Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Baby Mama Drama

CADEN

I stand there holding my son. I lean my forehead against Eva’s and just think of how fucking lucky I am. I have a goddess for a wife, a son with my name, and a daughter on the way.

I see everyone is leaving and spot Eva’s mom grabbing the adoption paperwork. She offers to drop it off for us. We decide it’s time to go to our reception and party as Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell. The king and queen with our prince.

We head out to the limo and climb in. Nate won’t let go, so I have to help Eva climb in with her dress with one hand.

It definitely isn’t the prettiest, but we get it done, laughing the whole time. I slide in next to her and when we are situated, Frankie drives over to the reception hall.

When we pull up, there are hundreds of armed security guards standing around outside. Oh yes, we look like the cliché blended Mafia family.

They check everyone’s ID because, hell, we are now a criminal organization with an empire. We have to take all measures necessary.

People are across the street taking photos, and I’ve seen the police come by a few times, so I’m sure someone called. Except they know who funds their asses so, needless to say, they won’t be bothering us.

I guess someone’s made enough phone calls because now a few officers are staying. Hopefully, we don’t have issues since now they are standing around chatting with our guards.

We stay and take the wedding photos outside in the gardens while people are snapping their own pics, probably wondering who we are. We take a while before we go in, giving everyone ample time to show up and get situated.

After almost an hour of photos, we make our way toward the front. I whisper to Frankie and he runs off.

I hold Nate in my arms and hold Eva’s hand as we walk up and stand outside the doors waiting for them to open. The doors open and an announcement is made.

“Everyone, please put your hands together as we welcome Mr. and Mrs. Caden Maxwell with their son, Nathaniel Maxwell.”

We hear the crowd go wild inside as I pull Eva in for a kiss. Nate grabs the spotlight by covering his eyes at the same time. We hear laughing and look to see our son covering his face, and we start laughing also.

We make our way around the tables, thanking everyone for coming and supporting us. I hear the DJ make an announcement, so we make our way toward our table up front.

We both sit and I place Nate on my lap. Our food is brought out with an extra plate for my boy, so he can eat with us also.

We chat, we laugh, and we enjoy everything that is going on. I take a swig of beer then we hear the announcement for the bride and groom’s first dance.

I see Eva stand up so I stand up with Nate and place him in my chair as I take her hand and lead her to the dance floor.

I place her right hand in mine and my other hand at her lower back and place my cheek against hers as we slow dance to the music.

“You’re lucky we had Nate in the limo. I wanted to lift up that dress and take you right there. You look so fucking gorgeous today! I’m the luckiest bastard there is. I got my queen—my goddess—plus my prince, and a princess on the way.”

“I have my king, my rock, and the best man there is to be a father for our son and daughter!”

We smile at each other and continue dancing. We hear the DJ announce that the next dance is for the father of the bride and the bride. Fernando gets up and walks over. I give him a big hug and take my leave.

I walk back over to my son and pick him up to have him sit in my lap. We watch Eva dance with her dad, and we look at each other and smile.

When the song draws to a close, I hear the announcement for the mother of the groom and the groom. It hits me at that moment that nobody has told the DJ that my parents passed away when I was younger.

I’m just staring at Eva when out of the corner of my eye, I see Gracie stand up and walk toward me. She knows my situation.

I start sobbing, hugging Nate as the tears start to fall as she makes her way over. Nate scurries over to his mom’s chair as Gracie grabs my hand and pulls me onto the dance floor.

I don’t know where I would have been without Frankie’s parents as the rocks I needed during that time. Gracie let me cry for days when they passed and never said anything—just supported me.

Even when I spent days just working to ignore the situation, she would come and sit all day in my office. She never said anything, but I knew she was there for support.

She knew I had to work through it on my own, and I could never thank her enough.

When the DJ opens the dance floor, everyone joins us, and we all start dancing around. The kids are having a blast, and the parents are enjoying themselves.

We have the folks from the Mexican restaurant catering, and they are having fun also. They even set up a food table just for the kids with foods they will eat.

Alcohol is flowing and I can’t imagine this day getting any better. I see my queen visiting and laughing when my boys come up to me, and Frankie has that look on his face. I knew it was too good to be true!

“What’s going on?”

“You may have an issue outside.”

“What’s the issue?”

“Some chick is here with a fucking kid demanding to talk to you.”

I can see he’s visibly pissed at me like I have been hiding something.

