?” I asked. The detective would have his own means to find out where Gerome was.
    “I think I know one. I have’ a friend from college who did this job. I’ll check and let you know," he said while picking the last paper from the ground.
    “Thanks, buddy, I’ll wait to hear from you.” I shook his hand. It was the last hope, then. Once we found that jerk, Gerome, we could think of a way to get