Page 60 of The Billionaire & the Nanny: Part 4

“Oh, you can’t read. I forgot.” I pull the papers back and read them for him. “It’s the company, Silas. Bert’s fucking company. I know how much you want it, so much that you just had to come crawling out of your ant pile to claim paternity. If you don’t want it, that’s fine…”

“Stop.”

“What?”

“Why are you doing this?” His side-eyeing and hem-hawing makes him look a bit like an indecisive blind turtle. “Why would you give it to me?”

“I’m not giving it to you so much as making an exchange.”

“An exchange for what? Oh, wait…” He reclines back in his leather seat and picks up a pen to chew on. “You think I’m going exchange the kid for it.”

“The kid? His fucking name is Liam, asshole. And yes.” I lean forward. “We both know you don’t care about him. We both know you only claimed paternity so you could win favor with the old man, but once word got around that he’d be handing off the business to me after Evie died, you changed your tune. And then, when he shanghaied you by leaving you out of the will…” I laugh and shake my head, leaning back in my seat. “Oh, man, it’s too much.”

“How much is it worth?”

“What?” I crane my ear closer.

“How much is it worth?” he shouts.

Aww, he’s annoyed by my tactics, like I fucking care. “Twenty-five billion,” I tell him. I turn and reach into my bag for another set of papers—adoption. Reaching farther into my bag, I pull out my best pen and hand it to him. “Sign right there…on the X.”

“You think it’s that easy,” Raymond growls, staring at me then back at the papers.

I sigh. And sigh again. “I get it, I get it…you have to act like you care so I can never tell the story of how easily this went down. Dude, come on. I read like fifty-five of your texts to Evie, all of them in escalating tones of anger about how much you were not ready to be a father and never would be. I even had them in court with me as evidence ready to show, but apparently, nothing mattered after you guys showed the genes were yours.”

“I want an appraisal.”

“Oh, you don’t believe me? It’s probably worth even more than twenty-five billion, but I didn’t think you’d be that picky.”

“You’re keeping some of it for yourself. I want the whole thing. I’m the one that brought that company to where it is. I’m the one who worked day and night with Evie to make it what it is. Then you come along and take it all…”

“I didn’t take shit. You ran off because you couldn’t handle a woman who loved you—” Now, I’m the one shouting, but I have to stop. And think. Because I’m the biggest fucking hypocrite on this earth. He ran off, because why? He couldn’t handle a woman who loved him?

My heart pounds. It’s all so clear now.

“I want an appraisal and whatever it comes out to, the whole thing is mine,” Raymond says. “And I still get visitation rights to see the kid.”

“Nah, fuck you. I’m not getting into a parental agreement with you. I’m offering you a shit ton of money. All I want is my child.” I stand and cross my arms. If I don’t control myself, I’ll end up fighting this dude and then I will end up down at the precinct and never see my child again. “I raised Liam. I watched him grow inside his mother’s belly. I sang to him. At night, right before she went to sleep, he’d get the hiccups inside of her, and I’d have to rub her on the left side, right under this rib here to get him to stop. Since he was born, I’ve taken care of him. I come home early from work just to spend time with him. He’s probably cried every night since you’ve had him. That’s because he’s wondering where I am, where his nanny is, and why we haven’t brought him his milk with his little blue bunny yet. What’s his favorite vegetable?”

“What?”

“What’s his favorite vegetable?”

“I don’t know. I just got him.”

“That’s right. You don’t know because you don’t care. It’s baby carrots, motherfucker. Not the organic shit, because he doesn’t like it. He likes it straight from the Gerber jar.” A crazy laugh escapes me, because only Alana and I know that. “Like his nanny used to give him.”

Alana’s face illuminates in my mind. Suddenly, I can’t see anything but her. The food stains on her shirt, the apron full of smashed, wet Cheerios, her blonde ponytail swishing around as she swung Liam in circles.

Fuck.

I miss my family.

“I won’t keep any of it. It’s all yours. Just give me full custody, visitation granted only upon request and individual appointment. No schedule.” Not like he’ll ever take advantage of it. This is nothing but a pissing match, a power struggle, but I just don’t see how he could ever think this is unfair. “Don’t be a bitch, Raymond. Take the money.”

Raymond looks at the papers again. “Are these mine to keep?”

I nod. “Have your lawyer look over them. Call me in and we’ll do this in mediation. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. But first, I need your signature. Good faith that you’ll go through with the adoption process.” I point at the X and hand him the pen. “If you loved Evie and you love Liam at all, let him go home.”

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