Prologue
Cole Elliott’s demeanour changed in the ugliest way when he heard the woman on the other end of the phone say, “She’s putting him up for adoption.”
He barely managed to respond enough through gritted teeth to keep the conversation going. “Excuse me?”
“Rachel’s putting Camden up for adoption.”
In the moments following her repetition, Cole’s body strained in his seat as though preparing for a physical battle as his mind wrestled to process correctly what his private investigator was saying.
“That soulless leech is trying to sell my son?”
He could imagine his agent wincing on the other end of the line but she would just have to be grateful that was all he said. He was refraining from seriously letting loose. The fury that coursed through him was held in check only because he knew he was speaking to a lady, and he’d been brought up well enough. He wanted to insult the person they were talking about; he had no qualms about making his dislike known but he wouldn’t make his civil audience unduly uncomfortable.
“Er, yes,” Kerry Billings said carefully. “She filed the paperwork yesterday and already has signed consent from Blake O’Connor.”
Cole knew that she was referring to Camden’s legal father. It grated on his every nerve knowing that man dared to even make that superficial effort. As if O’Connor had any claim on that boy. Camden was Cole’s biological son.
But he’d already raged and made threats against the man who had taken the liberty of lending his name on a birth certificate. It was of no use wasting time thinking about the name Blake O’Connor. That was all he was to Camden and Rachel.
Her name simply crossing Cole’s mind made him want to snarl. She had stolen her child’s birth right and bought his ‘father’s’ name for a fraction of the amount Cole had offered her to be rid of him.
The irony of her cruelty had not been lost on Cole the moment he realised that was what she had done. He hadn’t wanted a child with Rachel and so he had given her money to terminate as soon as she had suspected. Her severance had followed hours later and she had disappeared. Ten months later, he’d gotten a copy of a birth certificate delivered to him by courier.
Rachel had waged this war.
The memories made Cole clench his teeth so tightly that when Mrs Billings prompted him to do or say something, he had to breathe deeply through his nose and dig deep for control.
“Mr Elliott? Are you there?” she asked tentatively.
Pause. “Yes, Kerry, I’m still here. How much time do we have to stake a legal claim?”
It was her turn to hesitate. “That might not be the best way to go about it, Mr Elliott.”
He almost took the phone away from his ear to stare at it incredulously. “What,” he bit out, “do you mean by that, Kerry? Are you suggesting that I shouldn’t petition for custody of my own son?”
“No, no,” came the hurried reply. “Well, yes to not petitioning. That would get very messy- it would be very public.”
Another silence ensued as she took a deep breath before launching into what she thought might be a better, faster way to get custody of his son.
Cole Elliott listened, drumming his fingers against his gleaming laptop. As much as her idea made sense, Cole didn’t like it. To him it was like trying to buy back a car that had been stolen from him in the first place.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, he heard his mother’s slicing tone reminding him that he’d tried sending the car to the junk yard, which, to his shame, was true. But if there was a boy who carried his blood- the blood of an Elliott- in his veins, Cole was ready to take full responsibility. He deserved to be- and would be- raised properly.
Cole was sure that Kerry Billings was waiting anxiously for his response and her instructions. He knew that she had never worked on a case like this before and the tension was probably often close to unbearable. He was a private man and she had had to navigate this entire situation carefully. He didn’t like anyone knowing about Camden or what Rachel Brady had gotten him into.
His next words were spoken coolly but all she had to do was listen and comply.
“I’m going to discuss it with my lawyers. Go ahead with the plan you have just outlined. I honestly don’t like it being my best bet.” Pause. “But do everything you can to succeed, Kerry.”
“Okay, Mr Elliott,” she said more firmly than she felt.
He cut the phone with a cursory, “Thank you.”
She stared at the phone, thinking how odd it was that he never completely lost his manners around her. His upbringing was deeply ingrained despite the life he chose to lead.
With that musing done, Kerry put the phone down and went about opening a set of bank accounts, buying property and creating a paper trail for her client. In an hour, she was satisfied with the job she’d done. Sending a copy by email, she picked up the phone again.
“Hi, Sam, it’s me, Kerry. I need another actor.”
“I don’t like it,” his chief legal advisor said.
“Neither do I, Glen, but I’m desperate and at a serious disadvantage here. I don’t want Camden to end up in the system as we wrangle over custody. Kerry had guts for bringing it up, so, as much as it sounds like I’m willing to buy my son back, let’s remember that it comes to this because that bitch is ready to sell him.”
No one in the room could refute that.
Lucy Glen pushed her glasses up further on the bridge of her nose. Nodding silently at Cole, she looked over at her two junior associates. “What have you come up with, guys?”
“We’ve discovered which agency she’s using and soon enough we’ll know what her preferences are, who the case worker will be, who does the filing and notifying and anything else there is to know. Kerry Billings’ ground work saved us a lot of time.”
“We have people applying to see how they run the agency as we speak.”
Lucy nodded and leaned back in her seat. “I’m going to talk to a judge just in case we need a contingency plan, but we’ll do every single legal thing to get custody without going to open court. She won’t know what’s hit her until it’s too late.” Pause. “We’re going to get you your son, Cole. Let us deal with the whole thing.”
Cole also sat back in his chair, his fingers tracing the edge of his designer phone. “What can I do to increase my advantage? Is there anything I can do to make my case stronger?”
Lucy Glen, senior partner at a highly prestigious law firm, smoothed a hand over her gunmetal grey hair which was secured in a tidy bun. Thinking for only a moment, she replied surely.
“You can get yourself a nice, decent woman to marry.”
