Once I had an in to her life, I couldn’t find the strength to turn away. Those cameras became my sole focus, and I couldn’t get enough of watching her on the screen. I saw everything. And it was fucking perfection.
But nothing,nothing, compared to seeing her face to face again.
I had wondered for months how I would react to seeing her again, and I had almost convinced myself that I wouldn’t have a response. That she wouldn’t call to me as much as she once had. That I had managed to rid her poison from my system.
I had watched her so much, surely I had grown immune to her spell? I was overfamiliar with her now.
Two minutes in her company, and I was fucked. It was almost embarrassing how easily my resolve crumbled when I had her in front of me.
She wasit.
There was no other way to describe it.
She was it for me, and there would never be a day I didn’t respond. It was her posture, her smell, the way she carried herself, the way she scowled… hell, even her violence was perfection to me.
It was almost as though muscle memory kicked in, and my body was desperate to feel hers mould against mine. Despite the size difference, we fit together perfectly.
It actually annoyed me more than I’d like to admit that she seemed completely unaffected and had no response to me whatsoever. If she was feeling anything other than pissed off, she was doing a damned good job of hiding it. The only other hint offeeling I got from her was boredom. I had an ego as much as any other man, and her dismissal was the bruising of a lifetime.
Mimicking her stance, I folded my own arms before I responded to her question. “It depends on where you stand in my life.”
“Nowhere. I’m here for my son, and that’s it. I’ll be leaving when I’ve got him back. So, back to my original question. Where is he?”
“He’s with Jenna.”
“Great. A three-word answer that didn’t need me coming back here to listen, but we got there in the end. I take it she still lives in the same place?” She said, one foot already out the door.
“She does. But don’t go in there all guns blazing. Jenna has a child of her own now. She doesn’t need your shit.”
“Does she?” Rachel breathed, a genuine happiness falling over her face.
Why did she always show genuine emotion to other people, and I got the fucking blank mime?
Shit still had the ability to piss me right off.
I nodded. “He’s only a few months old. We call him T-Rex, since he’s already a biter.”
“And what’s his actual name?”
“How the fuck would I know?” I shrugged.
“Typical Dante,” she said, rolling her eyes at me and went to leave again. “Oh, before I go. How is Bee?”
“She’s fine. She’s…” I paused for a moment, wondering how to put into words the changes in my daughter. Eventually, I sighed before saying: “She’s different, but she’s fine. You can see her, if you’d like?”
“Thanks,” she smiled sadly. “But no thanks. I don’t plan on staying any longer than necessary, and I think me seeing her will do more damage than good.” She turned away again.
I didn’t want to do this, but since she was so insistent on leaving, I had to call on my contingency plan.
“Rachel,” I called out after her. “Just so you know, if you take Axel, you’ll leave me with no choice but to take this to the courts.”
“Be my fucking guest,” she laughed, as though it was the most ridiculous thing in the world. “There’s not a court in this land who will grant you custody.”
“No?” I took a few steps closer to her. I saw her composure fumble, but she was quick to put her mask back in place.
“No,” she said firmly. “They wouldn’t.”
“Let’s compare, shall we?” I stepped closer, noticing the way she swallowed heavily. “You, hiding under a fake name. Your dad was arrested for murder, but there are major doubts that he was the culprit, and you yourself are the prime suspect. Officer Bradley already suspects you of the murders of Ben and Macbeth. And there’s actualevidenceyou murdered Macbeth. Don’t forget that.”
