Chapter 30

Aubrey's P.O.V

In under three months, my life has done a total 360-degree turn. And it's all because the universe just had to bring Bryce back into my life and basically bring me back to where I started. I'm wondering if I hadn't gone to that cafe that day, would I have not been in this bogus situation right now?

I'm pretty sure the universe would have thrown him onto my path again another way.

I've been awake the whole night, sleep refusing to overcome me. It was pretty odd considering how tired I actually was.

After leaving Ryder's office, I told Logan I wanted to go home. Being the understanding man he was, he had no qualms whatsoever and we rode in silence whilst he clasped my hand. Before dropping me off, he promised that he would find another top-notch lawyer.

Logan is truly an angel and I don't know what I'd do without him. He's been really good to me since day one and I'm not quite sure if I deserve it because let's be honest, all I've managed to do was wreak havoc effortlessly. He didn't judge me and had been an absolute sweetheart.

Too bad I don't actually feel anything for him besides gratitude.

I retrieved my phone from my bedside table and checked the time. It was currently 7.49, Thursday morning. Under normal circumstances, I would have already been at work probably tackling a mountain of paperwork and scheduling meetings at my desk. Was I still Bryce's personal assistant, or I was back where I started; unemployed?

Finally mustering up enough strength to get up, I peeled out of the covers and headed to the bathroom for the usual morning rituals. Once done, I re-entered my bedroom to get dressed. The outfit of the day was a simple white tank top, black ripped jeans and white vans. A high ponytail would go with it.

Being unemployed once again was the worst. At least I'm not as broke as I was three months ago. I have to admit, being under Bryce's payroll was awesome and now I had a few thousand dollars to my name. I knew exactly how I would use that money, to by Israel the car bed he always wanted.

The odds were definitely against me, Bryce was obviously going to acheive full custody over Israel but at this point, I didn't mind at all. If anything, he really would deserve it because what I did is unacceptable. I should probably save both Bryce and Logan the trouble of getting lawyers and just give up any custody over Izzy.

Downstairs, I made myself toast, eggs, sausage and some coffee. As I ate, I reached a conclusion. I was going to call Bryce and agree to the most painful option in his ultimatum. I mean, who was I kidding? I could never give my son the life Bryce can so easily provide for him. I would only mess up his future with my never-ending problems.

Whilst my incisors where deep in my sausage, the door bell rang. That was odd since I wasn't expecting anyone to come over. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I proceeded to open the door.

I almost fainted when I saw who was at the door.

"Israel?" I gasped, not believing that he was actually right the before.

He weaseled out of Bryce's hold and ran to me, catching me in a bone crashing embrace. I couldn't stop the tears that burst out of my eyelids as I crouched and my arms wound around my little creation, the only thing that I know I did right.

The two of us were stuck in our own little bubble until someone cleared their throat. It was Bryce, still standing in the hall way, observing our little exchange. He's face was unreadable but I saw something flash in his eyes for second that was too quick for me recognize.

Reluctantly, Israel and I detangled from the hug but I stayed in the crouching position, my eyes refusing to leave his sweet little face. He looked like a smaller version of Bryce, only with a different eye color. And that was the only feature of mine he had, the rest was all his father.

"It was his request to see you, so here we are," Bryce croaked out awkwardly. For some reason he seemed tensed and uncomfortable.

The tears continued to streak down my face. Good thing I wasn't wearing any make up. "Thank you for bringing him," I said and stood up straight. "But you shouldn't have come. I don't deserve this." And I really didn't. This would make it only harder to make the decision.

Bryce's eyebrows furrowed as a frown donned his immaculate face. "Aubrey, he really wanted to see you and-"

"I've decided that I'll give up all custody," I stated then wiped away the saltiness off my face.

Israel looked up at me with doe eyes. "What is custody?" he asked, genuinely confused.

We both ignored him. "I don't want you to do that," Bryce said then entered the apartment and stood right in front of me. Gosh, he was so tall or maybe I was vertically challenged. I had to crane my neck to look him in the eye.

"Look, Israel clearly loves you a lot so who am I to get in the way of that. And you're right, you don't deserve it but I'm not a bad guy. This doesn't mean I've forgiven you but I'll set that aside so we can come to an agreement. Deal?"

I nodded furiously, deeply touched by his words that it made me want to cry even more. Bryce isn't a bad guy and I know the whole custody thing was just a spontaneous outburst of anger. Now I know I was never good enough for him, nor will I ever be.

He nodded at me. "Now wipe those tears away, I hate seeing you cry."

