CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Xander
“I’m their mother, and I’m telling you to bring them home. Today. Now.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear as Danielle screeched out the last word.
It was an ungodly early hour in California, so getting such an early morning call from my ex-wife was unexpected. But I’d known it would be coming. I’d known to expect such a reaction.
“I have custody now,” I said calmly, pacing the floor in my office. “And the children will remain in my custody until you can prove that you’re fit to see them again.”
“Fit!?” she screeched. “I’m a good mother. I take care of them. Feed them. Clothe them. I always—”
My nostrils flared. “Keep them safe? Keep your son away from your predator of a husband?”
“He’s lying!” I pulled the phone away from my ear again. “Kylian was just pissed that I didn’t buy him the latest Xbox game is all. He’d been acting like a little shit, and I told him that he couldn’t have it until he quit acting like a hellion. This is just his retribution.”
My fingers hurt from holding the phone so tightly. “And do you know why he’d been acting like a little shit?” I asked her, emphasizing each word. “It’s because your husband was molesting him! Did you never think to question why a happy boy would change personalities so quickly?”
“Stop saying that! Jet would never do anything like that. He isn’t homosexual, so what you are accusing him of is ridiculous.”
With only a few words, I understood.
My ex-wife had turned this entire thing around to focus on herself. In her mind, if Jet touched a little boy like that… what did it make her? I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“This has nothing to do with sexuality,” I spat, thoroughly disgusted. “Don’t insult gay people like that. It’s about power. Control.”
“Then why didn’t he choose Kenzie?” she questioned, and I could do nothing but shake my head.
“Listen, when you see your therapist, you can hash through whatever self-image problems this is bringing up for you, but right now, my attention is on helping my son to heal. Do you understand?”
She scoffed, the exhalation of her breath crackling over the line. “I hear you gloating from three thousand miles away,” she hissed. “When Kylian falsely accused Jet, you were probably thrilled to sweep in and fix things, weren’t you?”
I ground my teeth together. “And you were happy to overlook what was happening in your own home,” I shot back.
“Yeah, which was easy because it never happened. Kylian is a little liar.”
“Did Kylian also somehow manage to plant all those pedo pictures and videos on Jet’s computer too? Did he do that?”
She was silent for a moment. “He was hacked!”
I groaned and walked to the window, looking out at the green grass of Central Park across the street. It looked so calm there. Peaceful. But I’d never again be able to walk there without thinking of the close call with Kenzie. It was a reminder that even the prettiest things held dirty secrets. It was a reminder of when I wasn’t a good parent either.
“Besides,” she went on, “you’re no better. You, you bastard, nearly let our daughter get kidnapped yesterday. So, who’s the unfit parent now?”
Looking down to the sidewalk below, I glared at the heads of reporters still stationed outside my building. “That…” I closed my mouth. There was no excuse for what almost happened with Kenz. I’d looked away. I’d let myself get distracted. And I’d almost lost her because of my inattention, I couldn’t argue that.
“And who is your new girlfriend? Be sure to thank her for stepping in where you failed!”
“How…?”
Fuck it. I knew how. Picking up the remote, I turned on the television, pushing the button to mute the sound and flipped to a national channel that ran the news on repeat throughout the day.
Sure enough, I was right there, front and center. Kylian and I facing each other. We grew bigger and bigger on the screen, then a cameraman and reporter entered from our right. It was the first assault, I realized as I watched myself push Kylian behind me.
A second set of reporters entered the screen, and the picture I was watching started to wobble more as the cameraman picked up speed. He was running to join the pack.
I hadn’t seen the chain of events from this camera’s vantage point. Last night, I’d watched preliminary reports from the first camera’s lens.
Picking up the remote again, I unmuted the TV. On the phone, Danielle was screaming my name. I ignored her and focused on the news report.
I was still desperately trying to hide Kylian behind me while I was yelling at the reporters to leave us alone. My stomach sank as, in the background, I saw Kenzie run from the slides, her purple-clad legs a blur in the background as she ran off the screen.
“Xander… are you still there?” Danielle said over the phone, but I didn’t take my eyes from the television.
I watched myself push the cameraman, and he wobbled backward, causing the direction he was pointing the camera to change, and Kenzie appeared again. This time, she was with the man and little dog. I shuddered, the hair raising up on the back of my neck. She was petting the animal and looking up at the stranger, nodding her head to something he was saying.
Because of my wealth, I’d been conscious of security. We had a state of the art system in my apartment here, and I’d made sure they had something similar in California. I paid for the kids’ school and preschool, so I personally knew the security measures they each had.
