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Of course, Julian Locke was sitting at the head of the table, and I was parallel to him with our lawyers by our sides. They were both personally flown in on Julian’s private jet—God forbid he give me any time to think things over. I didn’t want to involve lawyers. We could have worked this out on our own, but now I had no choice in the matter.
Like with everything, he’d stolen that away from me too.
For the last twenty minutes, all we did was fight back and forth over his ridiculous demands. He wanted joint custody, one week off, one week on, when we didn’t live in the same state. Along with exchanging of holidays, switching each year on who would get Thanksgiving and Christmas. The last demand he had was a real kicker—Julian wanted our daughter to carry his last name.
I’m sorry, what?!
The desire to punch him and his stuffy lawyer, Anderson, in the face was palpable.
Especially when Anderson stated, “May I remind you, Miss Troy, that Mr. Locke has been more than flexible with the terms of his agreement.”
“Flexible?” I choked out. “You call this flexible? He just found out about our daughter yesterday, and he hasn’t even given me any time to explain anything to her. This is the complete opposite of flexible! This is entirely selfish on your part and utter bullshit, Julian! She doesn’t even know who you are!”
“Whose fault is that, Autumn? It sure as hell isn’t mine.”
I glared at my lawyer. “He doesn’t even know her name! Greg, do something!”
He nodded, looking over at them. “Miss Troy has been the sole parent for the last nine years—”
“I don’t need to hear your bedtime story. She either agrees, or I’ll take her to court for sole custody.”
“Julian! Do you hear yourself? What the fuck? You can’t do this to her!”
“I’m doing it for her. Big difference, kid.”
“I’m trying to keep my calm, alright? Do you know how hard that is for me right now? Please.” I paused to let my words sink in. “Just think about it for a second. She doesn’t know you, and I know deep down you understand how hard it will be to uproot her from everything she’s known for the last nine years. I promise I won’t keep her from you. I want her to get to know you, but we can’t do it the way you want.”
“You’ve left me no choice.”
“We don’t even live in the same states. How is joint custody going to work?”
“I have three private planes, Autumn. Pick one.”
“So you’re just going to completely turn her life upside down? What about school? And her friends?”
“I can get her a private teacher, and she’s a kid—she will make friends in no time.”
“Do you hear how insane you sound? You! The man who grew up from foster home to foster home. Why would you want her to go through that?”
“She’s not being tossed away like I was. I’m her father, and I have just as many rights to her as you do, sweetheart.”
“You’re being unfair.”
“I don’t give a shit what you think I’m being. I stand by my demands. If you don’t like it, I’ll see you in court.”
I wanted to bash his face in. “I’ve raised her for the last nine years, and no judge in their right mind would give you sole custody of a child who doesn’t even know you.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take, but as you know, I never lose, kid.”
“What is that?” I jerked back. “Is that a threat? You have judges in your back pocket, Julian?”
“What you’re doing is called entrapment, Autumn. And I’m not stupid enough to fall for your desperate antics.”
“I’m not trying to trap you. I’m just trying to make you see reason.”
“What do you suggest we do?” He leaned back against his leather chair. “What’s reasonable for you?”
I sighed in relief, feeling like I was starting to get somewhere with him. “I don’t think joint custody is the right answer, and I’m not saying it’s not something we can’t discuss later, but for right now, it’s too much for her. She needs to get to know you first.”
