Malum: Part 1 (The Elite King's Club 4)

I shake my head. “No. I’ll stay in with Micaela.”

He grins. “Good.” Then he storms out, leaving me confused as fuck and still without answers about his broken knuckles.

I exhale, taking a seat back on the chair. Elena clears her throat. “We know you don’t have a car right now so since we have too many to count…” She grabs a set of keys off the table and hands them to me. “Use one of ours to get around in, you know, if you ever need a break from my son or just to take Micaela out in general.”

I shake my head. “I can’t accept that, thank you, though.”

“Tillie,” Elena says, her eyes coming to mine. They’re so much like Nate’s, only gentler. “Please. I would hate for you to think you’re ever stuck here and unable to get away for a bit.”

I sigh, slowly reaching for the keys and taking them from her. “I have no way that I can ever repay you…”

“Oh.” Elena looks over her shoulder but sighs when Nate has already left. “About that…”

Oh no.

She must read the expression on my face because she laughs. “No, no, I’m not about to offer you an absurd amount of money“ —she clears her throat— “but Nate is, I mean has. I’m sure if you check your account you’ll see. It’s the first month’s child support and you’ll get your payments on the first of every month. Another thing is we have a trust account for Micaela set up already. She is included in the same accounts Nate has, but she also has her own for college and anything else she will need for as she gets older. They get more demanding the older they get.”

I’m stumped. Speechless. Child support didn’t even cross my brain—at all, and the fact that Nate did it without me telling him—”Wait!” I freeze. “How did he get my bank details?”

Elena stands from her chair and makes her way to the coffee pot. “There is nothing that boy doesn’t and can’t know, honey.”

Joseph comes back in, bouncing Micaela. He hands her to me, and I thank both of them for the car and again for allowing me to live here. I take Micaela back to the pool house, my thoughts so confuddled and murky from all of the revelations.

After changing her diaper and putting her in her day clothes, a cute little denim tracksuit with a few tears here and there—realizing it’s one of the things Nate bought her—I turn the TV on and put Netflix on as background. Turning Micaela onto her tummy time, I open my bank app to check my account and shoot off the bed when I see the amount.

“Holy fuck!” I look down to a shocked Micaela. “Sorry, baby,” I whisper and wink at her. She smiles and brings her hand back to her mouth to suck on it. God, she’s so cute, and of course she has her father’s dimples. My eyes go back to my phone.

Available balance: $20,468.

The $468 was mine, but he paid me goddamn twenty thousand dollars! I start pacing around the place and then flip Micaela onto her back before continuing to walk around the small apartment.

I need to call him.

I hit dial before I know what I’m doing. I don’t know why I’m doing it, he has made it clear that he hates me, but what’s there to lose now. More of his love? Sure.

“Micaela okay?” he answers straight away. The fact that he’s a great father is making it harder and harder to hate him.

“Yes, no, she’s fine, but we need to talk about the twenty large you dropped into my account.”

“Why do we need to talk about it? It’s child support, Tillie. Chill.”

I shake my head. “That’s too much.” Shoving on some fuzzy socks, I let the phone rest between my shoulder and ear.

“The fuck it is. I’ll put as much as I want in there, now are you done?” I can hear girls in the background.

“Yeah,” I murmur. “Sorry I called…” I flop back onto the sofa.

He curses. “Fuck. Wait.” Then he tells everyone to shut the fuck up in the background. “You there?”

“Yes…”

He exhales. “Don’t fucking apologize for calling me, Tillie. You can call me when it’s about Micaela.”

“But it wasn’t about Micaela… it was about child support.”

“You’re awfully testy for someone who complains about my moods…”

I rub my temple with my other hand, walking back to the bed. “Forget it, go back to your girls.”

I hang up before he can answer, and I instantly know I’ve fucked up because he hates being hung up on. He doesn’t call back, which surprises me because he usually would.

My eyes go to Micaela. “Well, baby girl, what shall we do today?”

You know, since your father is as rich as he is an asshole.