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Chapter 24 - Danny: Go For Blows
He was the last person that I wanted here.
I attempted to shield Axel from his gaze, but he kept trying to look over my shoulder at who was causing all the commotion. I needed to get him out of here. I stood to my feet with my son still in my arms.
“Where do you think you are going, bitch?” His voice vibrated throughout the entire waiting room. Nurses took notice, and I saw them reaching for their landlines hopefully to call the police or at the very least security.
Slowly, I turned to face Arthur. Gavin rose at my side and put a protective arm behind my back. I kept Axel’s head pressed against the space between my neck and shoulder. He kept trying to fight me, but there was no way I was going to let him continue to look at Arthur.
“I think you should do us all a favor and leave. You are not wanted nor are you needed here, Arthur.” It was Jade who spoke. “I am sure you received our paperwork. Whatever you are trying to do by using Axel for some clean-up stunt won’t work. Don’t make me draw up a restraining order.”
“So you are the whore that wrote up that stupid cease and desist? What a joke.”
Grayson stood up. “Call my wife a whore again, and I swear I will end you where you stand.”
“You have no leg to stand on here. You have no case. Legally, you are not Axel’s father.” Jade stood firm in her stance. “Gavin is. You lost this battle before it even started. Now, do all of us a favor before we have you removed from this place.”
He scoffed, turning his attention to me. “Can’t speak for yourself, so you get your little hounds to speak for you. You are as pathetic as ever.”
His words hit my chest like knives.
Gavin must have noticed because he let out this animalistic sound I had never heard before. “I’m going to kill him.”
Arthur’s eyes moved between Gavin and me. “No fucking way. I know you. You looked familiar that day but now I remember you. You are Callum’s little lackey. What? Couldn’t cut it in Hollywood so now you’re slumming it here with my sloppy seconds.”
I knew what he was doing. It was a tactic he had used often on me in our relationship. He was trying to egg Gavin to make him throw the first blow. This way, Arthur would have a legal ground to sue.
“You got a lot of nerve showing your worthless self here.” My voice boomed throughout the entire floor. “The only worthless thing I see is you. You are the one with the failed career. You would stoop so low to even try and use my son as some tool to get you into the public's good graces. Well, you are too late to try and seek any form of parental rights. Gavin is Axel’s father. Not you.”
I could see the rage just building in Arthur’s eyes.
Arthur’s eyes snapped to me. “You did this! You allowed him to do this to our son.”
“Mine!” I snapped. “He is my son. Not yours. You left, remember? You said you wanted no part of me or the baby, and you left to chase your stupid wannabe-singer dreams. You don’t get to come back now when it suits you. He is not your son. He never was.”
“I will ruin you,” he said.
“And I will kill you long before you could even try,” Gavin seethed.
Gavin had a few feet on Arthur and, where Arthur was buff, Gavin was lean and strong. I knew that Gavin could take Arthur any day, but that didn’t mean I wanted him to. There didn’t need to be violence. If Gavin threw the first punch, Arthur would try to use that against us.
“He is baiting you,” I whispered so only he could hear. “Don’t let him do it. He is not worth it, okay?”
“You shut up!” Arthur pointed at me. “You have taken my one purpose for living.”
He was putting on a pathetic act of being a father who had been scorned but I knew the truth. He didn’t love Axel. He was only after him for image purposes and I would be damned if my son was used but this pathetic excuse of a sperm donor.
“You never cared about Axel,” I fired back. “I’m done taking your shit, Arthur. You gaslit me into thinking I was the problem when, all along, it was your insecure self. You told me once that I would be nothing without you, but I became everything I needed to be without you.”
His eyes twitched, and I knew he was on the verge of some kind of break. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, there was a calmness behind them that had my back stiffening.
“Look…” His voice suddenly got eerily calm. “I think we just all need to sit down and talk calmly about this. I am Axis's father.”
Gavin let out a humorless laugh. “It’s Axel, you dipshit, and no you aren’t. I am.”
“Well, then,” he huffed, his cool and calm composure gone. “I guess I am just going to have to take him by force.”
It happened so quickly, I didn’t even see him move. Arthur lunged for me, but Gavin was faster. He pushed us out the way and readied himself to tackle Arthur which he did successfully. Axel was trying to wriggle out of my arms, but I kept holding on to him.
