The Tycoon's Toddler Surprise (5 page)

Picking up the phone, she dialed Tom Fisher’s extension and was hugely relieved when he was at his desk.  “Tom is on the line for you, sir,” she called back through the open doorway.

Mikhail took a moment to slam his office door shut before he picked up the phone, not wanting his
inquisitive
assistant to hear his conversation.

“Tom, I want to know what my options are for gaining custody of a child.”

There was a brief hesitation before the man at the other end of the phone started speaking.  “Are we talking
about
your own child or someone else’s?”

“Mine,” Mikhail gritted out, glancing down at the picture once again, noticing the similarities now that he knew the child was his. 

“Is this a theoretical child or…”

“She’s three years old,” he snapped, interrupting his lawyer’s tentative questions to cut to the main problem more efficiently.  “And to answer your next question, I didn’t know she existed until about
five
minutes ago so no, I don’t have any other information.  My wife,” he sneered out the word, “didn’t bother to tell me that our child hadn’t been miscarried as I’d originally thought.”

“So you have a three year old son?’

“Daughter apparently.”

Another long pause.  “Well, if she gave birth in the state of New York…”

“Minnesota.”

A longer pause.  “Why would she move to Minnesota?”

“I haven’t the foggiest notion,” he said curtly, his mind starting to sift through the information now that the initial red haze of anger was starting to dissipate.  In its place was a cold, furious
determination
.  Although he hadn’t known that his daughter had existed before now, he remembered that night when he’d thought they’d lost the baby and the pain that had stormed
through
his system.  He was now determined to make sure that Kristen would feel every little
bit of
pain he’d gone through that night and the following weeks when he discovered that she’d deserted him. 

“I’m not sure about the custody issues in Minnesota but I’ll research the information and will get back to you.  But keep in mind, I’m a corporate lawyer.  You need a family lawyer
for
this kind of situation but if she really did have a baby and didn’t tell you about it, and you’re still married, I am assuming there could be some custodial kidnapping charges that could be brought to bear if she isn’t willing to relinquish custody to you.  I’m guessing you want full custody?”

Mikhail hesitated, which in itself was out of character.  “I don’t know what I want right now except to know my options.  I want answers quickly.  You have until tonight to get me something solid.”

Ellen
knew something horrible had just happened but wasn’t sure what that might be.  She
tried to listen
through the closed door to hear
the conversation but the few words that filtered through to her office weren’t enough for her to piece the issue together.  Her eyes strayed to her desk, wondering if something had been out of
p
lace
that would make him this furious,
but all the contracts were still stacked where she’d left them. 

Then her calendar caught her eye and she gasped.  Today was the day!  Darn!  That stupid woman sent the letter every month at the
same time and Ellen had
stupidly left the office on the one day the letter was scheduled to arrive. 

She sifted through the mail that had been left on her desk while she’d been at lunch with a friend and realized that the letter wasn’t there.  He must have seen it and read the letter, recognizing the handwriting. 

Couldn’t that woman just leave it alone?  Ellen had thought she was so close, she’d been getting signals from Mikhail that he might be more receptive to her advances and she had been building up her courage to do something more
aggressive.  But she wasn’t
sure now.  If Mikhail knew about the little brat, which was all the letters talked about she knew since she’d
occasionally
opened them
to read before filing them away in a secret file
,
she wasn’t s
ure if he would care or
if he’d just send money.  The few letters she’d read had been dull she thought, thinking of
all the stupid details the absent wife thought to convey about her boring daughter.  Who really cared if the brat was able to roll over or if she’d lost a tooth?  Good grief!  No wonder the two of them had split up all those years ago.  She’d probably bored Mikhail to tears.  The man was powerful and dynamic and couldn’t possibly care less if some kid he’d sired was walking or talking or what her first words were. 

But she hadn’t taken any chances.  Ellen wanted Mikhail for herself and had worked hard to make sure that he never knew about the kid over the years.  She’d carefully hidden away each letter as it arrived, faithfully on the same, exact day each month.  All sonograms, baby weights and birth records were tucked away in a file that she’d kept to herself, although what she would do with them later on, she had no idea.  But she always liked to keep insurance handy, just in case. 

Mikhail’s door suddenly swung open and he stormed out, the lines of anger etching his face in a cold, hard mask. 
“Cancel my appointments this afternoon and tell Gary to be on standby.  I’ll be flying to Minnesota tonight.”

Ellen’s stomach sank as she picked up the phone and made the necessary calls.  Flying to Minnesota could mean only one thing…he’d found the letter. 

Damn and double damn!  She pounded out the phone number, calling all of the people he had been scheduled to meet with this afternoon, all the while trying to figure out how to use this latest turn of events to her advantage. 

By the middle of the afternoon, she had a plan, smiling as she made new arrangements.  She loved the way her mind could turn lemons into lemonade, she thought as she poured a bit of vodka into her coffee from a flask in her purse.  She’d started drinking vodka when she’d first started working for Mikhail, thinking that since he was Russian, she’d better learn to drink their national drink so she’d be more perfect for him.  But after a while, she’d learned that she really liked the way it soothed out the edges and got her through the afternoon when things were extra stressful here in the office.  And on those nights when Mikhail worked late, the extra perk just made her nights even more exciting! 

She almost giggled as she sent the e-mails that would put her plan into action. 