I lean in close to him and say, “I swear on my fucking parents’ graves, Frankie, I do not have any kids or baby mama shit going on. I will deal with this, but I guarantee that it’s not mine!”

He nods his head and tells me to follow him. I get my guys together, and we casually make our way outside onto the steps.

I look at my guards in the driveway, and I can see some chick standing there with a small kid. Maybe one or two years old. I turn to Frankie and talk to him.

“Frankie, I have no fucking clue who that is. I’ve fucked some girls, but I know who I fucked, and she isn’t one of them. Besides, I know how to prevent that shit.”

“Who do you think she is then?”

I try to rack my brain and it hits me. I stare at him wide-eyed and say one word. “Ortiz”

His eyes go wide and now the pieces start to make sense, but the only way to find out is to ask.

“Frankie, is she unarmed? Ask the guards.”

I see him speak into his sleeve as he waits for an answer.

“She’s unarmed. They had a female guard pat her down.”

“All righty then, let’s go have a chat, shall we?”

We start down the stairs, walk down the driveway, and make our way to the guards. I motion for them to bring her to me as four of them start walking and surround her and the kid.

They walk her up and stop in front of me, and I can instantly see the resemblance in the kid to Ortiz. Fuck, man, I bet this is the kid he was hiding.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m sure you know who I am. This is my son, Ricardo Ortiz.

“We know what you and your queen did to Rico. We will not interfere right now, but we will be back. You took what was rightfully Ricardo’s, and it will be back in our hands soon.”

“Listen here, lady, this was the stupidest thing you could have done. Ortiz hid you guys to keep you and your son safe from threats.

“Now you bring him out in the open, parade him around like a fucking trophy, and bring him straight to his rival whose wife just killed his father.

“I won’t do anything since he is just a child, but he was obviously born to a fucking. Hopefully, he will make better decisions than you do in the future.”

I can tell what I said hit home, because she quickly turns around and storms off. We stand there for a moment, knowing at some point we will have an issue. I look at Frankie with a smirk.

“Told you it wasn’t fucking mine!”

He just chuckles back then we turn around and all walk back up to the steps of the reception hall and head back in.

I stop my men in the entryway and state, “None of this gets to Eva. We will discuss it later since today is our wedding.”

They all nod their heads, and we walk back in to continue celebrating. The moment we walk in, Eva storms over to me.

“Where were you?”

“We were outside handling business. We will discuss it further later.”

“Fine, but it’s time for us to cut the cake.”

I nod my head and grab her hand, heading over to the cake that’s been brought in. I see my son clapping his hands excitedly, standing next to us and waiting patiently. I can’t help but think about his future.

He has no clue what we have gotten ourselves into, and I don’t know what his future will hold. What will we have to battle against when he becomes an adult? What will the outcome be? How can we protect ourselves better?

I’m pulled out of my thoughts as Eva touches my arm so we can cut the cake. I try to smile, but she can see the tension on my face. We cut a piece and share it, then we have staff cut the rest for our guests.

Frankie and Tank must have read my mind as they bring over a glass half full of whiskey. Eva tries to study me as I quickly drink it all. She doesn’t say anything but smiles as she walks away.

Shit, we don’t need this stress right now. I was going to wait but I can’t.

I quickly search around to try and find Leo. I spot him sitting at a table, and I make my way over. I motion for him to follow me, and we head off to the side of the room.

“My king, what can I do for you?”

“Please just call me Caden. We have a problem. The chick and the kid showed up earlier.”

“Are you shitting me?”

“No, I’m not! Her name is Veronica, and the kid is Ricardo Ortiz. Find everything you can. I need to know what I’m dealing with.”

“She’s got some balls to show up here, let alone with her kid!”

“I know. Just find what you can and don’t tell Eva.”

“You got it, Caden!”

I walk away from him and head back over to the bar to get a refill and sit down. My son comes and climbs up on my lap and snuggles into my chest. I can tell he’s getting tired, and frankly, so am I.

Eva comes and sits down and places her hand on my arm. I smile over at her then at our son as I lean down, kissing the top of his head.

“So, my queen, where are we going for our honeymoon?

“We will be going to one of the properties we inherited from Ortiz. It was recently acquired, but he’s never been there. We double checked with the staff there.

“It’s a beach house with a private beach, about an hour from here. It will be just us as the girls will watch our son. We will be gone for a week, hopefully.”

“That sounds perfect!”