Chapter 19 #2
“It’s okay, Kaden.” Chelsea tried to reassure him, even though the situation was dire.
“Come on, Big K. We’re going on an adventure.”
Kaden descended the stairs, looking at each person in turn as if he knew something was up.
“Jagger, don’t do this. You’ll lose him for sure.” Chelsea pleaded again.
“Get in the car, Kaden.”
Once Kaden trotted out the door, Jagger turned to her. “Last chance. You coming?”
“Jagger.”
He shook his head and then rushed out the door.
“You have to stop him.” Everyone chanted at once.
“How?” Chelsea looked to Mrs. Stanton for help, but she only shook her head.
“He’ll be calling Alexis to liquidate funds,” Grayson said.
“Will she do it?”
“Yes. She won’t want to, but she will.” Mrs. Stanton then covered her mouth to stifle a cry.
“Even so, once it’s known he’s gone, he’ll be running from the law.” Chelsea bit her lip. She understood his pain and how it was driving him to break the law. But she had no idea how to help him see reason.
Miss Z pressed a hand to her chest.
“There must be something that can be done.” For the first time since she’d met him, Grayson’s voice shook with emotion.
Chelsea took a deep breath. “There’s one thing. You won’t like it.”
“Will it keep him out of jail?” Mrs. Stanton asked.
“If it works.”
“Do it.” All three said in unison.
Chelsea pulled her cell phone from her purse and dialed. “Hello, Mitch.”
“That’s the police.” Grayson expression showed panic.
Chelsea nodded, hoping that Grayson and the others understood that Mitch was probably their last hope for stopping Jagger from making the biggest mistake of his life.
Jagger pulled the SUV into long-term parking at the local county airport.
The pilot had said the plane would be ready within the hour.
By dinner, he and Kaden would be in New York.
After getting as much money and assets as he could carry, he and Kaden would be flying out of the country.
Where, he still hadn’t decided. Some place that was easy to get lost in, yet still allowed for a semblance of normal family life.
He pushed away the disappointment that Chelsea hadn’t come with him.
All those weeks he’d thought there’d been something more between them, he’d been wrong.
He’d been ready to make her a part of his life but she didn’t even think twice before telling him she wouldn’t go with them.
He mentally kicked himself for forgetting that he wasn’t a man women loved, at least not in the long run.
Jagger exited the car, when a police SUV pulled up behind him, blocking his vehicle. Mitch. Jagger knew in an instant Chelsea had called him. His disappointment turned to rage. He hadn’t anticipated she’d betray him by calling the police.
Mitch took his time walking over to the car. He looked in the backside window, where Kaden sat.
“I’ve gotta go, Mitch.”
“You know I can’t let you do that. While I will arrest you, I’d much rather follow you back home to your loving wife and stuffy servants.”
Jagger scoffed. There was nothing loving about Chelsea’s actions. “You can’t arrest me. I’m not actually doing anything illegal.”
“We both know that technically that’s not true.” Mitch’s features softened. “Jagger, man. This will only end badly. You’ll lose him for good.”
“Jagger. Are you gonna let me out?” Kaden knocked on the window, unable to exit the car because of childproof locks.
“Give me a minute, buddy.” Jagger turned back to Mitch. “You don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand losing a child, no. But from where I stand, he’s not lost. Chels says you have joint custody. That’s good.”
“It’s not good.”
“If his mother messes up, you’ll be there. You’ll probably be able to get full custody if that happens. If she doesn’t mess up, then he gets a loving mother and a father figure. What kid doesn’t deserve that?”
There was a part of Jagger that could see Mitch’s point. The part of him that had worked so hard to give Kaden what he’d never had, who felt betrayed by the system and his wife, couldn’t quite let go.
“There is a third option here.”
“Which is?”
“You let me take Kaden home and you can run off to wherever you plan to go. Although, in that scenario, Kaden loses you. He’ll lose you if you run, too.
You’ll be found and put in jail. All rights, even these part-time ones, will be terminated.
Plus you run the risk of Kaden someday resenting you for trying to keep him from his mother. ”
Jagger sagged against the car as all the fight evaporated from him.
Mitch put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re a great dad, Jagger. Kaden needs you in his life. Don’t let him down.”
Jagger knew there was no way Mitch was going to let him go. The last thing he wanted was for Kaden to watch Mitch arrest him. He nodded and got back in the car.
“Change of plans, buddy. We’re going home.”
“No adventure?” Kaden’s voice sounded disappointed.
“Not today.” Jagger waited until Mitch moved his vehicle, then he pulled out. As he took the road leaving the small county airport, he realized he needed to tell Kaden about the new custody arrangement. “How about ice cream?”
“Can I get dipped?”
Jagger’s voice caught. “Yeah, buddy, you can.”
He pulled into the ice cream shop, with Mitch right behind him. He let Kaden out of the car. When Mitch rolled down his window, he told him, “I need to tell him what’s going on.”
Mitch nodded and killed the engine then exited his vehicle. “I’ll get one too and wait here.”
Jagger ordered two swirled, dipped cones and led Kaden to one of the outside tables. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Okay.” Kaden climbed into the seat then took his cone from Jagger.
Jagger sat across from him and wondered how the hell he was going to explain the situation to Kaden. Worse, how would Kaden take it? “You know how you’ve been visiting your mom?”
