“Thank you,” Blake said out loud looking up towards heaven.
Judge Prudence gavel sounded. “You all can meet in my chambers. Court is adjourned until one o’clock.”
Chapter 45
Caitlyn hoped her weak knees didn’t give out on her as she followed everyone to the judge’s chambers. She still couldn’t get over the fact that her ex-boyfriend was Blake’s son’s adopted father. She took a seat next to Blake.
Overton and Bryon’s attorney spoke to each other. Overton addressed her and Blake. “We’re going to leave you all to talk amongst yourselves. We’ll be back shortly.”
Byron and his wife Nicolette sat directly across from her and Blake. Blake held her hand under the table. Caitlyn could tell Blake was uncomfortable. She decided to be the one to break the silence. “Byron, I don’t think you’ve introduced me to your wife.”
Byron shifted in his seat. Nicolette had her arms folded. “Nikki, this is Caitlyn. The one I told you about.”
She uncrossed her arms, “You left out one thing. She was Christopher’s biological dad’s wife.”
Blake interrupted and said, “You two will have to discuss that later. We’re supposed to be talking about my son.”
Nicolette addressed Blake. “Excuse me if I’m not too thrilled by this arrangement.”
“Nikki. I can call you Nikki can’t I? It’s not Blake’s fault. Let’s work together because it seems we’re going to be an extended family,” Caitlyn said.
Bryon said, “Cat is right. We have to be civil to each other. Blake, you and Caitlyn can come over to see Christopher this Saturday.”
“I don’t think Saturday’s a good time. How about Sunday?” Nicolette asked.
Blake looked at Caitlyn before responding. “Saturday works best for us.”
Byron whispered something in Nicolette’s ear. Nicolette said, “Saturday’s fine. It’ll have to be late though. Come over around six.”
Caitlyn said, “Great. Give us your address and we’ll be there.”
Caitlyn and Blake walked to the car in silence. Blake opened her door. Once they were on the freeway, Blake said, “Thank you for having my back. It really means a lot.”
She let out a sigh of relief. The past few hours felt surreal. “I don’t think I like Nikki. She seemed to have an attitude problem.”
“We have to look at it like this. She probably feels threatened. She thinks we’re going to take her child away.”
“That’s stupid, because we agreed to joint custody so she needs to chill with the attitude.”
“Wow, you’re really taking this custody thing serious.”
“Well yes. I’m going to be a mother now, so I have to.” Caitlyn stopped in mid-thought. It dawned on her at that moment, she was about to be some child’s role model.
“I remember seeing you dance with Byron Matthews at the reception. Did he mention anything about Christopher then?” Blake asked.
“Of course not. We barely talked.”
“It seemed like a lot of talking was going on to me.”
“If you must know, he was apologizing for hurting me. That was it. I was just as shocked as you were to see him in court today.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to handle being a mom to Christopher? If not, let me know now because I don’t want him to get attached to you and you leave us. I mean him,” Blake said.
“Blake I can only promise you I will do my best to love him as my own. Everything else depends on you.”
Blake turned up the music and they rode home each thinking about the day's events. Once at home, Caitlyn escaped to the bathroom. She dialed Bridget’s number. She didn’t’ realize how emotional the situation was until Bridget answered. Before she knew it, she was crying on the phone. “Cat, calm down. Do you need me to come over?” Bridget asked.
“No. I’m okay,” she said, in between sniffles. She told Bridget about Christopher, what the judge ordered and Blake’s responses. “Are you really ready to be someone’s mom?”
“I have no choice.”
“Oh you have a choice. At the end of the year, you can go your way and leave Blake with his son,” Bridget said.
“I love Blake.”
“Then do whatever you need to do and pull yourself together. A child senses things. If you’re going to be a part of the child’s life, you need to get a grip on your emotions.”
Chapter 46
Blake followed Caitlyn from one store to the next as she took him on a shopping spree for Christopher. “I don’t know what he likes, but if we get a little bit of everything.”
“Woe slow down Cat. You’re more excited about all of this than I am.” Blake grabbed her arm.
“I need to get a few books. I have no clue on how to be a mom,” she said.
“We’ll both be winging it,” he said, as he took the bags away from Caitlyn.
Two hours later, they pulled up in front of The Matthews. “Do you want me to wait here?”
“Come on. You’re going in too.”
Blake opened up her door. Hand in hand, they walked to the front door. Blake rang the doorbell. They waited a few minutes before the door opened. Byron, casually dressed, greeted them. “Come on in.”
Caitlyn walked through the door with Blake following close behind. “You have a nice place,” Caitlyn commented.
“Thanks. Chris and Nikki are in the den.”
Blake looked around as they followed Byron. His heart skipped a beat at the sight of a healthy three year old playing with Nicolette. Christopher looked in their direction and said, “Daddy.”
