by Natalie Ann
She pointed to the first plate. “Those are quesadillas.”
He scrunched his nose and lips up. “What’s in them?”
“Steak and cheddar cheese. Two things that I know you like to eat.”
He looked next to it and pointed. “What’s that?”
“Salsa, and that is sour cream, and you don’t have to use them if you don’t want to. But you can dip your quesadilla in them.”
He nodded, but still didn’t make an attempt to reach or ask for one. “What’s that?” he asked next, looking at another bowl.
“Potato wedges.”
“They look like big French fries.”
“That’s exactly what they are.”
“I like French fries.”
“Then I think you will like these.” She hoped. She wasn’t sure her stomach could handle much of this greasy meal, but she wanted to please him.
He picked his plate up and handed it to Finn. “I’ll try them. But I can get pizza if I don’t like it, right?”
“Olivia said you could, so the least you can do is try what she made. She’s good to her word.”
Trey nodded and watched as Finn put one triangle quesadilla on his plate and four potato wedges.
Tentatively, Trey picked up a potato wedge and eyed it, then took a tiny bite and chewed. Then another bite and another until it was gone. Okay, one thing down. But French fries were easy. The big step was yet to come.
“Aren’t you going to try it, Daddy?”
“I know I’ll like it, Trey. I’m good, you go ahead.” Finn looked over at her and he winked. She was glad he thought this was funny, but she was dying inside.
Trey picked up the quesadilla. “I like how I can pick it up like a tiny pizza.”
At least that was working in her favor. She watched as he took a small bite and chewed, then waited. He didn’t take a second and she was thinking it wasn’t for him, but he didn’t spit it out, so that was a positive.
“Can I try the red stuff?” She reached for the salsa and put a tiny bit on his plate, then watched as he dipped it in and took another bite. “It’s better this way.”
Before she could ask what he thought, he was dipping it again and taking a huge bite. Okay, score one for her first family dinner, however much it wasn’t something she’d ever thought of making before.
“I’d say it’s a hit,” Finn said, reaching over and filling his own plate.
“I don’t know how you do this. I was terrified he wouldn’t like it.” She laughed when she said it, but she was serious.
“You got lucky. I won’t tell you how many times I’ve tried something and he refused to eat it. At least I can add this to the menu of rotating items.”
They were quietly eating, Trey on this third quesadilla when Finn’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, got up, and left the room. She heard him talking in the living room, but barely. Whoever it was, he was trying to stay quiet.
When he returned she asked, “Everything okay?”
He looked at Trey, then back to her, weighed his words, then said, “Yeah. It was Ryan.”
She got the hint and didn’t ask, at least not then. She’d ask when Trey was out of the room or in bed later tonight. Whatever it was, Finn didn’t seem too upset, so she hoped it wasn’t bad news.
Whatever It Took
“Thanks for coming in today,” Ryan said when Finn and Olivia walked into his office.
Ryan hadn’t been able to tell him much when he called two days ago, only that he was able to set up a time to meet with Becca and her attorney, but he wanted to meet with him prior and let him know what he discovered.
“Not a problem.”
“Do you want Olivia in on the meeting? It’s your choice, but it might not be wise once I tell you everything.”
Finn had asked Olivia to come with him for support. It was a hard thing for him to ask, but deep down he knew he needed it and he knew she would understand.
“Let’s hear what you’ve got to say and go from there.”
“Have a seat then.” Once they were all seated, Ryan said, “Since we’re all friends here, I can be brutally honest. I wasn’t really sweating it before I got all my information.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because once I saw who was representing her, I figured it would all work out. Her attorney has a reputation of being a bungling fool. The only way he wins a case is if he settles out of court, and most of the time that is all he is really trying to do anyway.”
“So this is all about money again? All she wants is to be bought?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. Not in a child custody case. If it were anything else, I would say yes. You both did say she never came right out and said she wanted money, correct?”
Olivia and he had both given their depositions weeks ago regarding their encounters with Becca.
Olivia spoke up. “No, not directly. Just hinting.”
“Then the suggestion that Trey wasn’t my son.”
“She’s smart enough to not come out directly and say she wants money. As for paternity, we know it’s a non-issue. But it does help strengthen your case. Not only had she abandoned Trey but she also admitted she had multiple partners and didn’t know who the father was,” Ryan said.
He hated having that conversation with Ryan and hated even more it was being talked about in front of Olivia. But he had to push all his embarrassment aside and just be thankful that Trey really was his son, otherwise he’d be fighting a whole different battle right now.
“So what did you find out?”
“I’ve got an investigator on retainer and had him look into Becca’s past, what she’s been up to the last few years, and her financial records.”
“Where’s she been?”
Finn wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He’d never cared before, or so he told himself, but now he figured it was best he knew the whole story. To see if anything made sense over the last four years.
“She was near Virginia Beach, working in different bars, moving around. Not really staying anywhere for more than a year, job wise.”
