The Billion Dollar Affair [#7]

Chapter 5

Tristan couldn't remember the last time he was in the same room with Killeen. He knew it was six years ago, but he couldn't seem to remember exactly when.

"Why'd you have to run off with her?" he asked his friend of so many years. They'd lost touch after Eloise left the picture for good. "I didn't know you loved her this much."

Killeen blinked hard. He had woken up after a week, and the only person he could think to contact was Tristan. "I've always loved Eloise. After I took the paternity test, I knew she and my kid were all I wanted. But she doesn't love me."

"Look, man," Tristan said, sighing into the palms of his hands. "I've seen love, and Eloise lacks it. Where is your daughter in all of this?"

"I don't know," he truthfully told his friend. "I could hear everything everyone said while I was out. Eloise told Daphnia that she's giving her parents custody of my kid. My baby girl."

"She can't," Tristan said, his eyebrows pulling together. "She's not gonna take your kid from you."

"She's taken everything. My family disowned me. I spent the last of my money on the rent, and she's stolen every feeling I ever thought I had."

Tristan didn't know what to say to make the situation better for Killeen. There wasn't anything he could say, so he dropped his head and closed his eyes, as if in a deep thought.

"I know I have to leave her," Killeen said after a long moment of silence. "But my baby needs her mother."

"Do you still love her?"

"Very much."

Tristan dragged a hand down his face and stood, pacing the room. "But she doesn't love you. There's something wrong with that picture, Killeen. Be smart."

"What about my kid?"

"There are ways to make this work."

"I should think about it first."

"Of course," Tristan agreed with the slight nod of his head. "I haven't been around for six years, and that's my fault, but you'll always be my brother."

•••••

"We need to talk," Tristan announced when he walked into the living room.

Olivia glanced at her husband, but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Eloise.

She had just put her children to bed, and after spending the day waiting for her husband to return to the house, she was disappointed that he didn't even acknowledge her.

Eloise got up from her spot on the couch and followed Tristan into the other room. She looked all too excited, and that didn't sit well with Olivia.

"I'd offer you wine if you weren't pregnant," Athena said with a rueful smile. She wrapped her arms around her friend and sighed. "Girls night downstairs?"

"Please," Olivia said through a painful chuckle. "I really can't see my husband interact with her, as childish as that makes me."

"Oh, Olive. You have every right to feel the way you do." Athena took the lead through the kitchen where Tristan was having a hostile one sided conversation with Eloise.

"It's selfish of you to leave your daughter with your parents while her father suffers," Tristan all but shouted. He groaned when Olivia appeared behind Athena, and the anger in his chest immediately dissipated. "Take her to see him at least."

"Tristan," Eloise whispered, touching a hand to his shoulder. "Will you come with me?"

He took a step back, glanced at his wife and shook his head. "Not my kid."

He brushed past her with the assumption that Olivia would meet him halfway, but she turned to the staircase with Athena and took it down.

He was tempted to follow, but he refrained from doing so and went upstairs to check on his sleeping children.

Èric laid in bed, completely restless as his father walked into the bedroom.

"Why aren't you asleep, bud?" he asked his son, pulling him into his arms as he took the bedside.

"I heard Mommy talking to Uncle Isaac," he answered. He sounded almost unsure. "She said she wants to go home, Daddy. Do we have to leave Ma and Pa?"

Tristan sighed. "Not yet, buddy. Sleep for Daddy, alright?"

Èric nodded and hugged his father before falling under the covers. Tristan tucked him in, kissed his forehead and wished him goodnight before leaving the room.

Eloise was standing in the hall, her head bowed as she waited for the opportunity to speak to Tristan. "It doesn't have anything to do with Killeen."

"I've gotta get my wife," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I wished everyday since my daughter was born that you had picked me and not her," she confessed. There were tears in her eyes, but he wasn't even fazed. "At some point in our affair, you loved me."

"Never," he spat. "We fooled around, Eloise. That's all."

"But I loved you," she whispered. Her voice was almost gone. "I still do. That's why I can't love Killeen. That's why I can't stand to see you and her. It was supposed to be me."

"Go to bed," he said, his voice gentle. "Sleep on it."

"I've tried for six years!"

"My kids are sleeping," he scolded.

"I can't sleep on these feelings, Tristan. I know some part of you loves me, too. You at least care about me, don't you?"

He held his breath. He felt completely heartless when it came to Eloise. There was no remorse. "I don't. Not even the slightest."

She broke down there and then. She held onto the railing and slid to the floor in a heap of tears.

He wasn't thinking. He gathered her in his arms and rocked her gently, attempting to sooth her pain away.

But Tristan wasn't even thinking about how she must have felt.

He was thinking about his wife and the look of horror on her face as she stopped midway up the staircase with her mouth slightly unhinged.

He could literally hear her heart break.