<b>Chapter </b><b>98 </b>


    -CELINE’S POV-


    The silence felt very long between us. Caesar’s simple question hung in the air, making me feel like my world was falling apart.


    “Go back to bed, baby,” I said, my voice barely steady. “Mama needs to talk to Mr. Hunter.”


    “But Mama…”


    65%


    “Now, Caesar. Please.”


    Something in my tone must have scared him because he nodded quickly and padded back to his room, I waited until I heard his door close before I moved.


    “Celine…” Hunter started.


    “Don’t.” I held up a hand, already moving toward the dresser. “Just don’t.”


    I yanked open the top drawer and grabbed our clothes, throwing them haphazardly into the small duffel bag I had brought came here. My hands were shaking, but I couldn’t stop.


    I had to get us out of here. Now.


    “What are you doing?” Hunter’s voice was sharp with rm.


    “What does it look like I’m doing?” I snapped, grabbing Caesar’s favorite stuffed dinosaur from the bed. “We’re leaving. Tonight.”


    “You can’t just….”


    the drill


    “Can’t what? Can’t leave? Can’t protect my son from this mess?” I spun around to face him, clutching the dinosaur to my chest.


    “Watch me.”


    Hunter took a step closer, his jaw set in that stubborn line I’de to recognize. “You’re not taking him anywhere.”


    “He’s my son.”


    “He’s our son.” The words came out like a growl. “And I won’t let you disappear with him again.”


    first


    Iughed, but there was no humor in it. “Let me? You don’t get to ‘let‘ me do anything, Hunter. I’m his mother. I’ve been his mother for three years without you.”


    “And I’m his father.”


    “Being a father is more than sharing DNA.” I turned back to the bag, stuffing in Caesar’s art supplies, and his favorite books. “It’s being there when he has nightmares. It’s working three jobs to keep food on the table. It’s…”


    “I know what being a father means.” Hunter’s voice was quiet, dangerous. “And I’m not going to miss any more of his life.”


    I could hear Caesar’s door creak open again. He was listening, probably confused and scared by the tension in our voices. I lowered my voice, but my anger didn’t diminish.


    “You don’t have a choice in this. We’re leaving, and you can’t stop us.”


    13.15


    Mon, <b>4 </b>Aug


    037%


    “Actually, I can.”


    Something in his tone made me freeze. I turned around slowly, and the look on his face made my blood run cold.


    “What did you say?”


    “I said I can stop you. As his father, I have rights too.”


    “Rights?” The word tasted bitter in my mouth. “You want to talk about rights? Where were your rights when I was sixteen hours inbor with no one to hold my hand? Where were your rights when he had pneumonia at six months old and I spent three days in the hospital praying he’d be okay?”


    “Celine…”


    “No!” My voice cracked. “You don’t get to walk into our lives and start making demands just because you finally remembered you slept with


    me.”


    Hunter ran his hands through his hair, and for a moment, he looked almost vulnerable. Almost like the man I had met that night at the club. But then his expression hardened again.


    “If you’re serious about leaving,” he said, his voice cold and businesslike, “then we’ll settle this properly. Legally.”


    The bag slipped from my hands. “What?”


    “Mywyers will be here in the morning. We can discuss custody arrangements and visitation rights….”


    “Custody?” The word came out strangled. I stared at him like he had just ripped my heart out of my chest. “You’re threatening to take my son away from me?”


    “I’m trying to find a solution that works for everyone.”


    “A solution?” I stepped toward him, fury radiating from every pore. “The solution is that you leave us alone. Caesar doesn’t need the Reid family drama. He doesn’t need your mother trying to buy me off or yourwyers trying to take him away from me.”


    “He’s a Reid, Celine. He belongs here, with his family.”


    “I’m his family!”


    “And so am I!”


    We were both breathing hard, staring at each other across the small room like two wild animals backed into corners. I could see Caesar peeking around the doorframe, his blue eyes wide with fear and confusion.


    The sight of him broke something inside me.


    “You want to know what you are?” I said, my <i>voice </i>deadly quiet. “You’re exactly like your mother. Cold, calcting, and willing to destroy anyone who gets in your way.”


    Hunter flinched as I pped him. “That’s not…”


    “Isn’t it? You’re standing here threatening me withwyers because you can’t handle the fact that I might choose what’s best for my son over what’s convenient for you.”


