The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 175

Mina was not prepared to face this topic but it wasn’t like she had a choice. He had already overheard enough to pin the pieces together.

"Gabe..."

He ignored her. "Avery, I’m leaving."

"Sure," Avery said, at the same time as Mina grabbed his arm.

"Can we talk?"

He glared down at her hand holding his arm. Avery wasn’t sure what to say so she kept her mouth shut. When the duo left, however, her nervousness didn’t dim in the slightest bit.

Meanwhile, Gabe grabbed Mina’s hand and basically dragged her away before he asked. "What do you want?"

She looked around. "We cannot talk here. Can we go somewhere more...private?"

He wasn’t sure he wanted to, but he barked out, "my car."

A few minutes later, she was sitting in the passenger seat of Gabe’s parked car and her body was a bundle of nerves. She knew Gabe would never hurt her but that did nothing to prevent immense fear from creeping into her body. She placed her hands on her knees to stop them from shaking.

"Speak." He demanded.

There were many things she wanted to say. She wanted to ask him how he was doing, tell him how sorry she was and a million other things, but his voice and body language let her know she only had the chance to tell him one thing.

So she divulged the one thing she should have said over a month ago. "The name you overheard...Michaelangelo is our son. He arrived safely."

She thought he would yell, scream and curse but none of that happened. He was quiet for way too long. She inched slightly closer, noticing his jaw to tensed that she feared he might grind his teeth.

"Gabe, I..."

"Get out of my car." He spat.

____

That evening.

Avery had put Sophie to bed but she stayed in the same spot in the nursery, staring out the window. Damon joined her from having settled the older kids and held her from behind.

"Too tired to fall asleep? I ran you a bath."

She nodded. "Thanks."

He kissed her neck. "What’s wrong?"

"I’m worried about Mina and Gabe." She turned to sink deeper into his arms. "I know they would never hurt each other—not physically anyway—but emotionally, they might just destroy each other’s universe and I don’t know who I’m more worried about.

She made a valid point, but he rubbed a hand up and down her back. "You can’t focus too much energy on other people’s love life. You wouldn’t be able to make any decisions for them, anyway."

"I know. It’s just... I have a bad feeling."

_____

While Mina didn’t know it, Avery was right to have an ominous premonition. Two days after telling Gabe the truth, she’d just returned from taking her son out for a stroll when she received new mail for her.

She was slightly confused. Most of her mail was electronic. Who even still printed their mail on paper?

Seeing it was legal-sized, she assumed it had to be something from the bank. But she couldn’t be more wrong.

As soon as she was back in her apartment and she had settled the baby, she ripped the envelope open and read the letter, which turned out to be a court summon. Gabe was suing her for custody of their son.

There was nothing too outrageously shocking about it. Gabe had been furious when she told her of the little boy’s existence.

Still, she didn’t think it would end in a custody battle. She threw the letter aside and rushed over to her son’s crib. "I didn’t want any of this to happen...I cannot lose you."

A wild thought crossed her mind. She left Imperium but stayed in a neighboring city, which was probably why Gabe had found her so easily. Maybe if she went farther away...

No, she thought. She couldn’t do this. It would not be fair to Angelo to make him grow up without a father when his father did in fact want to be part of his life. She’d been one of the people who hated Damon the most when she thought he didn’t want to raise Angel, and then she’d seen how happy he was to be a father.

She remembered how sad Gabe looked at the christening. Would he be happier if he experienced fatherhood?

Kissing her son’s forehead, she decided to do what she should have done months ago. She dialed his number.

He picked on the first ring. "Who is this?"

He was in a horrible mood, she could tell from his stern voice. Her heart leapt in her throat. "It’s me."

His voice grew colder, if that was even possible. "What else do you want?"

Her eyes stung. She couldn’t ask to meet him because that was one of the things she knew he wouldn’t want. She had to hurry before his impatience won and he ended the call. "Can we talk? I was hoping we could come to some compromise."

"Compromise?" he repeated the word as though he was tasting it and it turned out to be bitter.

"Yes." She said gently. "If we get into a custody battle, Angelo would be hurt. He’s still so young.."

"So?" He interrupted her.

"So..." she hesitated. Was it really going to be this easy? "Can we do visitation?"

All she heard was the beeping sound as the call ended. After that, she couldn’t reach him when she tried to call.

_____

Gabe glared a the phone on his coffee table like it was the cause of all his problems. How ironic that the same day he saw the woman who’d disappeared on him, he also learned he was a father.

He had respected her wish to be away all this time. It wasn’t difficult for the court summon to get to her. If he’d tried, he would have found her address.

He had also known if he attended Sophie’s christening, there was a chance he would see her again. Part of him even longed for it. How was it that when he saw her again, he was so furious? The sound of her voice made him go nuts. After downing the rest of his beer, he grabbed the offending phone and made a call.

"Mr. Vaillant?" His lawyer greeted.

"How soon can the first hearing be scheduled?" he didn’t wait for the lawyer to answer before adding, "I want it as soon as possible."

_____

On the day of the hearing, he stood in front of the mirror in his bathroom.

"She did this. She took your son from you." He wagged a finger at his reflection staring back at him. "You will not pity her."

He thought he had managed to talk himself into treating her like a stranger who wronged him and his son but when he arrived at the courthouse and he caught a glimpse of her, he faltered. He was getting out of his car when he saw her talking on the phone with someone, and their eyes met. Hers were heavy with dark circles that couldn’t be masked even with the makeup she had on.

Yeah, I haven’t been sleeping either, he thought.

But he remembered it must be different for her. She had a baby with her, doing the job of two parents on her own. For a fraction of a second, he felt guilty for suing her. Yet again, if the court gave him custody of the little boy, she wouldn’t need to have sleepless nights, would she?

After convincing himself he was doing the right thing, he ignored her and entered the courtroom.

He had just sat down when Mina’s lawyer approached his. "My client would like a settlement."

Gabe’s lawyer turned to him for confirmation and didn’t need to ask anything. He immediately said, "mine wouldn’t."

For the next half hour, he couldn’t focus. Something was happening in the courtroom but his mind was not part of it. His eyes were on the woman who’d been put on the witness stand, who looked more and more desperate with every second that passed. At some point, she took out a handkerchief and wiped her eyes. That snapped him out of his thoughts just in time to hear his lawyer ask, "Miss Romano, can you explain to the court why you left the city?"

He stood without thinking. "Objection!"

The judge shot him a glare. "You will not speak in my court without permission. Sit down."

At the same time, his lawyer walked back to him with a confused look. "I’m your damn lawyer, trying to help you win this case."

He was confused too. His lawyer was going to make Mina admit she had run away because they encountered a challenge, then he was going to convince the judge she might do the same to their son. He was going to make her seem like a bad mother who’d abandon her son and give him the upper hand to win. However, if he had ever been certain of anything, it was that he would regret letting it get to that for the rest of his life.

"I’ll take the settlement," he told the lawyer. Almost afraid his lawyer would talk him out of it, he raised his voice to tell the judge, "Your honor, the defendant and I would like to settle this out of court."

"Are you sure?" asked the judge. "You drop the suit, you lose the right to reopen the case if your settlement comes to a stalemate."

"I am sure." He confirmed.

The judge looked to Mina. "Miss Romano?"

"I agree, your honor." Mina said, relief washing over her.

With a bang of her gavel, the judge closed the case.

As they left the courtroom, Mina caught up to Gabe.

"Thank you."

He turned to face her. For the first time, he didn’t hate seeing her. "I’m only doing this so my son will have both of his parents. And just because we are going to discuss a custody pattern doesn’t mean I forgive you for leaving."