Page 5 of The Forbidden Sitter
“I have a kid,” Iwhispered.
“Congratulations, daddy.” Janine squeezed my shoulder. “I know it’s not what you expected, but you’ll be a great father, Mr.Forester.”
Father.The fact that the word now applied to me didn’t feel even close to sinkingin.
“Janine.” I cleared my throat and sat back. “Get my lawyer on the phone and let him know to proceed with the custody paperwork. I want it today, so I can take it to her when I pick up my …son.”
Son??
“Oh God. I’m afather…”
Janine touched my shoulder once again and started for the door. “I’ll get on that rightaway.”
After she left, I sat in dumb silence for who knows how long before I took out my cell and made thecall.
“Finally,” she answered. “Well? What do youwant?”
“I received theresults—”
She didn’t bother to let me finish. “He’s yourson.”
“Yes, he is.” I had to put my cell down on the desk and press the speaker button. My head was aching and spinning with the news. I was both happy and deathly afraid at the sametime.
I don’t know one damn thing aboutkids.
“Then come gethim.”
I’m a father. And she’s his mother!Jesus.
“Cassandra, aren’t you going to miss him at all?” I demanded. “How can you treat a kid that way? Any kid. Much less yourown.”
“When will you be here?” she replied without answering. “I’ll have him ready togo.”
Shock had me numb inside. As if on auto-pilot, I moved forward with the horrible conversation, “My lawyer is drawing up papers you’ll need to sign. I want full custody. And I don’t want to wait through court proceedings to get it. Cassandra, you do realize you will never see your son again if you sign the papers, right? I’ll want to make a life for the boy. One without a mother who seems to hatehim.”
“Yeah, whatever. Cry me a big old river. So hurry up and get your paper and I’ll sign it. I want to get rid of the burden your unprotected cock put onme.”
BITCH.
“Fine. I’ll be there just as soon as my lawyer tells me the documents are ready. Goodbye.” I ended the call, feeling as if I’d just had a conversation with thedevil.
The intercom buzzed. “Brad Moore is here to seeyou.”
As protective as she was of me, Brad was likely one of the few men Janine would have patched through at thisstage.
My head was still reeling as I leaned back in my chair. “Send him in,please.”
When my best friend opened the door to my office, he could tell immediately that something was wrong with me. “What the hell happened toyou?”
I just shook my head,numb.
He made his way to my desk, taking the seat across from me. “You look like a Mack truck just ran over your dog or something. You don’t have a dog though, right?” The words weren’t coming to me. How in the hell do you tell someone this kind of news? Bluntly,apparently.
“I’m a father,Brad.”
His blue eyes went wide. His jaw dropped. He jumped up and slammed his palms on the desk, making a loud slapping noise. “The fuck yousay!”
Yeah, he took it the way I thought hewould.