Blake’s heart dropped knowing those words were meant for Byron and not him. Byron bent over to pick Christopher up. “Lil’ man, I want you to meet someone.” Christopher seemed to hug Byron tight.
“Hello Chris,” Blake said, picking up on the name from Byron’s initial conversation.
Nicolette stood by Byron’s side. “Say hello to Blake and Caitlyn.”
“Hew-o.”
“Can I hold him?” Blake asked.
Bryon attempted to hand Christopher to Blake but he wouldn’t let go of Byron’s shirt.
Nicolette said, “He’s like that with strangers.”
“Give him a little time,” Bryon suggested.
Caitlyn reached for him and Christopher went to her without any problems. Bryon looked up. “Hey, she’s a woman. Can’t blame the child.”
Blake and Byron laughed. Nicolette rolled her eyes. “Be careful. He doesn’t like to be held too tight.”
Caitlyn tickled him. “I know a little about kids.”
“Each child is different,” Nicolette snapped.
Caitlyn found a seat and held Christopher. Blake sat next to her. After about fifteen minutes, Christopher felt comfortable letting Blake hold him. Blake couldn’t explain the feeling that engulfed his entire being when he held Christopher in his arms. He closed his eyes and inhaled his scent. He wanted to remember this moment for the rest of his life.
Byron said, “Chris, you’re a lucky little boy. You have two daddies and two mommies.”
Christopher said, “Da-da.”
Blake said, “That’s right. I’m your daddy too. I love you so much.”
“I love you,” Christopher repeated.
Joy filled Blake’s heart. Christopher said, “Pot-pot.”
“Come on Chris, let’s go.” Byron picked up Christopher.
“He’s potty trained already?” Caitlyn asked.
Nicolette said, “Yes, he’s a quick learner.”
Blake could feel the tension between the two ladies. “Nikki, thank you for letting us see Chris today.”
She looked in the direction Byron and Christopher had just gone and then turned around to look at him and Caitlyn. “This isn’t easy for me.”
“We understand,” Blake said.
Nicolette sat in the love seat across from the sofa. “No, I don’t think you do. I didn’t like Tara.”
“I didn’t know her and I don’t like her,”
Caitlyn cut in and said.
“Trust me, you’re better off not knowing her.”
“Ladies, it’s not polite to talk ill of the dead,” Blake interjected.
They both looked at him and rolled their eyes.
Nicolette said, “I apologize to you both for coming across kind of harsh, but I love that little man in there and I just can’t imagine my life without him.”
Blake assured her. “We have no plans to take him away. We want what’s best for him and I can tell you guys love him very much.”
“We do. Oh where was I? Tara, as Blake you should know, was a character. She did her best to break up Byron and me. When she died, God forgive me for saying this, I was glad she wouldn’t be a thorn in our side. We had no idea who Christopher’s biological father was, but we didn’t want him going into the system.”
“I appreciate that, because I might not have ever gotten to know him, if he had.”
Nicolette admitted, “We tried to find you. We didn’t know your name, but we had an investigator look for his real father. Once we hit a dead end, Byron and I decided to adopt him and make him officially ours.”
Blake’s face lit up when Christopher walked into the room. He tuned out everything else as he spent time with his son. Caitlyn was unusually quiet. He wondered how she felt about their first encounter. He would soon find out.
Chapter 47
“While you were playing with Chris, Nikki told me she was planning a huge birthday party for his fourth birthday,” Caitlyn said, as she curled her legs under while sitting on their couch.
“It’s a little early to be doing that, don’t you think?” Blake asked, as he reached for a slice of pizza.
“His birthday is a few months away, but you have to look at it like this. At least she’s including us in the planning phase.”
“So what do you think about Chris,” Blake asked.
“I think he’s a bright little boy, who is as cute as his daddy,” Caitlyn responded.
“I thought he wasn’t going to take to me for a minute.”
“Give him some time.”
“It went better than I thought. He did call me daddy.”
“No, he said da-da,” Caitlyn teased.
“I’m proud of how you kept your cool with Byron and Nikki.”
“Byron and I are history. You and Christopher are my future.”
“True.” Blake yawned. “I don’t know about you, but I’m sleepy.”
“Go on up. I’ll clean up down here,” Caitlyn said.
Blake kissed her on the lips and left her downstairs.
The end of the month came fast. Blake called Caitlyn into his office. “I just got word from Overton and it’s official. All parties have signed. We have joint custody.”
Caitlyn sat in Blake’s lap, “Congrats Daddy.”
“That’s Big Daddy to you,” Blake said, as he kissed her.
Joan entered the office and alerted them to her arrival by clearing her throat. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Caitlyn jumped up. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt. “I have a conference call I’m late for. Blake, see you at home. Bye Joan,” she said, as she passed the smiling secretary.
“Mrs. Banks can I see you for a moment,” one of the IT employees said, as she exited on to her floor.
“What can I help you with?”
