Page 69 of Enemy Ex's Secret Baby

My briefcase holds the drafts for a park on the Seton lot. I got into contact with a park architect just yesterday and paid them an absurd amount to get me a draft by this morning. The guy came through and it’s better than I could have even imagined. I sent a picture to Gillian before I left and she gushed about over text with heart eyes and applauding hands.

I nearly fainted.

Who is this man and what did he do with the old Axel Hitchins?

That guy, that hopeless and cynical one, I hope is long gone. I’ve got hopes and dreams and they begin and end with Gillian.

The in between is what I have to worry about.

“Perfect timing,” my dad mutters as I slink into the elevator just before it closes.

“Morning,” I say, immediately feeling my blood run cold. It does feel a bit like a betrayal that I’m going to go in here with new plans before even running them by my dad. However, I’m giving him what he’s wanted: I’m going to take charge. “Nice weekend?”

“Fine. Hip is acting up again.”

I smile at my father. He’s started shrinking. When I was a child, he felt so big. Now, he’s seventy years old and hunching over. “You should get that replacement.”

“Who has the time?”

He does. But it’s not time that’s the problem. He’s scared. “You can take a couple months off and recover. Or, better yet, retire.”

Dad shoots daggers at me. “You trying to get rid of me?”

The elevator dings and the doors slide open at the executive floor. I shake my head. “Not at all. Just a thought.”

I stride out ahead of him, not bothering to look back.

If Dad wants me to take charge, then it’s going to happen when he least expects it.

Make way, because Axel Hitchins is ready for a fight.

* * *

“This proposal is not what you have been expecting. We at Hitchins are looking to go bigger and better than ever before,” I announce as I ready my slideshow.

The shareholders all look quite excited, which for mostly men over fifty with hair coming out of their ears, is hard to discern to the untrained eye. But I can tell, having been around people like this my whole life. It’s the slight upturn of their lips and the lift of their chin that tells me I’ve got them right where I want them.

Dad is also watching me with hawkish attention.

Come on, Axel. Pull the rug out from under them.

“Our project has not been without controversy and community consternation. I had the distinct privilege of being invited to participate in a community event this past Saturday. It was an opportunity for me to see past the protesting and actually understand where the Seton Elementary community was coming from.”

I lift the clicker up toward the projector. “Our new proposal might feel uncomfortable at first. But even good things feel wrong when we aren’t used to them. All I ask is you give me the opportunity to subvert your expectations.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see my dad’s brow flinch. It’s only going to get worse from here, Daddio.

“This –“ I press the clicker and the slide changes to an image of a park with kids running around and parents sitting chatting. “Is the Seton Play Lot.”

The room of shareholders stares at me dumbfounded. I can’t read their expressions beyond their confusion. Good confused, bad confused? I’m not sure.

I expected this, though. This is a complete one-eighty from everything we’ve been pitching them about the Seton lot condos. It’s understandable they’ll need some time to adjust.

“A park?” my dad growls.

“You could call it that.”

He gapes at me and then turns around to look at the shareholders. “Gentlemen, I assure you he’s joking.”

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