Billionaire Temptations: Rich, Ruthless & Obsessed

Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

A week passed, and I didn’t hear a word from Max. But then again, that was his usual style, so I wasn’t surprised. I finished up the last semester of school and ended it with a 3.8 GPA. The nursery was finished, and the furniture was set to be delivered this afternoon. I couldn’t wait to get it all set up. I had purchased a chandelier from Pottery Barn Kids with sweeping scrolls, life-like candles, and sparkling crystals. The maintenance man from the building, Jim, put it up for me and replaced the existing ceiling light that was already there.

As I was unwrapping some of the accessories I bought, there was a knock at the door. I looked out the peephole to see if it was the deliverymen. My heart started pounding when I saw Max standing there. I hesitantly opened the door, and he came barging in.

“I just wanted you to know that I’m moving my business from Chicago to New York so I can be near my daughter. I will be in her life, Emma. You cannot stop me from seeing her. You can hate me all you want, but I will be here for her. And regardless of what you think, I will not ruin her life. I will not make the same mistakes my parents did.”

As I stood there and listened to him and his raised voice, there was another knock on the door. I turned around and opened it.

“We have a furniture delivery for Miss Emma Knight.”

“Yes. Come in. I’ll show you where it goes.”

Max placed his hands in his pockets and stood over by the window, looking out at the view while the two men brought in the furniture and placed it in the nursery. The first was a large cardboard box with a crib in it. The second was the double dresser with the hutch, and the third was a glider and ottoman I had purchased in Valetti Silver.

“If you’ll sign here, we’ll be on our way.”

I signed the form and thanked the deliverymen. As soon as they left, Max turned around and looked at me.

“Do you have anything to say?”

“Okay. A little girl needs her daddy in her life. I didn’t have that, and I don’t want that for my daughter. If you want to be involved, then we’ll have to make it work. You can be involved in her life but not in mine.”

A distressed look swept across his face. “If that’s the way you want it, then fine.”

“Fine,” I said.

I walked into the nursery and looked at the cardboard box sitting against the wall. I sighed.

“Is that the crib in there?” Max asked.

“Yes. I sort of thought they would have delivered it built.”

Max walked over to it and asked for a pair of scissors.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m going to put this crib together, so we need to get it out of the box.”

I busted out into laughter.

“What’s so funny? You don’t think I can do it?”

“Honestly, no, I don’t.”

He gave me a small smile. “It’s going to give me great pleasure to prove you wrong, Emma. Please get me some scissors so I can open this up and get started.”

I shook my head and walked into the kitchen to fetch a pair of scissors from the drawer. I handed them to him and sat in the glider, putting my feet on the ottoman.

“That’s a nice chair,” he commented.

“Thanks. I saw it and couldn’t resist.”

He laid the box down and opened it, taking out the directions and the overly huge plastic bag with a million screws and springs in it. I smirked. His face tightened as he read the directions.

“It says we need a screwdriver, hammer, pliers, and a ratchet set. Do you have those things?”

“No.” I smiled.

“Well then, I guess we’re making a trip to the hardware store and buying them. Get your shoes on. I’ll call Darren and have him come pick us up.”

“Darren? He’s working for you again?” I asked as I got up from the glider.

“Yes. He’s working for me full-time again, and I’ve given him a large raise.” He pulled his phone out and gave Darren a call. “He’ll be here in about ten minutes. I should bring these directions with us.”

This was going to be fun. Watching him trying to build the baby’s crib was something I’d have to record.

“Have you ever built anything before?”

“No. But how hard can it be? The directions seem simple enough.”

“Okay. If you say so.” I smirked as I slipped on my shoes, and we headed out the door.

When we left the building, Darren stood at the curb next to the Rolls Royce. I smiled and gave him a light hug.

“Drop us off at the closest hardware store. What’s that place called? Home Department or something?”

I laughed, and Darren smiled at me from the rearview mirror.

“You mean Home Depot?” I lightly smacked his arm.

“I guess.”

We walked through Home Depot, and I could tell that Max had no clue what he was doing or where he was going.

“See the large signs throughout the store? They tell you which department you’re in. And see the signs at the end of each aisle? They tell you what kind of items are down that aisle.”

“Ah, I didn’t notice those.”

I laughed again. Finally, after an hour in the store, we found the tools we needed and then had to stop in the drill section so Max could play with them. “I think I’ll buy one of these.”

