Chapter Two

Liam’s POV

After making the guest room as comfortable as possible for Kaleb, I put him to sleep. But not after he made me d******d a bedtime book to read to him as he slept.

All of these were strange. I have never done it before. But I’ve seen Linda do it. She would put him to bed, picked a book from a shelf nearby, read to him till he slept, and tucked him in properly.

They were strange but I wasn’t complaining. At least it took off some of the things on my mind. Or at least until I got to my room.

When I got to my room, I took a shower, changed into some comfy clothes, and tried to sleep.

As if everybody leaving me today wasn’t enough, sleep also deserted me.

I lay on my bed and stared at the roof for hours, tossing around. Eventually, I gave up.

I walked to my office and started my computer. It quickly hummed to life and I scrolled aimlessly until I stumbled upon a blog.

“What the fuck?” I muttered as I read through it.

‘LIAM BLACKWELL HAS A BASTARD CHILD?’

The title caught my attention faster than I could spell my name.

I opened the page and saw pictures of Kaleb from the wedding.

Reporters were not invited to the wedding because of things like this.

How did they even get this picture?

I picked up my phone to call my head of media, Sean.

“Good evening sir.” He replied after the third ring, voice laced with sleep.

“Sean, what’s this news I’m seeing? And why is it still up? Isn’t that your reason for getting paid?” I fired at him.

“What news? Sorry, sir. I’ll get to it now.” He replied and waited on the call. “Anything else sir?” He asked.

I don’t know if I needed anything or if I needed someone to vent out my anger upon. I ended the call and placed my phone on the table.

The gym at the underground section of my house was as good as a professional gym. I made sure of that. I wasn’t going to have a half-baked gym in my home.

I walked toward the treadmill to let out my anger but over time, it was my hamstrings that let out their anger while mine were still well intact.

Next, I used the abs roller until I felt like my arms and core were going to fall out.

It was only after then that I realized how far the time had gone. I walked back up, into the house only to see Kaleb crying.

“Kaleb, what’s the issue?” I asked with all concern as I walked as fast as my hamstrings would let me.

“Daddy.” He said, suddenly jumping up and coming to hug my legs.

My pain was momentarily forgotten as I squatted to hug him back.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” I asked, wiping his tears with the back of my hand.

“I thought you left me too. Mummy left me there because she didn’t want me again. I thought you also left because you didn’t want me to.” Fresh tears poured out of his eyes.

How could I not want him? He has been my reason for sanity since everything crashed.

“Never. I will always want you, okay? No matter when or where or who wants you, I will always want you.” I said, pulling him into me.

There is no way I’m going to let anyone touch this boy. Whosoever wants to touch him has to put up a good fight. Either a good fight or a straight-up kill. This boy is mine.

After I calmed him down, I made him breakfast. His favorite food was pancake.

‘Is pancake even a proper meal?’ I asked in my head but made it anyway.

“Let’s add more flour.” He said from his spot on the counter.

“This should be enough for you, young man,” I replied.

“Not for me. We also have to get you fed.” He said with so much innocence.

“For me?” I asked again for confirmation.

“Yes. You’re way bigger than me so your stomach is bigger so you will need more food so that means more flour.” He rambled and tried to use his hand to gesture as much as he could.

“That’s so considerate of you. Thanks, buddy.” I replied sincerely. “But there is one problem.”

“Oh. What problem?” He asked, concerned.

He is most likely not going to like the news but I’ll say it anyway.

“I don’t eat pancakes.” I turned to look at him.

“How? Pancakes are the best!” He exclaimed. “Wait, so you will make me eat alone?” He pouted.

Where did this boy learn all of these from?

“Fine. I’ll make pancakes for two.” I gave in.

He did a little squeal as he jumped down from the counter and walked to his room.

A few minutes later, he came out.

“My clothes are all at mom’s place. I don’t have any to wear.” He said, reaching for the counter again.

That shouldn’t be a problem, right?

“That isn’t an issue. Let’s eat breakfast and get some new things for you and for your room.”

If he wasn’t excited before, he is definitely excited now because he does a little dance on the counter.

Breakfast was ready and served on the dining table.

“Let’s get something into your small belly,” I said, carrying him from the counter and nuzzling his belly with my face.

“Stop.” He said between laughs but didn’t push me away.

“Did you know that T.Rex had very small arms?” He asked while we were eating.

“What’s T.Rex?” I asked, confused.

“Oh, no Dad. T. Rex, the dinosaur.”

“They had names?”

“Of course they do. They all look different, don’t they?”

“I have no idea. They are extinct, aren’t they?”

“Yep. Scientists kept some things about them in museums. I watched it on YouTube.” He explained.

That’s wow. I never thought I’d encounter a day when dinosaurs would be the topic of the day.

“That’s incredible. What else did you watch?” I asked.

“Nothing much. I watch mostly about dinosaurs. I want to see one. They are not pretty smart though.”

I laughed at his comment. Who said they loved something and in the next sentence condemn the thing? This boy was killing me.

Pretty soon, breakfast was over and it was time to take him shopping.

Though Kaleb insisted on bathing by himself, I stayed close so that I could watch him. While I stood by the side, I sent a quick message to Rob, my head of security, to get someone on the security team to come to my house, along with an appropriate outfit for a three-year-old.

On a normal day, I would have gone alone but with the media flying around like sharks that smelt blood, I don’t trust Kaleb to be safe with just me.

“Daddy, I can’t reach my back.” Kaleb said.

“I told ya.” I said playfully. I ended up bathing for him and getting him dressed before going to the boutique.

“Thirty minutes?” I asked Kaleb as we stepped out.

“Brush in and out. Yes. Thirty minutes.” He replied.

Ten minutes turned to twenty, twenty turned to thirty, thirty turned into one hour, one hour turned into two hours until Kaleb decided that he was done.

“How was your thirty minutes?” I asked as I lifted him on my hip.

“Well spent.” He grinned. “Oh, we forgot to get books.” He shouted in my ear.

“Kaleb!” Shouted back in his ear.

Payback feels nice.

“Is there a specific one you want?” I asked calmly this time.

“Uh, nope. Just interesting ones.”

“No problem. Someone will drop by the house later. Let’s get you home and cleaned up.”  I said and dropped him in the backseat.