    “Our son,” he corrected automatically.


    “My son,” I shot back. “Mine. I’m the one who’s loved him every single day of his life. I’m the one who’s sacrificed everything for him. You’re


    13.13


    4 Aug


    <b>14 </b>


    <b>65</b><b>% </b>


    20


    just… you’re just the stranger who got me pregnant.”


    The words hit their mark. Hunter wentpletely still, his face pale.


    “Is that really what you think of me?”


    I wanted to say yes. I wanted to hurt him the way he was hurting me. But looking at him now, seeing the genuine pain in his eyes, I couldn’t


    do it.


    Because the truth was so much moreplicated than that.


    The truth was that I’d thought about him every day for three years. The truth was that seeing him with Caesar, watching him be gentle and


    patient and kind, had awakened feelings I’d buried so deep I’d forgotten they existed.


    The truth was that I was falling for him all over again, and it terrified me.


    “I think,” I said carefully, “that you’re a man who’s used to getting what he wants when he wants it. And right now, you want to y house with a ready–made family because it’s easier than dealing with whatever issues made you run away in the first ce.” <fna656> Get full chapters from f?ndnovel</fna656>


    “I didn’t run away…”


    “Didn’t you? You left me in that hotel room, Hunter. You went back to your life, your responsibilities, your perfect little world. And now you


    want to waltz back in and im everything you left behind.”


    “That’s not fair.”


    “Fair?” Iughed bitterly. “You want to talk about fair? It’s not fair that Caesar has to grow up thinking his father didn’t want him. It’s not fair that I’ve had to work myself to the bone just to survive. And it’s definitely not fair that you get to threaten me withwyers just because !


    won’t fall in line with your ns.”


    Hunter was quiet for a long moment, his hands clenched at his sides: When he spoke again, his voice was softer, almost pleading.


    “I don’t want to fight you, Celine. I want us to work together. For Caesar’s sake.”


    “Then why are you threatening me?”


    “Because I’m scared,” he admitted, the words seeming to surprise him as much as they surprised me. “I’m scared that if I let you walk out that door, I’ll lose both of you forever. And I… I can’t handle that.”


    The honesty in his voice made my chest tighten. For just a moment, the walls between us seemed to thin, and I could see the man underneath all the arrogance and control.


    The man I had connected with that night. The man who had told me about feeling trapped by expectations, about drowning in responsibility.


    But then I remembered his mother’s cruel words, the check she’d tried to force on me, the way Hunter had looked at me like I was nothing


    when I first started working here.


    “I don’t believe you,” I said quietly.


    “Celine….”


    “No. You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to be cruel and cold and threatening one minute, then vulnerable and scared the next. I won’t be manipted anymore.”


    I bent down and picked up the bag, slinging it over my shoulder. “We’re leaving in the morning. You can call yourwyers if you want, but I won’t make it easy for you.”


    <b>Mon</b>, 4 <b>Aug </b>


    “Mama?” Caesar’s small voice made us both turn. He was standing in the doorway now, no longer hiding. Tears were streaming down his


    face.


    “Are we leaving? Are we not going to see Mr. Hunter anymore?”


    A


    My heart shattered. I dropped the bag and knelt, opening my arms. Caesar ran to me, burying his face against my shoulder.


    “It’s okay, baby,” I whispered, even though nothing was okay. “It’s okay.”


    “I don’t want to leave,” he said, his voice muffled. “I like it here. I like Mr. Hunter.”


    Over Caesar’s head, I met Hunter’s eyes. The pain there was so raw, so genuine, that it took my breath away.


    “I like him too, sweetheart,” I admitted, the words slipping out before I could <i>stop </i>them. “But sometimes grown–ups make things


    “Can’t you just not beplicated?” Caesar pulled back to look at me, his face serious. “Can’t you just be friends like me and Tommy?”


    If only it were that simple.


    “It’s not that easy, baby.”


    420


    “But I want Mr. Hunter to be my daddy,” Caesar said, his voice small and hopeful. “He teaches me chess and he makes funny voices when he reads stories and he doesn’t get mad when I spill things.”


    I closed my eyes, feeling thest of my will crumble. Because looking at my son’s face, seeing how much he’d already grown to love the man standing across the room, I realized I was fighting a losing battle.


    Caesar had already chosen his father.


    The question was: could I find a way to choose him too?