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“There’s more, but I’ll tell you later.” Jules glanced meaningfully at Ava. Her mom nodded in understanding and changed the subject. Jules was grateful for Simone’s understanding—she wanted Simone’s input, but until she had decided what she was going to do, she didn’t want Ava to know anything. It was too confusing for a child.
After dinner, Jules tidied the kitchen while her mom put Ava to bed. Jules had offered to give Ava her bath, but tonight Ava had wanted her grandmother, so Jules acquiesced and left them to their fun while she cleaned up. Most nights she and her mother took turns putting Ava to bed, and tonight she had other things she needed to take care of. Letting Simone handle Ava’s bedtime gave her time to do what she needed.
Jules finished her chores in record time, desperate to do some research on Nik before she filled her mother in on the situation. She had hoped to dig into his past while she was still at work, but the day had got away from her, especially after she’d agreed to participate in the auction.
Now she opened up her laptop and pulled up WYCK’s website, trying to learn as much as possible. When an internet search led to articles inForbesand theEconomist, including estimates of Nik’s net worth being over a billion dollars, her growing unease morphed into outright fear.
Nik had unimaginable resources at his disposal. Jules needed her job to keep making her mortgage payments. They lived in different worlds. Would he want anything to do with his daughter? Worse, would he try to take Ava away from her as punishment for keeping Ava from him?
Jules was at war with herself over telling Nik. Ava deserved to have a chance for a relationship with her father, if that was what Nik wanted. Her own relationship with her father was nonexistent now, and she didn’t want the same thing for Ava. But she couldn’t allow Nik to take Ava away from her. Jules didn’t want to believe Nik would do that, but how well did she really know him?
She didn’t. Everything she’d found tonight said he was a total shark in the boardroom, but the articles about his personal life had been few. He was divorced and not seeing anyone that she could tell. He had no other children. That could be by his choice, because he didn’t want children. Or it could mean that he would want Ava because she was his chance to have a family. Nausea churned in her belly.
Jules was curled up in the family room with Penny, drinking a cup of tea to calm her stomach, when her mother found her.
“Ava is sleeping. Spill it,” her mom said.
Jules choked out a laugh. This was what she loved about her mother. No pussyfooting around, straight to the point.
“The private equity partner that showed up is Ava’s father. And I don’t know what to do.” It was a relief to share her conflict with someone. She’d been carrying it around, letting it wind her up and make her anxious all day, and now she could brainstorm options.
The only people who knew that Ava had been the result of a random hookup were her mother and her therapist. Even her friends thought Ava had been conceived via a sperm donor. All her friends knew that her divorce from Michael had been caused in part because of her desire to have a family, so no one had blinked when she became pregnant immediately after the divorce was final. Now her past had walked into her office in the flesh, and Jules was at a loss for how to defuse this bomb.
Simone let out a long whistle. “That would have been a shock. He remembered you, I hope?” Simone had a fierce look.
Simone’s protective instincts warmed Jules. After her disastrous marriage, Simone had helped her pick up the pieces. She did not want another man to hurt her daughter. “He recognized me as soon as he saw me.” The mix-up with her name still amused her, as she recalled Nik’s embarrassment for assuming she was a man. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“Good. At least you’re not just a notch on his bedpost. What did he say?”
“He asked me to dinner, to catch up,” Jules said dryly. An offer that was still tempting, even if it was inviting more trouble than she needed. If she were to go out with him, and then tell him about Ava later? That wouldn’t look good. Keeping Ava a secret from Nik could blow up in her face when he found out.
Simone snorted. “Of course he did. Why wouldn’t he? You’re beautiful. What did you say?”
“I said no. I have to work with him. His company may buy Coastal. And then there’s Ava.”
“Yes. What about Ava?” Simone’s words were soft.
Ava. Every decision she made centred on her daughter, and this would be the most important decision she ever made. Jules couldn’t shake the sense of dread that this could cost her everything. “I don’t know. I need to tell him. It’s the right thing to do. And Ava deserves to have a father, to know who he is. In a perfect world, I would tell him and everything would be OK. But what if it all goes wrong?”
“Tell me what scares you the most,” Simone said encouragingly.
All the worry and fear that had been circling her brain since Nik walked into her office spilled out in a rush of words. “I’m afraid he won’t believe me, that he’ll think I’m lying about Ava to get at his money. Or worse, hewillbelieve me, and he’ll try to take her from me.” Just saying the words out loud left her feeling hollow and sick. Ava was her world. She could not risk Nik trying to take her away.
“No court would let him take Ava away from you. You’re a great mother,” Simone said. The fierce look on her face spoke volumes. No matter what, Simone would be at her side to support her.
Jules stared down into her mug of tea, not wanting her mother to see just how scared she was. Nik lived in a different world than they did.
“You don’t understand how much power he has. I dug into his background. He’s rich, Mom. Not a little bit rich either.Forbesestimates his net worth to be over a billion dollars. If he decides to fight for her, how can I compete with that?”
Finding out how much wealth Nik had at his disposal had left Jules more conflicted than ever. He could provide Ava with material things Jules would never be able to. She earned good money and had invested it wisely, but she and her mother were a far cry from wealthy. The only reason they were able to afford the comfortable family home they shared was because Jules had emptied her savings and Simone had sold her condo and put the money towards the home when Jules had found out she was pregnant. They weren’t struggling, but if she lost her job and had to take a significant pay cut to find work, her mother might have to return to work full time, and Jules might have to withdraw Ava from the private preschool she was enrolled in.
“Why do you think he’ll try to take her?”
“I don’t know. I want to believe he won’t, but I don’t know enough about him to predict what he will do. And even if he does believe me, and doesn’t try to take her, then what? He travels all the time. If he wants nothing to do with her, I don’t want her to know that. She’s old enough to be hurt by it. I don’t want him to try being a father for the few weeks he’s going to be here, then disappear for months before she sees him again. I’ve been through that, and I’m not letting her feel that pain.” Jules could hear the anger in her own voice.
Simone gave her a smile that was a mixture of understanding and sadness. “It wasn’t all your father’s fault. I could have gone with him. I wasn’t willing to give up my career either.”
Jules had been fifteen when her father graduated from his PhD program after being a student for what felt like her entire life. He had been offered tenure track jobs at several universities, including one less than three hours away in Seattle.
