CHAPTER 4

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.

- A. A. Milne

Hunter felt a migraine coming along. There was buzzing lull in his ears. His vision was blurry. He was in complete and utter disbelief. Disbelief was an understatement. He was in shock. His world had just been turned on its head. He was falling into the abyss, grasping at straws.

He could not believe what he just heard. He has a child. A son. A fragile little human being who was part of him, who looked almost like him, who shared the same lineage and blood as him, whom he was now responsible for. He had refused to believe it until Ruby confirmed it. When he asked her, he thought she would deny it, just to push him away. But there was no denying it now. He was a father.

"Hunter." she called unto him again. This time, he turned to face her. He knew she could feel the anger radiating off him. He saw the wariness in her eyes, the way she shrunk away from him.

"Did you ever plan on telling me?" she asked her. He could see her hesitance.

"No." she answered in a small voice, her gaze on the floor. She looked up at him.

"How did you know so quickly?" she asked.

"For God's sake Ruby. The boy is a spitting image of me as a child. Looking at him is like looking at my childhood pictures. And he has my eyes." He snapped. It was several moments before he spoke again.

"What exactly was your plan? Raise the boy without his father? Keep feeding him that lie until he's old enough not to know any better or what? Explain it to me, because I don't understand it." he said, incensed.

"We are doing just fine." Ruby said.

"That's your excuse?"

"It is not an excuse. We are doing just fine. We don't need you. What do you care?"

"I am his father. What do you mean?"

"It doesn't matter."

"You are pushing every single button I have this evening. Surely you don't plan on keeping my son away from me." he ground out.

"You don't want to be saddled with the burden of a child. Just go and pretend we don't exist. It would be better this way." she pleaded. He stared at her like she was crazy.

"Go and pretend he doesn't exist?" He almost roared. He could barely contain his rage. "I have a son and you want me to pretend that he doesn't exist? Are you insane? I'll decide what a burden is to me, not you."

"The responsibility…" Ruby started before he cut her off.

 "Don't you dare tell me how I feel about responsibility. You took that choice away from me when you kept my son away from me all these years. Last time I checked, I wasn't the one who gave a fake name then disappeared." he bit out the last part with the all the anger and hurt he could muster at the moment.

"Is that the part that angers you the most? The fact that I disappeared on you all those years ago? Hunter, we were strangers. We barely knew each other. If I had called you a few weeks later on and told you I was pregnant, would you have believed me?" she was on a roll. "With your billionaire status and glitzy lifestyle, I'm sure you have women falling all over you. Who was I to you? Some whore you happened to pick up in a bar in Dallas? What could I have said? You would have probably denied the pregnancy." she said, a little breathless.

"You don't know that. And you are not a whore." he said. He was looking at her intently. She looked away.

"It doesn't matter." she said.

"For Christ's sake would you stop saying that?" he snapped. Hunter took a deep breath before continuing.

"Nothing that has happened between us changes the fact that I have a son. We have a son. Like it or not, we are going to have to work together." he said. She looked up to the heavens briefly before looking back at him.

"You know, most men would be extremely happy I am giving them a free pass from fatherhood. Why are you doing this?"

"I am not most men. He's my son Ruby. I can't rest easy knowing I have a son out there that needs me. Or do you want me to take it to the courts?" he asked. Immediately, he saw the narrowing of her eyes, the flaring of her nostrils, the intense anger creeping into her eyes.

"Don't you dare Hunter Rockwell. Don't you dare try to take my son away from me. I am his mother and I may not have your power and influence but I will fight you with everything I have. You can bet on that." she seethed, jamming a finger into his chest.

"I'm not that cruel Ruby. I would never deny a child the love of it's mother. But if you continue to be unreasonable, I'm afraid you would leave me no choice." Hunter said in a gentler tone.

"You know this is what is best for him. He needs a father. You know that." he said, taking her arm.

"He's a Rockwell. He's the legitimate heir to an empire. It's his legacy. You want to deny him of that?" She pulled her hand out of his grasp.

"That is exactly what I don't want. That pressure to live up to expectations. I don't want him growing up being a spoilt brat with money to burn or an angry child who was forced to fill shoes he didn't want to fill. I want him to be happy, to always be grateful and be free to make his choices. A happy free child." she said, tearing up.

"And he would be just that. But he would also be a happy free child who knows who he is, who knows he can pursue any endeavour he wants to in life to the full extent, who knows he can dream as big as he wants to without limitations. Don't you want that?" he asked her, taking her hand again. The tears welling in her eyes spilled over her cheek. Hunter wiped them away with his fingertips. He stared into her dark irises flecked with gold. Her eyes were his favorite feature of hers, so expressive. It was like he could see her soul through them. He had the strong urge to kiss her then. But she was vulnerable at the moment and would probably push him away. So he only settled for wiping away her tears, for now. She sighed.

"He's still a child and he needs to get used to you, to all this. Just give me some time please." Ruby said.

"Of course. Take all the time you need." He kissed her forehead.