And I did do just that but we never broke eye contact. His eyes were captivating as they surveyed me underneath his long dark lashes. He reached out and used his thumb to wipe away the last tear. Then his whole palm was on my cheek, stroking it gently. All of a sudden it was just the two of us and my tummy erupted with mad butterflies.

"Can we go to a park?" squeaked a voice from somewhere. Immediately, Bryce's hand fell from my cheek and fell limp at his side. We both turned away, ruining the moment, and searched the room for Israel. He was seated on the couch looking at us with a smug expression. Why do I have a feeling this kid is smarter than he lets us believe?

"Sure champ, if your mother is okay with it," Bryce spoke softly, both of them looking at me.

"Why not? Just let me go freshen up then we can go," I made a move to leave but stopped when I heard Bryce speak again.

"I like what you're wearing. It looks good on you."

I couldn't help but blush. I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't blush. Issues aside, I was still the same woman who was still hopelessly and helplessly in love with her ex-husband. A simple compliment from him could brighten up my day immensely.

"Okay," I voiced out shyly. "Then let me grab my purse and we can go."

I made a dash for the staircase and ran up at the speed of lightning. I couldn't keep my boys waiting. Wait, did I just say 'my boys'? Only one of them is your boy, Aubrey. The other is a man and he isn't yours, not anymore anyway. Plus, he isn't a boy, he's a man sandwich.

I first ran into the bathroom and splashed my burning face with cold water then I looked in the mirror. My face was indeed red and my eyes were puffy but it wasn't to noticeable. I went back into my room, applied to lip gloss, grabbed my purse and then I ran back downstairs.

"Okay, we can go now." We all walked out the door and proceeded downstairs where one of Bryce's fancy cars was stationed. It took no time at all for us to be mobile and of to a park somewhere in New York on a sunny Thursday, with the two people I love most on this planet.

Color me happy for now.

***

"Israel, if you spill ice cream on my damn leather seats again, you're grounded," fumed Bryce from the driver’s seat as he sped down the streets of New York City.

Israel had just spilt melted ice cream in the back car for the umpteenth time in the last twenty minutes. I was seated in the back with him, whilst we laughed our butts off at Bryce's failed attempts at controlling us.

We had been at some park near Manhattan the whole day. Israel was so happy the entire time and it made my heart soar. This did get a bit intense when he wanted to play with both of us, making us seem like a happy family and in that moment we did. If only that were the case.

Our laughter died down and I cleared my throat. "Izzy, daddy's right. These are Maserati seats, sweetheart and they are hard to clean. No more ice cream anyway but your little tummy, alright?" I cooed gently, looking at him. He was just so cute.

"Alright," he replied dejectedly. "Sorry for messing up your Massyreti seats, daddy."

Bryce broke into a huge grin, as he glanced at his through the back view mirror. "It's okay, champ. I think it's been a long day and we're all tired. I'll drop you off at home then I drop you mother off."

"It's okay, you can just drop me off before-"

He gave me a pointed look through the mirror. "We need to talk."

That's all it took for me to be silent the rest of the way. He wanted, no needed, to talk to me. Oh God, what did he want to say and why was I nervous all of a sudden? Sure, we had a lot of things to converse about but why did he have to do it today? After I caught him gazing affectionately at me at the park more than once? And that moment we shared back at my apartment?

I was so caught up in my mental questions that I hadn't noticed that we were weaving through a majestic driveway that led to a garguntuan house. My jaw dropped as I took in the sight before me. Bryce really did fit the whole billionaire persona.

The car came to a halt a couple of feet away from the huge oak doors that were the main entrance. They opened to reveal a man who's probably in his late fifties and the last person I would ever want to see. My mother.

She stomped over to the car with a sour look on her face and practically ripped the back door open. Once her eyes landed on me, her facial expression morphed from sour to pure rage. It was a brief glance, but it sent shills down my spine. Her eyes then flew to Bryce who had just stepped out of the car.

"How dare you keep my grandson away for this long? Do you know how late it is?" She bellowed angrily, pulling Israel out of the car.

I too stepped out of the car. "Hello, mother," I said lowly, but she gave me a sideways glance that shut me up immediately afterwards.

"What is she doing here?" she all but snarled, acting as if I was the scum of the earth.

Bryce ignored her last question and went on to answer the first. "Mrs Whitlock, it's only six o'clock calm down. The boy wanted to hang out with his mother, and I saw no harm in that. She's his mother after all."

My mother had already taken to march away, with my son placed on her hip. She soon disappeared with him into the mansion, not even giving him a chance to say good bye to me.

"Lyman, tell Edwin to bring round my Ferrari 458 Italia. The Maserati need a thorough interior cleaning by the way," he commanded to the mystery man, acting as if that little spat had just not happened.

