Michelle Celmer - Reunited...with Child / One Month with the Magnate - Reunited...with Child

“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 trust you not to sneak off,” he said.

“Of course you can. I wouldn’t have told you about your son if I didn’t mean for you to have a chance to get to know him.”

“As noble as that intention is, Becca, it is too little, too late.”

She just shook her head. “That’s fine. I don’t want to move, Cam.”

“Too late,” he said. “My life is in Miami and Ty’s will be, too.”

“I’m not giving up my son.”

“Then go get packing. My secretary will arrange for movers to come and get your stuff.”

“I will need to be here.”

“That’s your choice but you must know Ty will be staying with me.”

“Dammit, Cam.”

“Yes, dammit, Becca. How could you not tell me we had a son?”

“You told me I was mistress material and nothing else,” she said. “Do you remember that?”

He did, but that didn’t change the fact that she’d hidden Ty from him.

“I am not leaving until the movers have been called and I have a chance to talk to them. I will go to Miami with you but I’m not going to allow you to put me and Ty second in your life. If you want to be a father to him, then he deserves the best.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t be a workaholic and a good father. I understand you want to punish me but I won’t let you punish your son.”

Her words made him realize she was different than his mother had been when it came to her son. “I will be happy to put Ty first. Go pack up what you need. I will call a mover and get someone out here.”

He stopped as it finally hit him. “Oh, my God, I have a son.”

“Yes, you do,” Becca said.

He ignored her and went over to Ty, who was playing happily with his toys. He stared at the boy, and Ty smiled up at him. Then Cam reached down and rubbed his finger over that soft cheek of his.

“My son,” he said softly.

He stood there looking at the boy, and the anger that had been riding him since Becca made her announcement started to ease. He could never be mad at Ty or do anything that would jeopardize his son’s happiness.

He looked over at Becca. “Why did you name him Ty?”

“It was my mother’s father’s name. I never knew him, so it seems silly to say he was my grandfather. His name is actually Tyler Cameron Tuntenstall.”

“You gave him my name?” Cam asked.

“Yes. I … I knew someday he’d ask about you and I wanted him to have a connection. I know you think this is all some kind of conspiracy against you, but I made the only choice I could for my son. It was hard for me because I didn’t want to follow in my mother’s footsteps. I had promised myself that my children would have both a mother and a father.”

Later maybe he’d be able to appreciate those words, but right now he couldn’t. “I didn’t think it was a conspiracy. I’m beginning to think it was pure selfishness on your part.”

Cam turned and walked out the door without looking back. He knew she wasn’t going anywhere in the time it would take him to line up a mover. Right now he needed some space. She’d knocked him for a loop, and he had no idea how he was going to recover. He only knew that his heart hurt.

Less than eight hours later Becca was seated on Cam’s private jet and waiting for takeoff. Ty was seated next to her, his favorite stuffed animal—a yellow dog—and his blanket tucked close to him. He hadn’t seemed too traumatized by today’s events, and she had the feeling that he’d settle in to living in Miami more easily than she would.

Cam had arranged for a mover to get the stuff necessary for her and Ty to live in Miami. The rest of her belongings would be staying in the house. She had no idea what kind of strings he’d pulled, but the men had actually been at her house today and she’d told them what had to be boxed and moved. Her nanny, Jasper, would oversee the movers from here and in less than a week her belongings would be in Cam’s house in Miami.