It sounded like her. He knew she always went where the money was, wherever she felt she could make more in tips or there were big spenders. Looking for her next target, he started to think.
“What else did you find?”
“She’s in debt up to her ears. Has herself one hell of a shopping addiction by the sounds of it. And that wasn’t all.”
Again, no surprise there. Becca always wanted things, and nothing he ever gave her was enough. She wanted to go on fancy vacations and have high-end designer clothing. Things he’d never heard of before and sure the hell wouldn’t spend hard-earned money on.
“I’m not sure I want to know, but so far you aren’t telling me anything I couldn’t have figured out on my own.”
Ryan sat back and got comfortable. “This is the clincher, or what I think prompted her visit. Seems she was running a scam with another woman.”
“What kind of scam?”
If it was possible for Finn to feel any more ill, he didn’t know, but something told him he was about to find out.
“She and a friend were targeting college kids on break, getting them drunk, handing over free drinks and loading them up. They were targeting those they picked out as having money to burn. I won’t go into details on it all. I don’t think you want to know. Needless to say, easy targets in her mind.”
“No, I do. I want to know everything.” As much as he didn’t, he knew he needed to.
“They’d get them drunk and bring them back to their place. What they did, who knows, but I’m sure we could all guess. Then Becca and her friend would empty their wallets.”
“She was robbing people?”
It was a toss-up on what was worse in his mind. If she was selling herself, which was what he’d thought Ryan was going to say, or stealing. This just didn’t seem like the same person, but yet, part of him knew it was. She’d always been greedy and always looking
for the next score, now that he thought of it. Becca and all her friends. Everything had always been a joke to them. “Life’s an adventure, enjoy the ride,” she’d say. Parenting wasn’t part of her life’s journey though.
“By the sounds of things. Small amounts, a few hundred here and there. No one ever turned them in. Embarrassment, maybe, not sure why. There were two complaints filed at different places of employment, but no proof. Both times the men went willingly with her and another co-worker. Both cases, the men were drunk when they left and really couldn’t remember much other than they had a lot of cash when the night started, and none when they woke up.”
“There has to be more than this,” Olivia said.
As much as he didn’t want to think it, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Why does there have to be more?”
“Because, Finn, that happens all the time. A woman gets a man drunk, gets him to buy her things, or maybe she takes the money, but it’s his word against hers. There has to be something more serious.”
“There is. Whether she escalated or was desperate, who knows, but right now there are pending charges filed against her for embezzlement at her last job. Close to twenty thousand that they’ve been able to establish so far. It’s still an ongoing investigation, but with so much of the business in cash, it’s been hard to determine the exact amount.”
“So she needs money to make those charges go away?” he asked. “Legal fees, or the money to pay it back?”
“That’s my guess,” Ryan said.
“How could she afford a lawyer for this?” Olivia asked.
“I’m sure her counsel took the case based on getting a fee from the settlement she was hoping for. That’s what he normally does, even though they haven’t come out and said that exactly.”
“You aren’t asking Finn to settle, are you?”
Finn look over at Olivia’s outraged face. What a woman, coming to his defense.
“Absolutely not,” Ryan said. “My guess is she doesn’t know what we’ve found out. She doesn’t even know you had DNA tests done years ago. I think she’s coming here to discuss a settlement to keep quiet about Trey’s paternity.”
“Why would she think that?” Finn asked.
“I might have alluded to that,” Ryan said sheepishly. “I asked them here to talk over our options. She could take that anyway she wanted.”
“And you banked on her thinking Finn wanted to pay her off?” Olivia asked.
“Her or her attorney.” Ryan looked at his watch. “They should be here in about twenty minutes. So how do you want to play this?”
“I’d prefer Olivia isn’t part of it.”
He was hoping he wasn’t hurting her feelings, but it was a risk he was going to take. He didn’t want her to witness this. He wasn’t sure what he would say or do, and he wanted it all behind him.
“Probably for the best,” Ryan said.
“That’s perfectly fine with me,” Olivia said. “Otherwise I might jump across the table and scratch her eyes out.”
“You’d do that for me?” Finn asked, finally finding a reason to smile.
“I’d do anything.” She looked over at Ryan, hesitated a moment, then continued to speak. “It’s not all about you, or me, or even Trey. It’s about all of us. I’d do whatever it takes to keep it that way.”
Finn was speechless. She was right—it was about all of them, not each of them individually, but rather as a team. They were stronger that way. It just took him this long to realize it.
Finn watched as Becca and her attorney walked into Ryan’s conference room twenty minutes later. He’d been sitting in there with one of Ryan’s staff, who would be recording and taking notes during the meeting.
At the moment, he was trying to quiet his racing heart. He hoped it would be over soon. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about what Ryan had discovered.
Part of him was appalled, the other part had no shock at all.
Looking back, the signs were all there. Becca had always been greedy, selfish and self-centered. That she would stoop so low as to steal was of no surprise at this point. He could only imagine all the other things she’d done that he didn’t know about.
