She simmers in silence and I raise my eyebrow at her in frustration. Well, nothing left but to pull out the document and the check and hand them to her. “This will cover the first installment. As you will see there are six more of the same value to be issued at various points in the child’s life.”
She takes it from me, and her eyes widen at the check. Yes, it is more than generous and hopefully an incentive for her to accept the offer and not pursue this with Cole.
“Why didn’t he come himself to tell me all of this?” she asks eventually.
“You are his past,” I say. “Our family is his future.”
I let that carefully chosen phrase linger there for a moment. This is what I wanted to say to her without Cole’s knowledge. If she thinks there is a child between us, she will know it’s over between them. I don’t feel guilty at the little white lie. I never specifically said we were having a child, I just let her believe it.
“I see,” she says quietly. She sits then and flicks through the document. I turn away to give her a minute and look out of the window while I wait. I turn back to her when she says, “Fine. If he doesn’t want any part of our son’s life, then tell him to go and screw himself.”
I tilt my head at her as she throws the document on the table. Very well. I reach for it and the check, which she quickly snatches out of my reach.
I smile condescendingly at her. “No signature, no check,” I say and that gives her pause. I am asking her to sign away Cole’s parental rights and to never mention to anyone, especially the boy, who his father is. She thinks it over and I know she is going to comply. A total of thirty million dollars over her son’s lifetime far outweighs anything else she is thinking right now, and once she signs it will be too late. This isn’t just a legal document, but a magick one. I’m no fool. Once she signs, she will be magickly unable to tell anyone anything. She leans over and signs away, still clutching the check to her. I whisk the paperwork off the coffee table and sign it myself, giving her a copy back. I nod and turn towards the door.
“Tell Cole I hope that he’s happy,” she says quietly.
I am ready to retort with a sarcastic comment when I realize she was actually being sincere.
“He is,” I answer on his behalf and leave her house hoping never to return. I Astral back home from behind a tree, leaving the shadow cover in place. It’s the least I can do to protect them in their own home.
“Well?” Cole asks me as soon as I land back in our bedroom.
I hand him the signed document and he looks somewhere between relieved and sad. “Changing your mind?” I ask.
“What? No, no of course not,” he says quickly.
I nod briskly and change my outfit to something more comfortable. CK tuts at me as he enters the room and I roll my eyes at him. “Just give me today,” I say. “I will dress the part tomorrow.”
“We are going to do that thing now,” he reminds me gently with a look at Cole, who frowns at him. “You cannot go looking like that.”
“Fine, pick me something appropriate out,” I whine, and he looks delighted that I have handed over control of my wardrobe to him.
“Where are you going?” Cole asks, standing up and hovering over me anxiously.
“Uhm, nowhere interesting,” I stammer and CK freezes momentarily before he resumes his search of my closet.
Cole frowns at me. “Where?” he demands with his hands on his hips.
“Just somewhere that is important to CK,” I say and hope that he doesn’t step in and blurt out our plans to Cole. I am sure I want to do this, but I am not sure how I am supposed to tell this to Cole. He will be devastated.
Lucky for me, CK is in a secretive kind of mood and turns around to say, “Yes, I need Aefre to come with me somewhere. I need her advice on something.”
“What’s the big secret?” Cole yells. “Why can’t I come with you?”
“You aren’t invited,” CK says.
I place my hand on Cole who looks like he is about to commit murder and try to placate him. “We will spend some time together when we get back. Just the two of us, I promise.”
“Fine,” Cole sulks. “Go on your little secret mission. See if I care.” He stalks off in a huff and I feel just awful. This hasn’t been the best day for him so far and now this.
CK silently hands me a gown as I stare after Cole and I absently take it without really looking at it. When I do, I raise my eyebrow in surprise. “Traditional and formal, is she?” I ask, holding up the over-the-top, extravagant, burgundy silk gown with gold embroidery that I didn’t even know I owned.
“Yes,” he says shortly and helps me into the cumbersome gown before he turns me to tie up the laces. I know what is coming next when he asks casually, “Why do you not want Cole to know where we are going?”
“It’s more that I don’t want him to know why we are going. Not yet, my love. It will hurt him,” I explain.
“Hmm,” he says. “He is going to have to know eventually.”