“Yep.” Kaden took a bite of the ice cream, breaking off a big chunk of chocolate.
Jagger reached over, taking the big hunk hanging out of Kaden’s mouth with a napkin.
“Yum.”
Jagger laughed, but it was bittersweet. “About your mom. She loves you a lot, just like I do.”
“I know.”
“She’d like to spend more time with you. Like have you stay with her at her house sometimes.”
Kaden looked up from his ice cream. “Why?”
“Because she loves you. She’s your mom.” The words tasted bitter in his mouth, but he reminded himself Kaden was an innocent bystander.
Kaden bit his lip, and Jagger wished he’d made that plane. “The thing is, I want you to stay with me always.”
“Me too.”
“We went to a judge, and the judge said we have to share time with you.”
“Why can’t I stay with you and visit like I have been?”
Jagger’s heart shattered in little pieces. “I wish you could. I wanted you to. Kaden? Look at me, okay?”
Kaden looked at Jagger.
“I love you, and your mom loves you. We have to share because we both love you. I don’t want you to ever think I don’t want you with me, because I do.”
“Jonny Lee’s parents live in two different homes.”
“Yes, it’s like that.”
“I’ve never been to her house. What if I don’t have a bed? What about my toys?” Tears filled Kaden’s eyes. Jagger’s stung with them as well.
“I’m sure you’ll have your own room. You can have toys for her house and my house. Or you can take some of the toys you have there.”
“I don’t want to go.”
Jagger blew out a breath. He stood and walked to Kaden’s side of the table, squatting down next to him. “It will be okay. No matter what, I’m always going to love you and be there for you. Okay?”
Kaden nodded, but his tears continued to flow.
“We’ll be okay, Kaden.” He hugged the boy, not caring when the ice cream cone fell down his back. He offered to buy Kaden another one, but he’d withdrawn. Jagger felt the same and tossed his ice cream into the trash.
“We’re going home now.”
“Your house?” Kaden looked up, panic etching his tiny features.
“Yes. Tonight you’re with me.”
He strapped Kaden into his booster seat and then headed home.
When they walked in the door, he told Kaden to bring his backpack upstairs. Kaden was barely on the first step when Chelsea, Grayson, Miss Z, and Mrs. Stanton rushed into the foyer.
“Oh, thank God.” Chelsea launched herself at him, but he took her arms and pushed her away.
“Don’t.” Jagger heard Mitch walk in the door behind him. He turned his wrath on him. The anger he’d hidden from Kaden burst through. “I’m home. You don’t need to babysit me anymore.”
Mitch stood near the door, like a guard.
“Jagger. You did the right thing—”
He whirled back on Chelsea. “You betrayed me. I was ready to give you everything. All of me, and you betrayed me.”
She retreated from him, fear shining in her eyes. He wouldn’t hurt her. The fact that she seemed to think so reminded him what he fool he was to think she might love him.
Then she pulled in a deep breath and stepped toward him again. “I know what I did, but I did it because I love you. Because I couldn’t let you ruin your life or Kaden’s.”
“No. You were supposed to support me. Help me.”
“I did.”
He might have admired her strength, but he couldn’t get past her betrayal.
“You want Kaden to have a real life. That would never happen on the run. Do you think Tanya would bring him to visit you in prison?”
He hated that she made sense.
“Don’t you see, Jagger? You still have him. Not just visitation, but joint custody.”
Mrs. Monroe had said the same thing. She’d told him the decision was better than she’d hoped, which pissed him off even more. His lawyer didn’t think he’d had a chance?
“Tanya is on board. She wants you in his life.”
Jagger sneered. “I should have known when you suggested I listen to her that you were a liar.”
“Careful, Jagger.”
Jagger had almost forgotten Mitch was there.
“She wasn’t alone.” Mrs. Stanton stepped forward. “We wanted her to call Detective McKenna. We did it to protect you.”
“Then you all betrayed me.”
Chelsea reached out to place her hands on his chest, but he pulled back, shaking his head in disgust.
“We love you, Jagger. And Kaden. This is the only way you two still get to be together.”
Jagger looked at the woman he’d nearly let himself love. At the staff who he thought had his back no matter what. He felt dead inside. “You broke my heart.”
Chelsea closed her eyes. When she opened them, there was fierceness in them.
“I know you’re hurting, Jagger, but this isn’t the end of the world.
You haven’t lost Kaden. You don’t even know loss.
” This time she pushed him. “You have a wife and staff and uncle who think the world of you. A friend who wants you to have freedom and happiness, and all you can think about is yourself. About what you lost. Except you’ve lost nothing.
Kaden is here. You’re still in his life as long as you don’t do something stupid.
You don’t know what it’s really like to lose the people you love.
To not be able to tell them you love them.
To hug them. To see them live life. You’re so rich on love, but you don’t even see it. ”
“Get out.”
She jerked back. It took her a second, but she gathered herself. “That was the deal, wasn’t it?” She shook her head and walked out the door. A moment later, she walked back in. “I need my purse.”
Grayson went to the closet and retrieved it. “Shall I get your car, Mrs. Talbot?”
She shook her head. “No. Thank you, Grayson.” For some reason, that pissed off Jagger even more. His staff was siding with her.