Tate's POV

Five years Later

"Daddy!" My four year old monster jumped on my back.

"Rhydian, if you don't get off my back, I will throw you across the room." I growled, burying my head into my pillow as if that would help me get back to sleep.

I heard a soft whimper and instantly felt guilty.

I sat up and put him on my lap. "I'm sorry, Ry. Daddy is just a little cranky." I rubbed his back, soothingly.

"Mommy is right. You are cruel." He pouted.

I clenched my jaw.

She is a good mother, but she shouldn't have said anything negative about me to Rhydian. It just wasn't right.

Luna never agreed to marry me. It did not matter how many doctors' appointments that I went to or how much money I spent to provide for our son. She just could not see past my lifestyle. I grew up in a broken home and I really do not want that for Rhydian, but I cannot force her to love me, even if I am still in love with her.

I love Rhydian and I don't regret a single thing, but I never imagined that I would be a single father, doing his best to raise his son only every other weekend and a few weeks in the summer.

"Ry, Mommy didn't say that I was cruel, she said that I rule." I tickled his stomach and he laughed.

"Oh!" He nodded. "That makes much more sense!"

My cellphone rang and I glanced at the caller ID. Josh.

"Go in the kitchen and pick out what cereal you want. I'll follow you in a minute." I lifted him up and placed him on the floor.

"Okay." He ran out of the room, mumbling to himself about Coco Puffs.

I answered the phone right before it went to voice mail. "Tate." The tone of my voice was very different from when I was talking to Rhydian. My voice was cold, hard, and unfeeling.

"Hey, boss. We have a problem." Josh was promoted to the second in the gang, while I was given the leader title.

"What is it? You know that it is my weekend with Rhydian."

"There was a jail break about an hour ago." Josh told me.

"Find out who is out. If it's any of ours, arrange for them to be picked up. Next time you want to call me when my son is here, make sure that it is important."

I was about to hang up, but Josh rushed on. "It wasn't a mass breakout, boss. So far, the only person that they know escaped is Marie Fitzgerald."

I clenched my jaw. "Take care of it. I'll be in touch." I hung up the phone and threw it on my bed.

The police picked up Marie a few weeks after graduation. She had a mental break and was surrounded by papers with incoherent words on them. The only thing that the police were able to read was 'Lulu' and 'kill'. She spent three years in a psych ward before being transferred to jail when she miraculously recovered.

Needless to say, it is a problem if she's running around again.

I heard a crash in the other room. I grabbed my gun from my nightstand and quickly rushed into the other room.

"Oops." Rhydian mumbled staring at shattered bowl on the floor. I put the safety back on my gun and tucked it into the back of my pants.

"Stay right there." I reached over the glass and grabbed Rhydian. I picked him up and carried him away from the mess. I tossed him onto the couch and he giggled.

"I'm sorry, Daddy." He smiled brightly at me.

"It's fine, little man, but in the future, I will make your breakfast." He nodded enthusiastically. I used the remote to turn on the morning cartoons.

Once Rhydian was focused on the television, I went back into the kitchen and cleaned up the mess.

"You want coco puffs?" I yelled to him.

"Yes, please!" He screamed at the top of his lungs back. If he does that at his mother's house, I'm never going to hear the end of it.

I poured his cereal into a bowl and brought it to him, where he sat on the floor in front of his favorite morning show.

The intercom buzzer rang and the head of security's voice boomed through the house. "Mr. Marks, Luna Ludwig is at the front gate, requesting to pick up Rhydian."

I walked over to one of the many intercoms on the wall and pressed the button. "Let her in. I need to talk to her."

"Yes, sir."

A minute later, there was a knock at the front door. I opened the door and ushered my baby momma inside.

"What do you want, Taten? Rhydian has soccer in an hour." She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Marie Fitzgerald escaped from prison an hour ago. Both you and Rhydian will not be leaving this house until she is caught."

Her eyebrows went up at the mention of Marie, but she shrugged. "I doubt Marie is going to come after me. Is Rhydian all packed?"

"I have security and a ten foot tall wall surrounding the premises. You are not leaving with my son." I growled out. Does she not understand that more than her life would be at stake?

"Taten, I will go into protective custody if I believe that it is necessary. Keeping me here is kidnapping and false imprisonment." I saw her clench her fists, ready to throw one at me if I said the wrong thing.

"Well, then I guess I'm kidnapping you." I smirked at her.

*

"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Luna ranted. "I know that you have control issues, but this is going too far!"

She has been pacing back and forth for over twenty minutes now.

"Enough already!" I finally snapped. "Rhydian go put your sleepover bag back in your room. You and Mommy are staying over again."

He jumped up and ran to do as he was told.

"We shouldn't be arguing in front of him, Luna." I said calmly. "It is not healthy."

"You should not be kidnapping his mother in front of him either, but you have no problem doing that!" She plopped down onto the couch in a huff.

I sat on an armchair next to the couch. "While we are talking about things we shouldn't do, you shouldn't be calling me cruel in front of our son. He needs to see us as a united front."

"It would be easier for him to see us as a united front if you do not introduce all your sluts to him or let them sleep over when our son is in the next room!" Luna snapped back.

"What are you talking about?"

"He told me that some woman named Marissa slept over at your apartment. I know it was not in the visitation agreement, but I just figured it was a given. You should not be exposing him to that kind of behavior." She clutched her purse closer to her, obviously uncomfortable.

For the first time since she walked through the door, I genuinely smiled. "You're jealous."

She shook her head violently.

"Luna, Marissa is my cook and has a husband and seven grandchildren. She stayed over one night because there was a snowstorm passing through, and I did not want her driving in it."

She looked down at her shoes.

That happened over a month ago. No wonder she turned into super bitch so suddenly.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled, still not meeting me eyes. "I should not have assumed anything. You are a great father to our son."

I smiled again. "If you think I have done something inappropriate or wrong, next time just ask me about it."

She finally looked up. "You're right."

Luna Ludwig looked sincere as she apologized.

Her nutmeg hair was longer than it was in high school. Her face was a bit rounder, and her body a smidge fuller. She is still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

"And if you would have asked me about it, I would have told you that I haven't even looked at another woman since I met you."