9. Finn
Chapter 9
Finn
It’s been a few days since I saw Ava and I’m hoping she’s had a serious think about what I said. I’m also hoping she’s still as stubborn as she always was and not giving in to the old guy’s flowers.
“Finn, can you come into my office, please?” Gaston Jacks asks. And when Dad calls you into his room, you go when you’re summoned.
“Did you have an enjoyable trip?” I haven’t seen Dad for over a week. He’d taken Mom on a romantic break to the Maldives and looking at his sun-kissed skin and his sparkling eyes, the trip has made him look ten years younger.
I need to call Mom and speak to her.
“Very nice relaxing, but I need to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“When you were in college, you were seeing a girl called Ava.”
“Mmm,” I whisper. “And yes, she works in this building.” He’s obviously seen her around and recognized her. Dad never misses a trick. He can recognize someone from years before.
“Interesting.” A slow smirk rises at the corner of my father’s mouth. He slowly nods. “I was at an event the Saturday before my vacation, and I think she was there.”
“If it was a legal event, there is a good chance. She’s a lawyer.”
He walks to the door and closes it behind me. “It was Sterling Finance who hosted the event.”
I follow him to his desk and sit.
“We’ve worked with the Sterling Finance on occasions for various projects,” he says with hesitation. “They work in the office block next door.”
I haven’t worked with Sterling Finance. I understand they’re a key client and are more than happy to pay for my father’s services when things get too tricky for their legal department. “Do you want me to talk to them?”
He shakes his head. “Jameson Sterling, the CEO, got up at the event and made a big announcement. Something about starting a new chapter in his life with his girlfriend in the US.”
Not really sure where this is going.
Dad bites his lip for a moment before he says, “I didn’t put two and two together at first. Your mom kept chatting about the vacation and things we had to do and pick up and it never registered.”
“What didn’t register?”
“His girlfriend ... I’m sure it was your ex-girlfriend, Ava.”
My heart falls like lead into my stomach. Ava’s old florist guy is a billionaire.
“So I had another look at the event pictures while we were away and looked them over, and because something didn’t sit right with me.”
“Why?” I turn away from him and glance out of the window at the London skyline as I try to hold back my tears.
Dad sighs. I turn back to him. “He said he wanted to start the new life with her and her daughter.”
She has a child with him?
My blood simmers in my veins at the lies she told me.
And as though Dad reads my mind. “Not their daughter, or his daughter. Her daughter.”
My eyes widen. She could have lied and had lots of boyfriends since we split up. She had condoms in her bag, after all. Then I remember the last time we had sex. Her insisting I wore a condom when I hadn’t worn one with her for two years. And me removing it when I flipped her on her knees.
“Could her child be yours?” Dad asks. His head tilts to one side as he considers me.
“Until recently, I haven’t seen her for four years. She certainly wasn’t pregnant the last time I saw her.”
“But if the little girl is just over three years old.”
“You’re a lawyer Dad,” I say. “You’re jumping to the conclusion she’s mine. You need more facts than assuming her age.”
“And if she is your child? What then?” Dad looks over the rim of his glasses, ignoring my comment. “Are you happy Jameson wants to move them both to New York, probably marry her and adopt your child? Because I couldn’t let that happen.”
“My child?” I shake my head slowly, but inside my blood is raging. If Ava has had my child all this time, she’s going to pay for not telling me.
“I’ll get my private detectives to check her out. If she’s around the right age, we need to put emergency measures in place so she can’t leave the country. We need contact with this little girl. Your mom needs to meet her.”
The more I look into Jameson Sterling, the more my heart sinks. He’s a billionaire at one of the largest investment companies in the world. He’d been married once before, but has no children from his first marriage. Rumor is his first wife enjoyed spending his money more than spending time with him. But then there’s a rumor he wasn’t the perfect husband either.
Ava is being wooed by a fucking billionaire.
How on earth can I win her heart from someone like that? I'm rich after helping a client sell his app, but not a billionaire.
Then again, do I want her heart any longer if she kept my daughter away from me?
My daughter?
I twist in my seat, pick up a stapler and throw it against the wall.
Is her daughter just over three years old? Did she have my baby and not had the decency to let me know?
She is going to pay, if it’s true.
And sadly, losing her when I’m so close to winning her back is a price I’m willing to pay.