“Finn,” Becca said, smirking and looking more confident than she should. She obviously was clueless as to what was going to happen.
He didn’t bother to acknowledge her at all, just glanced her way and then waited until everyone was seated.
Ryan started out. “We asked you here today to see if we could resolve this outside of the courtroom.”
Becca’s attorney took out a sheet of paper and slid it across the table to Ryan. “We’d like that as well. Here is what we propose.”
Ryan picked up the paper and scanned it, then slid it to Finn.
“No,” Finn said. There was no way he was sharing custody with Becca.
“That’s just a starting point, of course,” her attorney stated, looking smug and making Finn want to grab him by the throat. “Of course, there is the question of paternity. We could mandate a DNA test and this matter could be resolved should you not be Trey’s father.”
“Already done,” Finn said, crossing his arms.
Ryan slid some papers across the table. “We won’t be agreeing to any custody changes at all,” Ryan stated firmly, “so if that is what you’re looking for, we can go to court. I’ll gladly make you a copy of that paternity result.”
“Not so fast,” her attorney said, picking up the paper, scanning it, and handing it over to Becca. Her expression hadn’t even faltered. Either she didn’t care, which was Finn’s guess, or it didn’t matter one way or the other. Her attorney pulled out another sheet of paper; obviously he anticipated the first offer being turned down.
Ryan picked up that sheet, snorted out a laugh, and showed it to Finn. Again, Finn said, “No. She’s not seeing Trey either. No visitations.”
“He’s my child,” Becca stated, some of her composure leaving her face.
“He stopped being your child when you left one morning without an explanation.”
“I told you why,” she argued.
“You couldn’t handle it, right? Grow up, Becca. That’s not an excuse and you know it.”
“He’s always been your child more than mine.”
“Really. That’s a funny statement coming from a woman who just admitted she didn’t know who Trey’s father was. Is this about his name?” Finn didn’t know what possessed him to ask that. Why he was even bothering, but there were all these things going through his mind, making him wonder. He didn’t know why he couldn’t leave it alone, why he had to bring up the past. “That I named him after my grandfather and not some silly made-up name that no one could pronounce let alone spell that you and your friends thought of one night?”
“Please. I couldn’t care less about his name.” She waved her hand at him, like she was swatting him away. “I never wanted him, not once. I would have ended the pregnancy if I thought I could have gotten away with it. But I didn’t even know I was pregnant until it was too late.”
She’d never said that to him, not once. Never even hinted about it. He shouldn’t have been surprised that she would have aborted their child, and was glad he didn’t have to fight back then.
He knew he wouldn’t have won. It was her body, he wouldn’t have had a choice in the matter, no matter how much he would have tried to stop her.
She’d talked about adoption, but he wouldn’t allow that, and it was only a brief conversation in the beginning when she found out and said she was scared. He wasn’t giving his child up, end of story, he’d told her.
Now he had to wonder if she’d thought she had an easy ticket with Finn once he said he’d take care of everything. Only it wasn’t as easy as she hoped.
“Then why are you here? Why do you want visitations? None of this makes sense,” Finn said.
“She wants money,” Ryan said, looking at Becca’s attorney and putting him on the spot. Making them admit the real reason they were
here. “You found out who Finn was dating and thought you struck gold.”
“Don’t answer that,” he advised Becca.
But she didn’t want to listen to that advice, just like she never listened to anything else. She was always shortsighted with her eye on the prize.
“It has nothing to do with Olivia and everything to do with you,” she snarled at Finn. “I went through hell during that pregnancy. I got fat, I felt like crap, and I was stuck in that house you had to redo. I should get something out of this for giving you a son.”
Finn opened his mouth and shut it again, no words coming forth. There was nothing he could say to that.
Becca’s attorney cleared his throat. “Fine, let’s get to the bottom line then.” He pulled out another piece of paper.
Ryan put his hand up and stopped him. “Don’t bother. Let’s cut to the chase.” Ryan pulled out his own paper and passed it to Becca’s attorney. “This is the reason she needs money and this is the reason she won’t get a dime. Nor will she get any visitations with Trey, let alone custody. Which she just admitted she didn’t even want to begin with.”
Becca’s attorney picked up the paper, scanned it and squinted his eyes, his face turning red, then turned to her. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
Snatching the paper out of his hand, Becca scanned it and paled, then squared her shoulders. “That has nothing to do with this and they have no proof.”
“Regardless,” Ryan said. “You don’t get to ask for payment for having a child and walking out on him. It doesn’t work that way. Why you think you deserve to get paid for carrying a child and handing him over prior to any legal clause of surrogacy is beyond me, but you won’t be getting a cent of Finn’s money. Not today, and not if we go to court. You decide your next move.”
Finn looked at Ryan, still relaxed in his seat, looking at Becca and then her attorney.
“A word with my client, please?”
Becca stood up and followed her attorney out of the room while Finn sat there stewing. “Now what?” he asked Ryan.
