The doorbell rang.
Fuck, it was probably Valerie.
Derek looked up. “Is Cleo home?”
“No.” I got to my feet and walked to the door. When I opened it, Valerie stood there, hip cocked with a full attitude.
This should be fun. “Hello, Valerie.”
She welcomed herself into my apartment. “I need to talk to you.”
“Please come in.” I shut the door then turned to her.
“Hey, Mom.” Derek waved from the table, but he didn’t get up to greet her like he usually did.
She seemed a little stung by that and didn’t say anything back.
I wanted to dismiss Derek so we could talk privately, but he was set up at the table and working, so I nodded to the hallway. “Let’s talk in here.” I took her into his bedroom and shut the door. “Did you want to take Derek back? I can drop him off after he’s finished with his homework. He’s focused right now, and I don’t want to disturb him.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “There’s something else I want to talk about.”
“Alright…”
“Jake is moving to London.”
My heart exploded in my chest, like a detonated bomb, because she wouldn’t be telling me this unless she intended to follow him.
“His ex-wife is pregnant…” She sighed in annoyance.
That fucker was all over the place. He had cheated on his wife with Cleo, but he still knocked up his wife, and now he was with a psycho bitch while becoming a father. He juggled three complicated relationships at once.
“I’m kinda in love with him, so…I’ve agreed to move there.”
This could not be fucking happening to me. Was this even true, or was she just being spiteful? “You hardly know him, Valerie.”
“What’s there to know? He’s rich, handsome, good in bed…”
Of course, that was all she cared about. She was incapable of having a deeper relationship because she was so shallow. “Still. It’s only been three months.”
“You moved in with Cleo, and you’ve known her for, what, six?” she asked incredulously. “How about we stop controlling each other’s relationships and mind our business?”
Wow, I would fucking love that. “I don’t mind keeping Derek full time. But I think your priority should be to your son, living in the same time zone and seeing him every day. You shouldn’t be chasing some guy so he can be a father to someone else’s kid.”
She shook her head. “I’m taking Derek with me.”
I inhaled a deep breath, both of my hands tightening into fists because my skull was about to explode and splatter blood all over the goddamn walls. “You can’t do that, Valerie.”
“Yes, I can.” She shrugged with an attitude.
I’d been reading up on child custody laws and regulations, because I’d been afraid of where my road with Valerie would take me. Now I was glad that I had. “You can’t take Derek out of the country. You can leave—but he can’t.”
“I can take my son—”
“I mean that literally, Valerie. It’s the law.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Don’t make me take you to court, Valerie. I will…but I don’t want to.” I’d hire the best lawyers in the country and rip her to shreds. I would turn into a violent psychopath and drop every low blow I could to keep Derek. If she wanted me to fight for him, I wouldn’t stop until I won. “It will humiliate both of us as well as Derek.”
“Look, I’m moving with Jake. That’s final.”
“Fine.” The farther away she was, the better. “But Derek stays here. He’s in the best school in the country. His father, the celebrated researcher, has his business here. Even without that video, any judge would see that it’s better for Derek’s development to stay in New York. They would see that you’re just following some guy, that you’re prioritizing a lover over your own kid. You’d have no chance, Valerie.”
She inhaled a deep breath, like she was growling.
“You want to move to London, I won’t stop you. But…do you really want to miss watching Derek grow up, just to be with some guy?” It actually hurt me, physically hurt me, that she cared so little about our boy that she would even consider it. I’d feared Derek was just a pawn to get what she wanted, but I believed, deep inside, that she loved him. But now…I didn’t fucking know.
“There’s nothing for me here, Deacon. You’ve moved on—”
“Your son is here,” I snapped.
“But Jake is the kind of man I want.”
“There’re tons of rich guys here.”
“But most of them are old and ugly.”
Shallow bitch. “Jake is completely moving his life to be near his child with his ex. Isn’t that somewhat inspiring to you?” I hated that asshole, but he was doing the right thing for his kid. He didn’t just care about himself. He cared about being a father, being present in that kid’s life. I had to give him that. “Don’t you want to do the same?”