“For what?”

“You never know when you’ll need one, and they’re pretty cool.”

As I planted my tired self back in the ottoman, Max removed all the pieces to the crib and sat down in the middle of the cluttered floor. Watching him look over the directions and trying to figure out which piece was which was funny but also amazingly sweet.

“Do you need some help?” I asked.

“Would you like to help?”

“Sure. If you weren’t here, I would be doing it anyway.” I got up, sat next to him on the floor, and studied the diagram. About halfway through building it, he stopped and looked at me.

“I think this piece is on backwards.”

“I think you’re right. We’ve been doing this for three hours, and I’m starving. This little one wants to eat.” I placed both hands on my belly.

“I’m starving too. How about some Thai food?”

“That sounds great.”

He got up and held out his hand to help me up from the floor. An overwhelming feeling washed over me the minute I placed mine in his. He helped me up, and we walked to the kitchen, where I took the menu from the side of the fridge. After deciding what we wanted, Max called in the order for delivery. I grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and sat down at the table.

“Have you seen your father?” I asked.

“Yes, and it didn’t go over well. He pretty much disowned me. His words.” He sat down across from me.

“Why?”

To think that a parent would disown their child saddened me, and I couldn’t even imagine it.

“He told me I betrayed him, and he doesn’t deal with traitors. We got into a huge fight, and my mom stood there and didn’t say anything. He told me to watch my back with my company because it could all come crashing down in the blink of an eye.”

“Max, I’m sorry.”

“He’s a ruthless son of a bitch. He always has been, and he always will be. He told me that I was no longer a part of the family, and he never wanted to see me again.”

“And your mom just stood by and let him talk to you like that?”

“Yep. I walked out of their house, and I don’t intend to ever go back.”

“Are you going to tell them about the baby?”

“No, Emma. I’m no longer a part of their family, so, technically, they aren’t going to have a grandchild.”

“What about Fiona?”

“I’ll tell her. She hates them, and she’s flying to Paris for the summer. She said she may not come back.”

“What about college?”

“She’ll study over there.”

My heart ached for him. It truly did because I could see the sadness in his eyes and the despair in his voice when he talked about them. This had to be incredibly hard for him. There was a knock at the door, and Max got up, answered it, and set our food on the table. I took a couple of plates down and set the table. As we sat there eating, I asked him about his company.

“Where are you going to set up here in New York?”

“Connor Black of Black Enterprises has the third floor of his building for rent. I met with him earlier in the week and signed the agreement. It’ll do for now until the company grows. Then I can move to my own building.”

“What’s your company called?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Hamilton Tech. I’ve hired the best of the best to develop new software and hi-tech equipment that people are going to love. Or at least I hope they do.”

“They will.” I gave a small smile.

After we finished eating, we went back to building the crib. Many expletives later and two more hours, it was finally built and put in its proper place.

“Good job, Hamilton.” I put my hand on his shoulder.

“I couldn’t have done it without your help.”

I opened the closet and took out the large bag holding some of the wall hangings. I pulled out the silver letter S and held it up.

“What’s that?” Max asked.

“Her first initial.”

“You’ve picked a name?”

“Sarah. Sarah Renee Hamilton. The meaning of Sarah is princess.”

He walked over and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into him without even thinking about it, or at least as much as he could without my belly getting in the way. I didn’t pull back because it felt so good to be held again.

“I love that name, and she truly will be a princess. I wasn’t sure if you were going to give her my last name.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to at first, but since you’re back and you’ve made it very clear that you’re going to be in her life, I thought I’d better. She should have the Hamilton name.”

“Thank you, Emma. You have no idea what that means to me.” He kissed the top of my head.

“I bought something else.” I broke our embrace and pulled two silver butterflies from the bag.

He smiled.

“I always want our little girl to dance. Even on her saddest days.”

“She will. She’ll have your strength. With you as her mother, she’ll dance her whole life. Would you like me to hang them?”

“Yes. Please.”

He first hung the oval silver mirror and then the butterflies on each side. It was perfect.

“I better get going. You look exhausted, and it’s getting late,” he spoke.

“Okay. Thank you for everything today.”

“You’re welcome, Emma. Thank you, too.”

I gave him a smile as I walked him to the door.

“I’ll be in touch. I promise.”

“Bye, Max.”

“Bye, Emma. Bye, Sarah.” He placed his hand on my belly.