Twelve hours later,
Mikhail stepped down off the plane and pulled his coat closer around him. 
He hated
the cold and was even more furious with Kristen for making him visit this frozen land.  How dare she keep his child from him!  He’d meant to get her last night, but he had too many issues to resolve before he could absent himself for the
time
he’d need to get his child.  After hearing from Tom last night, he knew he might have an uphill battle ahead of him.  Since Kristen had given birth in Minnesota, she had more rights, this being a conservative state where the mother’s interests tended to lean more heavily.  Not that a father didn’t have rights as well.  He’d just have to tread carefully. 

He was here for two reasons.  First and foremost, he wanted to get to know his daughter.  Secondly,
he needed to find out why Kristen had
disappeared so he could take her to court and sue her for custody.  His primary assets were his wealth and power.  He could bring a great deal of pressure to Kristen, tying her up in a legal mess that she couldn’t possibly be able to fight.  He was half hoping she’d just give up the girl and let him raise her because the battle would be too expensive.

But if he knew Kristen, which apparently he didn’t because he never would have thought she’d do something like this to him, she would fight him tooth and nail. 

All the better, he thought grimly as he pulled his coat closer around him before diving into the already running vehicle that Ellen had arranged for his use while out here. 

Chapter
3

Mikhail looked around the playground where he’d been told Kristen currently was by one of her neighbors.  Apparently, she always brought his daughter here
on the weekends
if it was warm enough.  He had no idea what she might consider warm enough, but since they weren’t at home, the neighbor said they’d be here. 

Looking around, he didn’t see Kristen immediately but he scanned the group of other mothers
,
wondering if she’d changed at all in the three years since he’d last seen her. 

There were several women sitting on a park bench by the swing set, all of them bundled up in warm, down filled coats and hats.  There was another group by the slides, appearing to be talking intently about whatever was on their minds. 

He was busy looking around but when he heard the screech, as if someone had gone into overdrive and was rampaging around a corner, he looked around, trying to identify the sound and
its
source.  All he saw was a tiny little girl dressed almost completely in pink with black hair bouncing behind her. 

His eyes narrowed and his stomach clenched as he recognized the tiny little female from the picture he’d seen just twenty four hours ago.  This version was much more animated and barreling towards him
at what he assumed was a toddler’s top speed
with both her arms open as if she were going to tackle him.

Instinctively, he bent down to his knee, wondering if the child would stop or simply barrel into him. 

He found his answer quickly and it wasn’t what he was expecting. 
Since he had
braced himself for a battle with his
estranged
wife to even see his daughter, having her throw her arms around him and her tiny little body hugging him so tightly he could barely
breathe
was definitely not the reaction he was expecting.

Ignorance of his identity; confusion as to why he was here now; perhaps a bit of curiosity?  Yes, those were the reactions he’d been expecting but having this tiny little person not only recognize him, but be excited to see him? 
And not afraid of him?  Weren’t all children tentative of strangers? 

Her face came out of being buried in his neck and she beamed up at him. 
“You’re actually here!  I can’t believe it!  Momma says you’re a very busy man but that we should keep on praying that you’ll find time to come see us and my birthday is
next
weekend so that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?  I knew you’d come!  I didn’t tell momma but something told me that you would find time this year to come even though I’d thought that about Christmas, which was a long time ago so maybe you worked hard over Christmas and were able to clear up everything so you’d have time to be at my birthday.  That’s it, isn’t it?  You
couldn’t
be here for Christmas because you wanted my birthday to be more special?”

Mikhail tried to follow his daughter’s conversation but he missed a few of the words and had to translate based on the other parts of her sentence. 

As he stood on the playground, oblivious to the curious stares from the other moms who were half watching their own children and half watching the scene play out between the two of them, he looked around for Kristen, desperate to see her and figure out what was going on. 

He had his whole legal team working night and day to maneuver for him to obtain sole custody but something wasn’t calculating correctly. 

Now that he thought about it, why would Kristen have sent him the letter about his daughter out of the blue? 

No, something was definitely wrong here. 

But he’d get to the bottom of the issue quickly enough.  As soon as he could find the woman who had created this entire mess. 

His furious, confused ey
es clashed with her stunned green
ones across the mulch covered playground, something forgotten in her hands as she watched her daughter fling herself into the arms of her estranged father. 

Victoria had always been precocious and gregarious, but seeing her with the man who had sired her made Kristen doubt her actions over the past three and a half years.  He was taller than she remembered but of course he hadn’t gotten any taller.  Her memory had probably only minimized his impact on her senses, starting with his height which had always made her feel smaller, somehow vulnerable and protected. 

And then there was the breadth of his shoulde
rs and the intensity of his blue
, enigmatic eyes.  She’d learned to discern anger and amusement from his expressions, but other emotions were well hidden from observers.  He’d learn
ed to hide what he was thinking, she assumed because of
his business transactions
,
but she’d always suspected there was more beneath the layers he allowed her to know.  He’d never spoken about his family to her so she’d never gotten to know what his mother or father were like.  And they’d never discussed children either. 

They hadn’t discussed a whole lot, she realized now.  Their time together had been a whirlwind of sexual attraction that translated into a physical need that halted conversations.  They’d never really gotten to the more laid back side of a relationship where there
were discussions
about their hopes and dreams.  Their brief marriage had been intense, but not overly deep.