There hadn’t been a need for bodyguards or a security team because we’d never had a threat before, and I happened to pretty much fly under the radar. I wasn’t a celebrity after all.
Unlike their filthy stepfather, who because of his musical status, had women flocking to him most everywhere he went. Jet, ironically, did have a security team. What those bodyguards didn’t know was that the threat was their client, not the crowds.
On the television, Kenzie stood. No matter how many times I’d spoken to Kenzie about “stranger danger” and all that, while I was fighting with the reporters, she took the leash from the man, then slipped her small hand in his.
I pressed a hand to my stomach, feeling sick. Knowing what had happened and actually seeing it happen triggered a physical reaction, and I moved closer to the trashcan in case I threw up.
Last night, Kenzie told me that the man told her that he had more puppies on the other side of the bushes, and that if she wanted one, he would give her one for free.
It had been that easy.
So innocent. So trusting.
I watched Kenzie get closer to the bushes and then lean back, like she was having second thoughts. The man jerked her forward and she fell down.
“Stop!”
On screen, I turned my head just as the man started to drag Kenzie over the ground. Then Madalyn came into the picture, running toward them, waving her hands over her head.
Then I was running too, pulling Kylian behind me.
The camera was jumping again as the man holding it gave chase. The picture wobbled around, moving up to the sky, then down to the grass, and I lost sight of Kenzie for a moment. When the man regained control, the dog walker was gone, and Madalyn was beside my little girl.
“Xander!” Danielle screamed, but I dropped the phone from my ear and pressed the button to end the call. I’d deal with my ex later, but not now.
Now, I watched me pull Kenzie from the woman’s arms, watched me huddle everyone together. Watched as a microphone was thrust into Madalyn’s face.
Her face twisted in horror as she looked up into the camera. The image froze.
“This is the woman authorities say saved Xander Armstrong’s daughter from potential kidnapping,” the news anchor said.
I just stared at the beautiful brunette filling the screen, her indigo eyes brightened by the sun. The reporter spoke of the brave woman, and how sources close to the investigation had learned that she was Madalyn Durand, a New York native who apparently just arrived from France after attending school there. They also mentioned that Miss Durand’s possessions were stolen when she raced to save the little girl.
I frowned at how much information the news network possessed and how freely they offered it out to the world. Was there no such thing as privacy anymore? Could anyone just say anything they wanted behind the mask of being a “source?”
The image unfroze, and all that was left to show was the police officers pushing the crowd of paparazzi away before the screen cut back to the reporters who rehashed Jet’s arrest and alleged molestation of his stepson. Although they blurred out Kylian’s face, the entire world knew who they were referring to. And the knowledge infuriated me down to the marrow.
The last image was of the four of us being escorted by the police. I was carrying Kenzie and had my arm around Madalyn. She, in turn, had her arm around Kylian, her Eiffel Tower hoodie over his head. Before the screen faded back to the news anchors, the little white dog came trotting up behind us, dragging its leash.
The news anchors laughed and commented on how cute the dog was before turning to a story on how often animals were used to coerce children away from their parents.
No shit.
My phone began to ring, and when I saw it was Danielle again, I ignored it.
When it began to ring again, I cursed and started to mute the damn ringtone, but when I saw the screen, I realized this call was from a local number instead.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Armstrong, this is Steve from animal rescue.”
The dog. Had they found its owners, or would we have a pet by the end of the day? I wasn’t sure which to hope for.
“What can I do for you, Steve?”
“Letting you know that the female dog you found yesterday hasn’t been chipped or licensed that we can tell, therefore, we’ll have to wait to see if any owners claim her.”
Surprisingly, I was profoundly disappointed that she wasn’t coming to live with us.
“Does that mean she has to stay in the shelter?”
“No, sir. If you want, you can foster her for the fourteen-day period required. But since she hasn’t been spayed and her fur shows signs of mange and she’s malnourished, it’s probably safe to say that she’s been abandoned. We estimate her to be about seven or eight months old. We did a titer test and there is no sign of any vaccines being administered.”
Poor little dog.
“Oh… and she’s pregnant.”
Pregnant? Oh, no.
I pressed the heel of my hand into my eye. “Are you serious?”
A little laugh. “Yes, sir. Very pregnant, in fact. We’ve not done any imaging, but from touch, I’d guess she has at least five pups, and she could whelp anywhere from a few days to a week or so. Dog gestation can fluctuate between fifty-eight and sixty-eight days so it’s hard to tell more specifically.”
I stared out the window. Puppies. Could I handle puppies?
No. With my schedule, I couldn’t handle the laziest full-grown dog and be a reliable person to keep the thing alive.
