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“Not small, no. I purposely sought you out today.” I braced my ankle on my opposite knee. “And it hasn’t been that long since you spoke, has it? At least, not since you tried to speak to her about the baby you abandoned.”
He blinked several times, clearly taken aback by my bluntness. “I’m sorry, Elliot. I don’t know what Kit’s told you, but that isn’t exactly how things went down. I had to come back to Australia to—”
I raised a brow. “To what? What possible reason could you have for leaving Catherine pregnant with a house you knew damn well she couldn’t afford? And then stealing what little money she had left from her?”
He held up a hand. “Not everything is as simple as that. I made a few mistakes, but if you speak to Kit, you’ll know I’m trying to make things right. Kit and the baby will be coming here—”
“What’s her name?”
His mouth fell open. “What?”
“The baby. What’s her name?”
He stared at me, and I could practically see his brain trying to shake off a thick coating of dust so he could use it. But it was no help.
“I…don’t know. But that isn’t the point.”
“You’re right. The point is, you’re a deadbeat, and if you truly think for one second Catherine will be flying eighteen hours with her baby to seeyou, you’re dumber than you look. That will never happen.”
He crossed his arms, pouting like the toddler he was. “I have a right to see my child.”
“Then get your ass on a plane and go see her. But when you do, come prepared to be charged with theft and fraud and whatever other crimes my lawyers can find you’ve committed for what you pulled with her house. I have plenty of evidence to back up the claim, and I’ll find more.”
“There is no need for any of that.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. “I’ll send her the money. It was a mistake. A huge mistake.”
I raised my hand. “I couldn’t care less about your useless explanations. What I do care about is your flimsy attempt to worm your way back into Catherine’s life. If you want in, you’ll have to work for it. Demanding she flies to see you isn’t going to happen.”
He pulled himself together, covering his nerves with self-importance. “Just who are you to tell me what will or will not happen? If I want Kit and the baby here, they’ll come. I also have the ability to make her life difficult if she doesn’t cooperate.”
“You already made her life difficult. You really don’t have any shame, do you?”
He raised his chin. “I want my daughter here.”
This was what I’d been expecting. I’d done my research. My background checks had been thorough. Liam didn’t surprise me with his answers, and he wasn’t going to get anywhere with them.
But I really didn’t like hearing him call Joey his daughter. It felt wrong, on a bone-deep level, despite not being untrue. His DNA had been used to create her, but she wasn’t his. If he wanted to change that, he had a long road ahead of him.
“At first, I thought it was strange that, after all this time, you decided to reach out to Catherine. Then I did some digging and discovered you’re newly engaged. Congrats, by the way.”
He dropped his arms flat on his desk. “I am engaged, and I’d like my fiancée to get to know my child. We can be a family.”
“Ah, there it is.” I wagged my finger at him. “Your fiancé, Stella, daughter of Tom Bergerman, the famously conservative owner of the superstore chain BergMart. From what I read, he and your father are about to enter into a pretty big investment deal for the new waterfront, aren’t they?”
Another twitch. “Whether they are or aren’t has nothing to do with anything.”
“Right.” I nodded sharply.
The thing about Tom Bergerman was he was a strong proponent of “traditional” family values. A married man and woman plus children. He was a regular donor to one of Australia’s most notorious and conservative superchurches and often supported politicians who campaigned to end gay marriage and strip women of their body autonomy. He’d also publicly disowned his own son after he came out as trans. Tom lived and breathed his ideals.
Liam picked up a pen, clicking the end of it. “Look, I—”
“I wonder what Tom would think about you deserting the mother of your child only weeks before she gave birth? Would your future father-in-law approve of that?” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “Does Tom even know you had a child out of wedlock?”
His nostrils flared. “There’s no reason to tell him any of that.”
“Because he wouldn’t approve.”
“He has his own beliefs.”
