Reunited...with Child / One Month with the Magnate: Reunited...with Child. Michelle Celmer
a rushed coupling in a college dorm room. But Cam was a real man and he’d swept her away.
“Did you tell Russell?”
Becca felt horrified at the thought of her boss knowing she’d slept with one of his friends. She had kept that knowledge very close.
“No. Of course not. I didn’t tell anyone. I don’t think that Russell even knows I have a son. I told him I was leaving to start my own company. And he was my boss, not my confidant.”
Each question was tearing at her confidence. She briefly wondered if she should have just kept quiet after all, then dismissed the thought.
“I got really sick a month after I left Miami and at first I figured it was just the malaise of a broken heart. I didn’t realize I was pregnant until a few weeks after I got back home.”
Cam ran his fingers through his hair. He was still sorting out the logistics of how things happened. Answering his questions brought back all those feelings she’d had when she’d learned she was pregnant.
“I almost called you. I didn’t have any numbers for you but Russell’s secretary had your office number. Do you remember her? Lani?”
“Yes, I remember her,” Cam said.
“Then you will probably also recall that you were dating her cousin about that time,” Becca said. “And I wasn’t about to call you up and give you the news that you didn’t want. At that point I wouldn’t have been able to handle another rejection. It had seemed to me you had moved on.”
“I guess it would. I still deserved to know I had a son.”
“I know. I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you but I was in a pretty vulnerable state and you didn’t seem like a viable option for someone to lean on,” she said.
She crossed her arms around her waist and took a deep breath. “To be fair, back then we weren’t anything but lovers. We didn’t know about each other’s lives or really even care. We just met up each night and had hot sex.”
He looked over at her, his large blue eyes unreadable. He seemed so distant and so cold and she really didn’t know what he wanted from her. She had no idea what she should say to smooth over this moment.
“That is a fair assessment of who we were.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Why did you decide to tell me now?” he asked.
She bit her lower lip and fought to find the right thing to say. “When I saw you last night, I realized I owe you the truth.”
She was in an indefensible position. She knew what she’d done was wrong and there was no way to spin this. No way to turn it into anything other than the painful truth.
“Now I’m not sure what I believe. But I’m going to take your word that Ty is my son because I can’t figure out why you’d make that up. Unless you thought you could get money from me?”
“Why would I need money from you?” she asked. Granted, she wasn’t a millionaire like Cam, but she owned her own home and her business was doing very well.
“Everyone always needs more money,” he said.
“I’m seeing a side of you I don’t particularly like,” she said.
“I could say the same. What kind of woman waits until her son is almost two years old to tell the father about him?” he asked.
“I just explained that to you,” she said.
“I’m not buying it, Becca,” he said. “I’m not buying into any of your act anymore.”
“Stop talking to me like that,” she said. “You are angry and you have a right to be, but you are just saying mean things right now.”
“You’re damned right I am. And I have a lot more that I’m trying to hold back. Nothing about this morning has done anything but make me doubt every word you’ve ever said.”
“That’s fine with me, Cam. Why don’t you leave and we’ll never have to see each other again?” she said. She marched over to the door and opened it.
But Cam shook his head. “I’m not leaving yet.”
“Oh, I think you are,” she said. “I don’t care if we ever see you again.”
“Sit down, Becca. We’re about to come to an understanding and I’m not leaving here without my son.”
Cam had never expected to hear anything like the news Becca had just delivered. He let anger roil through him because if he had a chance to think, he was going to be hurt and upset. Two emotions he wasn’t about to let her know she’d caused.
“The first thing we will do tomorrow is to find a doctor who can do a paternity test.”
“Why? I just told you that Ty was your son.”
“I want an official document saying he is and then we will modify the birth certificate so that my name is on there,” he said. Now that he was pushing aside the anger, there were a lot of housekeeping items that had to be tended to if they were going to sort out an arrangement for Ty that would ensure his welfare.
“Okay, I can see why you’d want that,” she said.
“Good,” he said, but he didn’t care if she agreed or not. He had rights, and since she’d hidden his son from him since his birth, Cam intended to make up for lost time.
“Next up we will see my attorney and he will draw up papers for us to have joint custody. There will also be an agreement that states that none of my holdings or fortune will fall to you.”
“Fine,” she said. “This isn’t about me, Cam.”
He nodded. “That just leaves the matter of Ty moving down to Miami. I can’t live in New York and I want my son with me.”
“Wait a minute. I’m not ready to move,” she said.
“Too bad. You and Ty are going to move down this week and you will live with me at my house. He needs his mother nearby to make this adjustment easier.”
“What will I do there? My business is here.”
“You will design the Mercado interiors for me.”
“Are we going to get married?”
“Hell, no. I’m not about to repeat my father’s mistake and marry a woman who puts her own needs first.”
“That’s not fair. I put Ty’s needs first,” she said.
“I will give you that,” he said. “I have to make a few calls. Pack whatever you need for the next few days and we will leave on my private jet to Miami.”
“I can’t move that quickly.”
“You don’t have a choice,” he said. “Either you do this or I take Ty and you never see him again.”
She was shaking, and tears glittered in her eyes, but she still wore that determined, stubborn look. He knew that he was making her mad, but he didn’t give a damn. He’d never felt as betrayed as he did at this moment.
“I will do the paternity test and I will agree to joint custody, but Ty will continue to live with me in New York. You can see him on the weekends if you’d like. But you aren’t taking over his life or dictating to me about mine. If you’d been a different kind of man over two years ago, you wouldn’t be so shocked now that you have a son.”
“I’m not arguing with you about any of this. I know what I want and I will get it. You are welcome to hire an attorney and have him deal with mine. But my son is coming with me now.”
“Fine, I will do that. I think it’s time you left,” she said.
“I’m not leaving without you and Ty. I can’t