But my schedule was changing…
“Can you recommend a vet and have the dog delivered there for a check-up and grooming?”
Steve seemed to be relieved. “Yes, sir. I’m happy to do that personally. I’ll have them call you when the dog is ready.”
Well, it looked like we had a new dog. No… dogs.
God, what was I thinking?
I disconnected the call and sat down in my chair, turning the big executive monstrosity so that I could look outside again.
So much had changed in less than twenty-four hours.
Just this morning, I’d contacted Joyce and told her that I was taking the kids away for a few weeks, maybe the entire summer.
I hadn’t been able to see her reaction, but I could easily imagine that her jaw had dropped to her chest. Then she became highly efficient Joyce again, and we’d devised a strategy of letting the various VPs take over my role. I’d be available through phone calls and Skype, but I wasn’t coming back to the city unless the building was on fire.
“Your father won’t be happy with this news,” Joyce warned, but I could hear the smile in her voice.
“I’ll take care of Dad.”
And I had. Without wasting a second, I’d called him right after disconnecting from my assistant. Dad was in London with his long-term girlfriend of six years, and since it was late afternoon at the time, he’d answered right away.
He had taken my decision remarkably well, but I thought it was more because of the shock of learning about everything that happened to both Kylian and Kenzie that softened the blow. He had yet to hear the news, so I was glad it had come from me.
“I can’t believe it,” he said, sounding floored.
“I know. I couldn’t believe it either.”
“Go be with them. Armstrong International is a well-oiled machine. It can do without you for a while.” He’d paused, clearing his throat. “It’s good that you have better priorities than I did while you were growing up.”
It wasn’t an apology, but it was just about as close to one as I’d ever received. It had been the very first time I’d heard Dad talk about my childhood or say anything that might reflect on him in a negative way. I stayed quiet, almost too surprised to find my voice.
“I asked Nicole to marry me last night,” Dad said.
I blinked. Dad had sworn he’d never marry again after Mom died. It was my turn to clear my throat. “Congratulations. Can I assume she said yes?”
My father’s voice cracked. “Yeah.” He coughed and tried again. “Yes, she did. She’s pregnant, Xander. You’re going to be a big brother.”
I was glad I was sitting or else I would have been on the floor.
I liked Nicole, but she was only two years older than me, so it had been awkward at first. Talk about dirty old men… she began dating Dad when she was twenty-six and he was sixty-one. Nicole had been called a gold digger, a trophy girlfriend, just about anything the media could cook up, but six years later, she was still by his side. And he was the better for it.
“Well, congratulations again. I always wanted a sibling.”
Dad laughed. “I know you did. Another thing I regret, son. And after what happened with your mother, it was probably best that I waited twenty years to try being a father again.”
Closing my eyes, I remembered my father’s face twisted in anger. His quick temper. I remembered being spanked and punished for doing the slightest thing wrong.
I had an ulcer by the time I was fifteen, trying to be perfect. Trying to never hear, “Your mother would roll over in her grave if she could see what you’ve become,” again.
Even at my best, my mother had “rolled over in her grave” a lot because I could never fully please my father. No grade was good enough. No achievement great enough. I was to always push myself to do better.
But over the years, he’d softened. Not much, but some. And it appeared as if he’d softened even more lately. Was it because he no longer had a company to focus on? Was it because of his health scare two years ago? Was it love? Another child that gave him a chance to be a better father?
It didn’t matter.
“I’m happy for you, Dad. I’m sure Kylian and Kenzie will be excited about having an aunt or uncle too.” Then I’d actually laughed with my father. “That would take some explaining.”
Opening my eyes, I gazed out onto Central Park again.
Yeah, it had been a full day already. And it wasn’t over yet.
I had last minute details I needed to do at the office.
I had to help the kids get packed for our escape.
I needed to prepare for having a dog. No, dogs. Plural. Times at least five.
I groaned, but at the same time, I was also smiling.
Standing, I walked back to the window. There was another, very important thing I needed to do. I needed to talk to Madalyn again. I needed to see if she still wanted to go with me. With us. I needed to make her deposit that damn check so that we could be on some type of equal footing with each other.
“Daddy, Daddy!” My office door flew open and Kenzie came bursting in.
Adrenaline shot through me. Fuck it. What the hell now?
“What’s wrong?”
She frowned. “Nothing’s wrong. D’accord?”
I laughed, and my heartrate started to slow. “D’accord.”
“The crepes are done. Hungry?”
I held out my arms and she leapt into them.
Yeah, I had a thousand things to do, but nothing more important than this.