Unexpected

Two

Knox's POV:

The gavel pounded down on hard bench, the loud noise made me jump slightly in my seat. It was over - and for once in my life shit had actually gone in my favour. I'd won - I'd actually fucking won!
It had been a long road to get to here, but maybe, just maybe today was a sign that things were starting to look up.
I stood slowly from my seat, my lawyer slapped me on the back and smiled - holding his hand out for me to shake,

"Congratulations Mr. Taylor. We will get the final paperwork sorted and be in touch"

I nodded, still in shock that this was actually happening,

"Thank you Mike, for everything. I can't believe we won"

"Not a surprise really, it's the way the world is going now, you were the right choice, the only real choice if I'm being honest, it shouldn't have gotten this far"

"Thanks again" I gave him a small smile

"We will be in touch soon"

The short balding man closed his briefcase and left the courtroom, there wasn't many of us left in here now, but the couple at the table opposite me remained, his arm was wrapped around her shoulder - her head was bent forward and her shoulders were shaking - she was crying.
I could've walked away, I could've gone over there to gloat, these two people had made the last few years of my life completely miserable and now, now I was the one in front, I was the one who had come out on top.

His head turned towards me, brow furrowed

"You happy now, you got what you wanted"

I scoffed,

"Your joking right? You actually think any of this is what I wanted? You think I wanted to go through this whole thing, god this is the last thing I wanted, I hated every minute of this"

"Just leave Mr. Taylor. We are not in the mood for you today"

I turned and headed towards the door, only 3 or 4 feet from making my escape before she called out to me,

"Knox, wait please"

Her voice was broken and as I turned to face her I could see the heartbreak in her eyes. Eyes that reminded me every bit of her daughter, like a sea of rich chocolate, it made it hard for me to look at her though - that and the fact that even now, even after all of this, even though her eyes were rimmed red from tears she still looked at me as I was the lowest of the low.
It was our story - I'd met her daughter in high school, she was the good girl, the popular cheer leader - the straight A student with a bright future set in front of her, the girl every other girl was insanely jealous of but would jump through hoops to be friends with, the girl that every guy wanted to call theirs and me, well I was the complete opposite to her parents I was the trash - the tattooed bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks with absolutely no shot at a decent future, I struggled with school, I had maybe 2 people I would actually call my friends - but it didn't mean shit to us because holy fuck we were good together, not that it made any difference, her parents hated me and they did everything they could possibly do to try and split us up, eventually it got really bad and we had to give them what they wanted, they were ripping their daughter to pieces anyone could see it so I was left with no option but to let her go.

"Knox, please, please I know we have never seen eye to eye, but please - she is all we have left, don't take her away from us"

"Carol, you started this, you were the one who wanted things this way, you tried to destroy me, you tried to take everything from me, but I'm not that person. You will see her, when she's ready but it will be on my terms"

I didn't wait for a reply, I simply turned and left her standing there. I was done with her crap and ready to move on.

I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment on the 12th floor in a good, clean part of town and while I made a fairly decent living working as a mechanic, the weekly rent was completely out of my price range but I was willing to cut back on other things to give her the life she deserved.
The sounds of high pitched giggling surrounded me and made me smile as soon as I stepped inside.
My best mate Jake was sitting on the lounge - a bouncing bundle huddled up close to him singing and waving her small arms around - trying to keep in time with the song playing from the TV.
Her big brown eyes catching me she was up and out of her seat so fast,

"Daddy"

For such a little kid she sure did move fast, she crossed the room and was in my arms before I could even take my shoes off. I lifted her - holding her close to me.
I had never loved anyone the way I loved this little girl. She was the greatest thing I had ever done - her pale skin, brown eyes and cute button nose reminded me so much of her mother, but her long dark hair she got from me. She was the perfect mix of both of us.

"Hey gorgeous girl, have you been good?"

I took my eyes off my daughter and met Jake's gaze across the room, his head was tilted, eyebrows raised as he silently asked me his question. We had been friends for as long as I could remember so it wasn't strange for me to know what he was asking without actually saying it.

I pulled my baby girl closer to my chest, kissed the top of her head and gave Jake a small nod and a huge smile, letting him know it had gone the way we had hoped it would. That we had won - that this gorgeous little girl in my arms - my daughter - was never, ever going to be taken away from me.