Chapter 5 - THE FIRST HOUR
Maddie agreed to meet Vance in Grant’s attorney’s conference room.
The children were downstairs with Elise.
Vance arrived with Arthur’s records and no lawyer.
Maddie’s attorney, Nora Pike, noticed.
“You should have representation.”
“I will. Someone new.”
“Good,” Nora said.
“Because your former counsel has a conflict.”
Maddie sat across from him.
“First, nobody follows us.”
“Agreed.”
“No surprise visits. No money tied to seeing the children. No interviews. No pictures posted anywhere.”
“Agreed.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I’m trying to listen.”
She looked away.
Nora slid a proposed temporary arrangement across the table.
Paternity testing by consent.
Short visits with Maddie present.
A neutral location.
Financial support handled separately.
Vance signed the consent.
Then Maddie placed a small notebook beside him.
“What’s that?”
“Their schedule. Allergies. Things they like. Things that scare them.”
He opened it carefully.
June liked yellow cups.
Theo disliked hand dryers.
Both needed their rabbits at bedtime.
The notes were practical.
That made them devastating.
Maddie had built an entire world while he wasn’t looking.
“I can pay back everything.”
Her eyes hardened.
“You can pay expenses. You can’t buy those nights back.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
She leaned forward.
“June had a fever when they were six months old. Theo screamed every time I put him down. I sat on the bathroom floor holding both of them while waiting for a nurse to call back.”
Vance said nothing.
“There was nobody to hand a child to, Vance. Nobody.”
He looked at the notebook.
“I’m sorry.”
“I needed you sorry then. Now I need you reliable.”
An hour later, she took him to a quiet playroom in Grant’s building.
June hid behind her mother.
Theo stared at his shoes.
Vance sat on the floor.
“I brought nothing,” he said.
“I didn’t know what you liked.”
Theo held up a red block.
“Cars.”
“I like cars, too.”
“Not loud ones.”
Vance nodded.
“Especially not loud ones.”
Theo placed the block beside him.
It wasn’t forgiveness.
It was a beginning.
Then Nora appeared in the doorway, phone in hand.
Her face had changed.
“Maddie. We need to talk.”
She turned the screen around.
A gossip site had published a photograph from Columbus Circle.
May you like
The headline read:
BILLIONAIRE’S EX RETURNS WITH SECRET TWINS.