"Yes sir," he said with an equally formal tone then left. An awkward silence engulfed us.

"You have a beautiful home," I spoke, trying to alleviate the situation.

He looked me. "Yeah, it really is. It coud have been our home."

Soon after he said those very heartbreaking words, a white Ferrari came and stopped in front of us. Edwin emerged from the driver's side and handed the keys over to his employer. He sent me a warm smile, which I returned and then he evaporated from the scene.

"Get in," Bryce commanded.

In no time, we were out of the wonderland that is estate and back onto the mean streets of New York. Traffic was a bitch at this hour because everyone was probably rushing home, or to some bar perhaps. In this case, it was most definitely the former.

"What made you reconsider?" he said but his eyes when on the road. "Was the guilt eating you up inside?"

I clasped my hands in my lap and exhaled deeply. "It was the right thing to do plus I figured you could probably give Israel a better life than I ever could. You and I both know this."

"Why did you do it?" A simple question yet it reflected a thousand emotion, hurt being the most recognizable. "Did I not deserve to know?"

I didn't even know where to start. “Bryce, I used to be the center of your universe. We were crazy in love and got married at age 22, which was very outrageous considering we were both fresh out of college and didn't have a single penny to our names. You said you'd take care of me; said I didn't need a job 'cause you'd handle everything. You didn't even ask me if I was okay with that, because I guess my opinion didn't matter." I paused briefly, taking a quick look at him and his face was stoic. He remained silent and I continued.

"We were happy, in our little cramped apartment whilst I stayed at home most of the time and you went off to work. Then increasingly, work started taking up most of your time that you came home when I was asleep and left before the crack of dawn. We stopped going out, stopped having fun and all you wanted me to do was just be patient with you, whilst you treated me like a chess pawn." At this point the first tear streaked down my cheek but I quickly brushed it away.

"Aubrey-," he began but I cut him off.

"You even stopped making love to me, Bryce. The last time we did, I had to complain about you not making time for me and that's when I got pregnant. One day, I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I was sick of it all and I decided to leave, but I knew that you wouldn't let me if you knew I was expecting. That's why I didn't tell you. I thought you didn't love me anymore." The tears continued to spill uncontrollably.

Bryce had already parked in front of my apartment complex, with a troubled look on his face. "Why on earth would you think I didn't love you anymore?" he asked angrily, as his steely eyes bore into mine. A storm was brewing in their depth.

"I thought you wanted to control me, I though you got bored of me and if I hadn't left me, you would have done it eventually."

I had barely finished my sentence when Bryce lips smashed onto mine. His tongue darted into my mouth without warning deepening the kiss. My eyes shut and I responded five seconds after he made the initiative but not long after he brought the gesture to an abrupt halt.

His eyes were still on me, but the fury was beginning to subside. "You were fucking mistaken to ever think I stopped loving you."

And with that his lips were back on mine and this time we moved in sync like we'd only just discovered how to kiss. He was slow and gentle, with his hand behind my neck, pulling me closer to him. We both pulled apart to get some air.

"I'm sorry, " I finally said and I meant it from the bottom of my heart. "I'm sorry for what I did to you."

He began to stroke my cheek. "Apology not accepted." I frowned at this. "But there's one way that I might forgive you." he stated huskily, his eyes darkening considerably.

I knew exactly what he meant, and I really wanted it too. "I think we should take this upstairs; don't you think? This car is too cramped." I replied boldly, a ghost of a smirk appearing under my lips.

Never in my life had I ever seen Bryce move so fast in my life. One second, he was unbuckling my seat belt and the next he was dragging me along to the elevator, where his lips assaulted me once again. And his hands didn't waste time either, they were all over me.

"What if someone sees us," I said in between kisses, my hands getting lost in his dark brown, almost black mane.

His lips were now on my neck, "I don't give a fuck about that, Bre."

He used the nickname he used to call me in college and it made me melt. Once the elevator dinged open, he pulled me across the hall to my door which I wasted no time in opening. We had barely got into the apartment, when he had discarded his V-neck and exposing his drool worthy washboard abs.

I bit my lip. "Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked nervously because it all seemed quite absurd to me. We were angry at each other just yesterday, neck deep in a nasty custody battle.

He came to me and pulled me into his hard chest. "As sure as it gets. I've been dying to do this since I saw your pretty little ass in those skimpy clothes you wore to the office all those times," he said chuckling much to my embarrassment. I bet I was red as a tomato.

"Then let's get to work." I said, then kissed him this time around.

And those words sealed the whole deal. Our amorous journey into the night began.

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