The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 47

"I know you don’t believe me..." he started only for her to shut him up.

"Believe you? What exactly is your brain made of? Soil?" It was unbelievable that he even considered it something worth discussing. "When did you ever give me a reason to trust you, Damon? When you ditched me?"

"For the last time, I did not ditch you!" He growled, and immediately realized he was getting nowhere by trying to explain the past to her. "Look, it doesn’t matter what you think I did. What’s important now is finding our son."

"Surprisingly, I agree with you." She was too drained for another meaningless fight with him. However, she couldn’t let his words slide. "My son. That’s who we are finding."

"You cannot battle reality, Avery."

"Neither can you." She walked away from him as fast as she could, only for him to catch up with his twisted logic

"Would you like the court to help us decide?" He regretted his words as soon as he said them aloud. He didn’t know what he was expecting when he threatened her with the court yet again, but a slap on his face was not what he thought he would receive.

"Make sure you tell the jury what a horrible father you are—one who cannot watch his son for a second. If they still grant you his custody, who am I to judge?" She sauntered off.

The last person she wanted to see was the man who had caused all of this, but it wasn’t long before Mabella called both of them to talk.

"This better be important, Mabella." She sat on the couch uneasily in the latter’s cottage. Damon was sitting beside her as though he didn’t know how much she hated him. He was shameless, she had to give him that.

"Nothing is more urgent than this." Mabella placed a bottle of wine on the table and sat opposite them. "Do you want some?" When Avery ignored her, she went to the point. "I think my notes will help you."

"What notes?" Avery asked, just as Mabella handed her Angel’s file from their few sessions.

"Why are you walking around with this?" Avery asked, finding it odd."

"Why not? I knew I would be spending a lot of time with my patient. I needed to observe him."

She took her role as Angel’s pediatrician way too seriously, but it was for the best. All Avery needed was to skim through it to know what Mabella was getting at. "My son gets scared when I’m in a bad mood? Come on, who doesn’t have under-the-weather days? I’ve got plenty ever since your brother reappeared in my life. You made this up, didn’t you?"

"I wish." Mabella nonchalantly took the file back. "It’s about finding my nephew. Making anything up would only nullify our progress and the main point isn’t your mood. It’s what he felt when he witnessed his parents’ fight. Do you know where he would want to go to feel safer?"

"The shower," Damon said the first thing that came to mind, earning a glare from the woman beside him. "I know it sounds crazy, but he likes running water."

"The shower was the first place I checked." She was slightly relieved that he had noticed one of his son’s preferences, but it was a drop in the ocean compared to all the damage he had caused.

"Is there any fountain in the resort?" Her heart skipped a beat as soon as she asked. "God, why didn’t I think of it? If my son has been in a fountain all this while..." Her eyes habitually moved to glare at him. "I wish I never met you."

He buried his face in his hand. She was harsh but he deserved it for being so careless.

"If I were you, I would be checking all sources of running water." Mabella brushed past him to follow Avery.

She was right. Instead of thinking about his mistakes, he might as well be productive. He asked for a map of the resort and used it to locate the colorful fountain nearest to the beach. He arrived nearly at the same time as Avery, who was trying to talk him out of the water in vain.

"Angel, do you want to play?" He took a toy gun out of his pocket to coax him. The boy shook his head without sparing him a glance, worrying Avery even more.

"Baby, I’m sorry I scared you. I was upset but you had nothing to do with it. Come home with me, okay?" She wrapped her arms around him, but the result was the boy struggling out of her arms as though she was the last person he wanted to be near.

"Can I have a word with him?" He offered.

She hated to let him within Angel’s radius but anything was better than having to force him out of the fountain so she stepped aside, but stayed nearby in case the man was yet to learn his lesson. Surprisingly, Angel was more accepting of his father’s presence. He even patted his head when Damon sat next to him, in consolation for the scolding he had received from Avery earlier.

Damon chuckled. "I’m okay. It’s just harder for me since I’m not nearly as adorable as you. You could get away with anything."

"Are you teaching my son to use his cuteness to get away with mistakes in the future?" She scolded him.

"See? She is annoyed because I told you her secret—that she loves cute people." He used it as proof of his words, making her wonder just what she ever liked about him.

"The water is fun, isn’t it?" He placed his hand under the splashing water to feel it, and Angel agreed with him by nodding.

"I’ll tell you what’s more fun. A hot shower and a warm meal. Your mommy promised to cook whatever you choose."

"Did I?" She was baffled.

"Of course you did." He gave her a look and picked his son up. Are you excited to choose?"

She blew out a sigh of relief. At least he had managed to coax him out of the fountain. The fact that he had done so in merely a few sentences while she felt like she had talked her mouth off for an hour made him even more annoying than he already was. Afraid of upsetting the boy by taking him away, she led the way.

"Alright, I will order the ingredients to prepare dinner once you tell me what you want to eat." She turned to warn him, "don’t let go of him this time."

"I’d rather lose my head." He vowed.

____

Soon after dinner, Avery put Angel to sleep. Since he was exhausted, he fell asleep faster than usual and she was relieved.

"Luckily, he doesn’t have a fever from spending all that time in the fountain." She tucked him in while still glaring daggers at the man who had nearly given her a heart attack.

"I don’t think he was there for long," Mabella remarked. She had been waiting to check on him after hearing what his parents had to say regarding the places that made him feel safe.

"Good. But that doesn’t change my mind. Damon D’aboville, I don’t want you anywhere near my son. Leave." She ordered.

"About that," he cleared his throat. "I have every right to be close to him."

"What right? The very right you had to leave even before he was born? Or the one that made you almost kill him?"

"That’s a bit harsh." Mabella defended him.

She squinted her eyes at the siblings who were nothing but harbingers of trouble. "My son could have drowned in that fountain. He could have been kidnapped. He could have had a meltdown being so far away from me, yet I’m the harsh one? Is there any reasonable person in the D’Aboville family?"

"Mabella, let me handle this." He grabbed Avery’s hand and dragged her out of the bedroom. Once they were on their own, he stopped holding back. "I admit, I was thoughtless earlier and this happened as a result."

She crossed her arms. "So you agree with me that nothing good will ever come out of your proximity. Good, because I’ve had enough of your presence."

"And I’ve had enough of these meaningless fights." His words were calm but stern, shaking her to the core. "The more arguments we have, the more scared Angel is going to be."

"If you stayed in your lane, would we fight?" She couldn’t believe the nerve of this man.

"I will stick to my lane but you need to stick to yours just as much."

"Excuse me?" She guffawed.

"I don’t want to involve the court in our son’s peaceful life. However, we can make a peaceful arrangement." He placed his forefinger to seal her lips before she could argue. "We both grew up in complete families. Depriving our son of this is the cruelest thing we could ever do to him."

"Am I to blame for the fact that you wanted nothing to do with him?"

"That’s where you are wrong, Avery. I want everything to do with my son and I will do everything to make his time with me worth it." He took out his phone and; launched his calendar application. "What’s it going to be? Two days at your place and two days at mine? A week each?"

His readiness to note his days down rendered her speechless. Was he serious?

She looked up and met his cold eyes. "Of course, there’s always an option to get legal counsel on this."