“It’s something I need to show you. But in private.” She looked at the nametag and it read Victor Hagon.
She led him to her office. “Victor, can it wait? I have a conference call.”
“It’ll only take a few minutes of your time.”
Once they were in her office, he handed her a folder with the words “vendor discrepancy report” displayed on the label. Victor said, “I have you down as the point of contact if we found any discrepancies.”
“Yes.” Caitlyn wasn’t sure if she was ready to hear more.
“We found several entries where it appeared a hacker made transactions on accounts under your login.”
Caitlyn’s past transgressions were now haunting her. She played it off. “Give me some time to look through this and I’ll get back with you.”
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to handle it directly or give it to someone else.”
Caitlyn said, “I’ll look these over and if need be, I’ll talk to Mr. Banks.”
As soon as Victor left her office, she closed her door. She decided to not call into the conference. She had more immediate things to take care of—like figuring out how to make sure Blake never saw the information that could prove she was behind several projects failing. She threw the folders in her laptop case. She sent out a message to her staff to let them know she was leaving early, logged off from her computer and unhooked her laptop.
Tasha exited the elevator as she was getting on. “Girl, you look like someone’s after you.”
“I’m not feeling well, so I’m on my way home.”
“Do you need me to drive you?”
Caitlyn held up her hand. “No. I just need to a nap and I’ll be fine.”
She hit the closed button on the elevator and didn’t wait for Tasha to respond. She paced the floor of the elevator. She walked briskly past the security desk without saying a word. It didn’t seem like she released her breath until she was sitting on the highway, far away from Banks Telecom.
“Bridget, my past has caught up with me,” she said, as soon as she answered the door.
“Come on in.”
Caitlyn showed her the folders. Bridget skimmed them. “Tell Blake.”
“He wouldn’t understand. It took us months to get to this point.”
“I’m the first to admit, Blake hasn’t been my favorite person; but he makes you happy.”
“It’s not meant for me to be happy. I’m convinced of that now,” Caitlyn said, accepting defeat.
“This happened at a different time in your life. You gave up your quest for revenge months ago.”
“But Blake’s not going to see that. He’s going to blame me for his company’s previous hardships.”
“We all make mistakes,” Bridget said.
“Some mistakes are easier to forgive than others.”
Chapter 48
Spending time with his son over the past few weeks had Blake in a jovial mood, but something was amiss concerning Caitlyn. When she didn’t think he was paying attention, she would sometimes have a faraway look in her eyes. Blake ignored it as long as he could.
“Cat, I want to know what’s going on with you and I want to know now,” he demanded, when he burst into her office.
Caitlyn wasn’t there. He sat down behind her desk to wait for her. While sitting and waiting, he decided to write her a note. He didn’t see a pen so he attempted to open up the desk drawer. It was locked. He looked in her laptop bag for a key. The file in the bag caught his attention. He pulled it out. He recalled the argument that resulted from the last time he got caught snooping. He pushed the thought to the side and looked in the folder.
His eyes couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The accounts listed in the folder were the same ones that led to him losing money. He forgot about leaving her a note. He took the folder with him and headed to his office. “Joan, do me a favor and cancel all of my meetings for the rest of the day.”
Blake locked his door and took the time going through the details in the folder thoroughly. Each one of the accounts showed Caitlyn had been the one to enter in the figures. He had one question. Why? Why did Caitlyn try to sabotage his company? All this time, he had been sleeping with the enemy.
Blake left the office and spent the afternoon figuring out how he would confront Caitlyn. It took all the restraints he had not to go to her office again. This was something he needed to handle in private. If his temper flared, Blake didn’t want it to happen around his employees.
Caitlyn turned the lock on the door and yelled out, “Sorry, I’m late. I stopped at the store to pick up a few things for Chris’s room.”
Blake yelled, “No, I’m down stairs. I’m in the living room.”
“See what I got.” Caitlyn stopped talking when she saw the anger on Blake’s face. “What’s wrong? Are Nikki and Byron tripping about Chris?”
Blake threw the folder at her and papers started flying everywhere. “What the hell is your problem?” Caitlyn asked as she stooped down to retrieve the papers. She stopped, when she realized what they were. “Blake I can explain,” she stuttered.
“I trusted you. I trusted you with my life. With my child and you betrayed me.”
“It’s not what you think.” Caitlyn walked up to him. “This all happened before I knew you.”
“You were working at my company. You knew me quite well.”
“No. It was before we really got to know each other. You just don’t understand the pressure I was under.”
Caitlyn reached out to him, but he blocked her efforts by folding his arms. “Pressure. Let me explain to you about pressure. What you did put my whole company at risk? Do you know what would have happened if my uncle hadn’t left me the money? Do you? People would have been out of jobs. Whole families would have been affected for something that you set in motion.”
“I didn’t think about that when I set out to get revenge.”
Betrayed by Trust Page 17