Chapter 180 Ask the Kid
Ethan laughed. "Why do you want me to be your daddy, Jack?"
Jack's small mouth formed a pout. "I don't have a daddy. I want one."
Ethan shifted Jack in his arms, one hand supporting his small back while the other tapped his button nose. "Okay. As long as your mommy is willing—"
"Jack." I moved fast, cutting him off before he could finish that sentence.
I crouched down to Jack's level as he slid from Ethan's arms. "Baby, you have your own daddy. You can't just... ask random people to be your dad."
Jack wrapped both arms around my neck, tilting his head back to look at me. His eyes were wide and confused. "But Mommy, didn't you say Daddy died?"
I grabbed Jack's hand. "We'll talk about it when we get home, okay? I'll explain everything then."
I turned and started walking toward the parking lot, tugging Jack along.
"Liv."
Ethan's voice stopped me cold. I didn't turn around.
"Jackson won't want him," Ethan said, his tone flat and matter-of-fact. "He's realistic. He's not going to give up an advantageous marriage alliance for some woman's kid he never knew about. The kid can't go back to the Hayes family."
"But I'm different," Ethan continued. "I'll never marry anyone else. Only you."
A bitter taste flooded my mouth. I swallowed hard, forced my feet to keep moving, and didn't look back.
---
The drive home was quiet. Jack fell asleep in his car seat, his head lolling to one side, a bandage still visible on his forehead.
Eva had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer three years ago. Stage four. The cancer king, they called it. When she found out, she tried to put Jack in an orphanage.
I couldn't let that happen.
So I took him in. And Eva, with the clock ticking down, told me to start having Jack call me "Mommy" instead of "Auntie Liv."
"He's so young," she'd said, her voice already weak. "If we do it now, while he's little, in a year or two he won't remember me at all. He'll only know you as his mother."
It broke my fucking heart to hear her say that.
"I don't want to take him from you," I'd whispered, tears streaming down my face.
Eva smiled—sad, tired, but somehow peaceful. "You're not taking him. I'm giving him to you. You're the best thing that ever happened to me, Liv. Meeting you was God's second gift. Jack was the first."
I couldn't stop crying after that.
Before she died, Eva made me promise two things.
"Don't tell Jack about his father," she said. "His father doesn't even know I exist. Don't tell him, and don't send Jack back to the Hayes family. If you can't take care of him anymore... put him in an orphanage."
"But Eva—he's Jack's biological father. He has a right to—"
"No." Her voice was firm despite how weak she'd become. "I liked him. That was my choice. It had nothing to do with him. I got drunk one night, I snuck into his hotel room, and I... I took what I wanted. This baby is something I stole. I won't use him to trap Jackson or guilt him into anything."
---
I sat in the driver's seat for a long time after we got home, staring at my phone.
Eva had told me not to tell Jackson. Ethan had said Jackson wouldn't want Jack anyway.
But shouldn't Jackson get to decide that for himself?
I looked at Jack in the rearview mirror. He was still asleep, his little chest rising and falling, his mouth slightly open.
He deserved better than this.
I pulled out my phone and scrolled to Jackson's number.
I pressed call.
---
"Ms. Reed." Jackson's voice was smooth, polite. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Can you come to New York?" I asked bluntly."I need to talk to you. About Jack."
"Funny you should mention that," Jackson said. "I'm actually in New York right now. Just landed. I brought some things for you and Jack, thought you might like it."
Jackson showed up thirty minutes later carrying a bottle of California red wine, a box of artisan chocolates, and a large bag of assorted snacks and craft beer.
"Heard you've been drinking wine lately," he said with an easy smile, handing me the bottle. "A client gave me a few bottles. Picked out two good ones for you."
I took the wine and stepped aside to let him in.
Jackson set the bag on the counter and leaned against it, arms crossed.
"So," he said. "Jack."
I nodded. "Yeah. Jack."
Jackson studied me for a moment, then sighed. "Look, Olivia, I'm going to be straight with you. If Ethan hadn't made me investigate you—"
"Ethan made you investigate me?"
"No, no—wait." Jackson held up both hands. "Ethan never asked me to investigate you. After you two split up, he didn't touch Amsterdam. It was Justin and Vincent—those two assholes wouldn't let it go. They kept pushing me to dig into your life."
"Last time you came to LA, it was actually Vincent's setup. He found out you were working as head designer at Atelier Rose, so he invested in your company. Then he engineered that whole situation to get you and Ethan in the same room."
"Then Justin found out through Frank that you had a kid. That's when they forced me to investigate. Because—well, because the kid looks like me."
"If it weren't for those two idiots, I'd have lived my whole life not knowing I had a son."
"And now that you do know?" I asked quietly.
Jackson's jaw tightened. "He's my biological son. That's a fact. But I have no emotional connection to him. None."
"So you don't want him."
"I didn't say that. What I'm saying is—I won't throw him away. He's my blood. If you can't take care of him, I'll step up. I'll give him everything he needs legally and financially. But as for love? As for being a real father?" He shook his head. "I can't promise that."
My throat burned.
Jackson's voice went cold. "If Eva weren't already dead, I'd ask her what the hell she was thinking. Adults hook up—fine. But having a kid without telling the father? Was she trying to trap me? Shake me down for money?"
"She wasn't—" I started.
"Doesn't matter." Jackson held up a hand. "She's dead. I won't speak ill of the dead. But what she did was wrong, Ms. Reed. She didn't have the right to make that choice for me. Love doesn't give you permission to create a life without someone's consent."
I opened my mouth, but no words came out.
"I'm not married yet," Jackson continued, his tone hard. "And now I find out I have a bastard son?"
Jackson exhaled and ran a hand through his hair. "Whatever. The kid's already here." He waved a hand dismissively. "Look—ask Jack. Ask him if he wants to come to the Hayes family. If he wants to live with me. If he says yes, I'll take him."
"Okay, I will."