AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And why’s that?”
“Because that’s what people do in your world. It’s what you did to me. You bought me with a promise that I’d be working for my money, though we both knew you were wildly overpaying me.”
Evan runs a hand through his hair. “I was just trying to take care of you.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I would be able to figure it out on my own?” I wipe my eyes and bite back the rest of the tears that threaten to fall. “No. It didn’t. Because even after months, here you are thinking that I would take the money.”
“I would want you to take the money. I promised your father that I would take care of you. Two million dollars is a lot of money. I don’t doubt that it would have been enough to take care of you for a few years.”
“And we’re back to my father.” I shake my head and pace across the room. “How the fuck do we always end up back at my father’s dying wish? It doesn’t matter what he wanted! He’s dead! I never really knew him!”
“It does matter. It matters more than you know.”
“Is that all this has been this entire time then?” I hate the way my voice breaks as he looks away from me. “Just you trying to uphold my father’s dying wish? That’s why you fucked me? Got me knocked up? “
“The pregnancy was an accident.”
I shake my head, my stomach tossing and turning. “You know the best part of their offer was the fact that I should hand you sole custody. Sign away my parental rights. I suppose I should have seen this coming from a mile away. It’s what people with more money than brains do.”
His head snaps back to me. “They did what?”
“They told me that to get the money I would have to give up my child. And then, when I refused the money, they told me that they would take me to court over being an unfit parent.”
“They can’t do that.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m done with this, Evan. I want our relationship to work, but I don’t want it to work at the cost of your family.”
“I’ll talk to them.”
I throw my hands up in the air. “And what good has that been doing so far? They don’t want to see reason. I don’t know if they ever will. I don’t want to be the reason that your family falls apart.”
“I love you, Kendall. Don’t do this.”
“I love you too. So damn much. That’s why I’m doing this.” I swallow the lump in my throat that threatens to choke me. “I’m going to make this right for everyone. You shouldn’t have to lose your family over me. I’m not worth it.”
“Kendall.”
“No, Evan. I’m not going to sit around and have money thrown at me by people who want to control me. Especially not if it means the loss of my independence or the ability to be a good mom to our baby.”
He nods, squeezing his eyes shut. When he tilts his head back and looks at the lights, I don’t know what to say.
I want to tell him that everything is going to be alright, but we both know it isn’t.
I’ve made up my mind.
“I want our child to have the best relationship with their grandparents. I don’t want to be a point of stress between the baby and the grandparents. The easiest thing to do is quit seeing each other.”
“I don’t want sole custody,” he says, his voice wavering slightly. “And I don’t want this relationship to end.”
“You are never going to get full custody. I’m going to be a part of the baby’s life. A better mother than the one I had. Not that Mom isn’t great, but I don’t want to fight with our child the way she and I fought.”
“And you think that us staying together is going to lead to that?”
I shrug, my heart pounding in my chest. “I don’t know if it is or isn’t, but I know that not being together will make your parents happy. It will keep them in our child’s life.”
“I don’t know why this is a major concern for you.”
I pause and stare at him for a moment. “You grew up with a family. You take that for granted. It was just Mom and me growing up. She did the best that she could, but I grew up wondering why my family didn’t love me enough to be around. I don’t want that for our baby.”
