Call You Mine (The Baker’s Creek Billionaire Brothers #4) - Claudia Burgoa Page 0,103

at the bakery because you guys kept having cold cereal for breakfast,” I tease him.

He turns around to look at me. “You’re up early.”

“I’m always up early at the gym working out,” I remind him.

Mozart, who is trying to eat from Buster and Daisy’s bowl, looks at me and prances toward me. He leaps on top of my lap and meows. While we were away, Leyla trained the dogs and him to get along. Mozzy even goes with them to the barn every morning to feed the animals. So far, he hasn’t toyed with the chickens. Feathers are his favorite toys.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better,” I say.

“You must be since you’re fucking around the house—and The Lodge,” he teases me. “We understand there’s a list, but stick to doing it in your room.”

“I’m just saving all this for later,” I warn him. “Wait until I find ways to give you a hard time.”

“We have to take advantage while we can.” He winks at me.

Looking at the counters and the kitchen, I ask, “So, when I can stand up for long periods, are you going to keep the kitchen this low?”

“Yeah, we thought it’d be great for the kids. We can teach them how to cook—like your grandma did with you when you were little,” he explains.

I smile. Maybe I have to tell them the real story; perhaps someday. Then, I remember Janelle’s first visit to the hospital.

“Did you find the custody agreements?”

He nods. “Is your mom still in touch with you?”

“She came a few more times to visit,” I answer. “We exchange texts weekly. I think we’ll have this weird relationship where she texts me on my birthday and holidays. I’ll do it when Grace reminds me to check on her.”

“It’s better than my mother and me,” he answers. “I’m dead to her. My entire family hates me—probably because they are disbarred and in jail.”

“That would do the trick.” I move around the kitchen, looking for ingredients. “So, the custody agreements.”

“I can only find the finalized agreements. There aren’t any drafts saved anywhere,” he explains. “However, Hayes told us Janelle’s conversation. Mills and Vance called their mothers. They actually came to visit.”

“Why wasn’t I told about this?”

He raises an eyebrow. “I assumed you were preoccupied with other shit.”

“A conference call could’ve been scheduled around my therapy.”

“Tough luck, kid. Either you play 007, or you stay at home—like we agreed from the beginning.”

I wave my hand and focus on making breakfast. “You were saying about the visit?”

“Once the paparazzi caught on that Janelle had a kid and William was married, he filed for custody of each one of us. Addison said he didn’t want to lose us. In fact, he wanted us to grow up together, in Manhattan. It was my mother and Henry’s mom who began to dispute everything to make him pay. It was more about how they’d get back at him than looking at what was best for us.

“The battle could’ve lasted years. It began to get nasty, and William just let it go and accepted most of the conditions our mothers asked for—except for a few. He requested they send Henry to boarding school. He wanted him away from his grandfather and his mother. Hayes’ mom wasn’t allowed to get married until Carter turned eighteen. She’s the one who proposed the one week a year with William. It’s her weird way to ensure that we grew up together.”

“Can you do that in a custody agreement? I would’ve said fuck it and married the first woman I found just to piss of my ex.”

“She could’ve ignored it, but then William could’ve come back to fight her for custody of his children,” Pierce states. “I’m sure she agreed to it just to get the divorce over with. Remember, they were legally bonded.”

“What about you?”

“My mother was a fucking lawyer,” he reminds me. “She made sure to get a lot and gave nothing in return—her child support was hefty compared to the others. Addison wasn’t allowed to send Vance to any military school,” he continues. “You had to stay with your grandparents.”

“How about Mills?”

He smiles. “Oh, that one was low-key. The woman is a sweetheart. Marie said she wasn’t going to fight him until he threatened to take all of us away.”

“He was crazy,” I conclude.

“Totally insane,” he agrees. “How in the world was it okay to have different women, many kids, and keep everything secret? I don’t know what he was thinking. There has to be someone who knows why