~~~
Not only did Fred comply with her wishes of not saying anything she wouldn’t want him to at the press conference, he didn’t even show up to it. At first, Addison thought it was a good-faith gesture on his part. He was going the extra mile to show her he meant what he’d said on the phone call Clair overheard her on earlier. He really did have her and Clair’s best interest in mind when he insisted he just wanted to be a part of their lives.
He’d even shown up at the riverfront pedestrian trail she asked him to meet her at, wearing a sweatshirt with the hoodie up over his head. Even if he didn’t do anything stupid like have someone follow them and take photos, she didn’t want to take a chance of anyone recognizing him and taking their own photos they might leak. It was a lot colder in St Louis than it was in San Diego this time of year, so a sweatshirt with a hoodie made perfect sense. She’d been beyond relieved that, even while she knew it was him when he first got out of the car that dropped him off, she wouldn’t have recognized him otherwise.
Then he got close enough for Addison to see the real reason why he’d likely called off the press conference and why he was all covered up now. His face was a mess. He had a fat lip ripped in two places and a knot on one of his temples that was beginning to swell around his eye. It wasn’t too bad, but it was bad enough that she could see why he wouldn’t want to give a closeup interview on national television that would end up on YouTube forever.
Addison felt a little evil for not feeling any sympathy for him, but she still asked if he was okay. “I’m fine,” he said. “Goes with the territory. Not the first brawl I’ve been in; won’t be the last.”
She only hoped he didn’t mean there’d be more this series. Yet knowing how angry AJ was, she knew the possibility of that was still too real, which was why she needed to do this now and then hopefully get back to AJ as soon as possible. Before the fourth game back in San Diego. Before he could step foot on that field with Fred again.
“I’m glad you agreed to meet me tonight,” Fred said as they started down the river trail. “For the record, he started everything that happened tonight.”
“Oh really?” she asked, already annoyed, and this conversation had just started. “He knew nothing about you being Clair’s dad. He hasn’t even talked about the incident at the ESPYs. Why would he start anything?”
“He made a smartass remark and it pissed me off.”
Addison stopped on the spot. “Is that really how all that ugliness started? Because he made a smartass remark? Something you do every five minutes when you’re on the field, I’m sure.”
“After the argument you and I had earlier, I just wasn’t in the mood and I snapped.”
“So you had to tell him about being Clair’s dad.” She stared at him, worried about the very thing she’d worried about up in the stands. “Did anyone else hear you? Who else knows?”
“I didn’t tell him shit. He saw the tattoo and figured it out.”
That made Addison’s heart spike. “Has anyone else seen that stupid tattoo?”
“I haven’t shown anyone, but someone may’ve seen it. Doesn’t mean they’ll know what it means. Like I said before, she’s not the only Clair in the world.”
Feeling the heat rise up her neck and into her face, Addison decided she wouldn’t try and play nice and prolong this conversation. She couldn’t stand there, looking at him anymore. She pulled her ace out of the front pocket of her own hoodie and handed it to him.
“What’s this?” he asked, taking the piece of paper from her.
“It’s how much you owe me in back child support.”
He stared at it for a moment without saying anything. Her lawyers had drawn up the paperwork weeks ago, based on Fred’s very lucrative income for the past seven years.
“That doesn’t even include what you’ve made in endorsements, but my lawyers said they’d go after it all.”
Of course, they were urging her to file for an injunction to start freezing his assets so she could begin to collect everything he owed her. Even their percentage of the settlement would be a fat amount. Addison had known it’d likely be a lot, but she wasn’t expecting that many millions.
“Addison, I—”
“I don’t want any of it,” she said, stunning him quiet. “Not a dime. I won’t file the injunction like my lawyers are begging me to and another for you to continue to pay until she’s eighteen. All I want is Clair’s freedom and my peace of mind. Sign off on any rights to her so that I don’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. And I want a promise in writing that you’ll never reveal your identity to anyone—”
“I can’t just sign—”
“If you don’t, not only will I go after you for every penny you owe us, I will expose you to the world. What a deadbeat heartless asshole you really are. What a lying piece of shit you’ve been and how you kept this secret love child from your wife your entire marriage. How you’ve now been harassing and using that innocent little girl—one you wanted aborted—to get what you want from me.”
Fred stared at her, still looking every bit as stunned as Addison had expected him to be, and she held her breath. Her heart was going a mile a minute. This was it. She knew this could totally backfire on her if he wanted to get nasty about this. She’d do what she had to, but Addison had always known the two things that mattered most to Fred were his money and his image. It’s why she was banking on him agreeing to this. Maybe not immediately because she expected him to be a stubborn ass and not lie down so easily, but she was fairly certain, once he thought it out and spoke with his lawyers, who would tell him, yes, he’d have no choice but to sign off or pay up, he’d have to give in.
She’d been hopeful she could hold off a bit until things calmed and he’d likely be more conforming, but after her conversation with AJ tonight, this had to be done now.
“You can’t really expect me to agree to any of this without my lawyers looking over it all.”
“You have a week,” she said, starting back to where her driver was waiting.
The knot at her throat suddenly was a strange one. It was part fear that he might not agree and she’d have no choice but to go the ugly route, and partly an enormous relief that it hadn’t been a flat out no. The more Addison thought about it as she neared the car and Fred hadn’t so much as tried to stop her or insist that they talk some more, the more relief she felt, and the knot grew even bigger. He stood to lose so much if he didn’t just give up something he’d never wanted to begin with.
“Oh my God.” She gasped, crying into her hands the moment the driver closed the door to the car. “Could this nightmare finally be over?”
Just as her crying turned into a crazed mixture of crying and laughing as she wiped happily away at her tears, her phone beeped. She was almost afraid to see who it was from. When she saw it was from her dad, she clicked on it immediately, terrified that something was wrong with Clair. He rarely texted her.
Where are you? AJ was just here at the hotel room, looking for you.
Addison hit the call button, and her father answered on the second ring. “What did you tell him?” she asked, the moment he answered.
“Your mother slipped,” he said, his voice soft—rueful. “She feels terrible, honey. She was the one who answered the door. When she didn’t see you with him, she asked him where you were. He was, of course, taken aback at first then said you weren’t with him. That he was here to talk to you. It’s when I walked into the room. He asked me if I knew where you were, but I couldn’t come up with anything fast enough, so I began to explain to him why you’d gone to meet with Winfred, but he didn’t even let me finish. He said he had a plane to catch and was in a hurry.”
Sure enough, AJ didn’t answer or return any of her messages. Not that day. Not the next. Not the morning of game four of the playoffs in San Diego. It almost felt like déjà vu, only the pain was so much more profound this time. She refused to play her last ace, not for this. She needed to know that someone who could profess such a profound love—not just for her but for innocent Clair, who was in no way to blame for any of this mess—wouldn’t really be able to turn his back on them so easily as he was doing now.