Arranged Love (Jelena)

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Selena's POV

"I'm scared." I blurted out to Justin when I was finished dressing. His hand froze on his tie as he turned to face me.

"Come here." I walked over to him, nervously fiddling with my fingers. He placed his hands on my shoulder firmly then used his left hand to nudge my head upwards so that we were making eye contact.

"I know you are, and that's okay but you have absolutely no reason to be scared. The odds are in our favor. We're going to this case sweetheart. We're going to keep our son; the son that he didn't want anything to do with."

I nodded, my hands reaching up to finish tying his incomplete tie as I repeated his words in my head in an attempt to calm my nerves.

"Baby, don't worry. We've got this." He pulled me into a bear hug. I nuzzled my face into his shoulder as my body relaxed.

He's right. The odds are in our favor.

He wasn't going to take Jason away from us.

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"Mom, can I talk to you for a minute? Please?" I asked, watching as she turned to Cole.

"Go on in. I'll meet you there." He nodded, sending me a vindictive grin as he entered the court room.

"You're really fighting on his side? I'm your daughter; your own flesh and blood." I whispered, hating how pathetically hurt my voice sounded.

"That's exactly why I'm on his side; because you're my daughter and I want what's best for you."

"How is taking away my son best for me?" I asked incredulously.

"Do you remember what you used to tell me when you were younger?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. I used to tell her a lot of things.

"You told me you wanted to be an artist no matter what. That's all you wanted. You studied hard all through high school so you could get into a good college so that you could major in art. You wanted to open your own art gallery. That was always your priority. It was your dream and it was going to come true..." She smiled sadly as her eyes grew glossy.

"But then you got pregnant. You graduated then devoted your life to Jason. And nothing's wrong with that because you're his mom. His dad didn't want him so you did what you had to do and I'm so proud of you for that. But I hate that all your hard work went down the drain. All your dreams just vanished. You didn't have time for anything other than him. You gave up on your school, your career, your relationships...Everything just stopped. Your entire life just became all about Jason." A tear slipped down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly.

"That's why I want Cole to get custody . If he gets custody, you can get a shot of the life you dreamed of. You and Justin can actually have the full relationship, including the part without the responsibility of a child. You can go to collage full time and get your degree in art, you can open up your gallery. You can do whatever you want without anything holding you back. Art can be your priority again."

"But that's the thing, I don't want that."

"What?"

"I want to do everything with Justin and Jason by my side. When I achieve whatever I achieve I want my son there with me. I don't want it to be my top priority again. My family is. Nothing matters except for them. If I open an art gallery, I want them there with me. If I decided to go to collage, I want them there. It doesn't matter what I do, I want Jason there with me. He's my son. Think about it this way; if you were in my place, would you have given me up?"