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"What risks, Alessandro?" The level of calmness in my voice was due to two things. One, my head hurt too much to shout. Two, I didn't want to upset Artemis too much. She was looking intensely at Alessandro as he bellowed and all it took for the matter to escalate was a reaction on my side. She'd never let me hear the end till I left her in daycare.
If we'd even go to daycare today.
"There are risks to being the child of a billionaire! You should know that much you..."
"...poor gambling drunk," I finished his statement for him with a scathing laughter after.
"I wasn't going to say tha... where'd you even... never mind. My point is this child is in danger. The only..."
"My child is not in danger, Alessandro. We've been doing really good without you or anyone else really."
"You don't understand. There's so much that you don't understand."
"And there's so little that you're not understanding right now," I responded back. Damn! I think I got the look now. That suave,dull look of sarcasm. I mentally high fived myself for acing it. "Artemis and I are safe. Never been safer. We don't need you bumping into us one day and threatening our lives."
His brows creased in thought or something else...I couldn't really tell...no... didn't want to tell. I didn't want to be around him much longer. How dare he? We've been alone since Artemis's very conception and for the most foundational stages of her life. Then he bumps into us one day and begins babbling about how much danger we were in?
We were in danger in my fifth month of pregnancy when I tumbled down a stool after I climbed up to change a bulb and was bleeding for the rest of the week. Where was he? Where was he when I was in danger during labor and the doctors had to make lacerations to my vagina to widen it to accommodate Artemis's large body?
Where was he during my first three months after labor when I was in danger of unsure motherhood, doing practically everything off the internet? I could have done something wrong that could have put my baby in danger. But was he there? I had multiple infections then. I couldn't take care of myself well enough because I had to spend one hundred percent of my time with my newborn. I had to go to the hospital frequently to get proper help to aid the lacerations, still healing.
Where the fuck was he?
I felt like screaming at him. At the world for dealing me such an unfair hand...but I held myself. Besides, my head was spinning too much already.
He asked a question that brought me back from my daydream of stabbing him with a blunt rusty knife "You named her Artemis?"
"Yes, and it's none of your business if you think..."
"No... it's a really nice name. Suits her well," he smiled and tried to stroke her cheeks, but she cowered and buried her face in my chest. That seemed to hurt him, but in a second’s glance, his face went from sad dad back to mad dad.
"She has to come with me. Now."
I looked at him for a few seconds, trying to decipher whether or not he was being serious. He held my gaze and used his eyes to communicate his urgency.
The laughter was scathing. There was no funnier joke I've heard throughout the month!
He watched me laugh, run out of breath, take in another one, burst into another fit till I was out of breath again. I had to take pity on my sore head and quell my nerves to still the laughter and even then, they wouldn't stop coming in short bursts as I talked.
"I'm sorry. You what? You wanna take Artemis with you? Okay, then. Here, take her." I stretched her out to him, and she clawed desperately to be closer to me. "Let me get her lunch for you to..." He stupidly stretched his hands to receive Artemis and I retracted my baby back with speed and replaced her stretched out form with my stretched-out face.
"Of course I'd never give her to you, you inconsiderate, irresponsible, degenerate of a man!"
He also retracted his hands in shock. Really. What was he thinking?
"I'm being serious here, Sienna."
"And I'm the one joking? Get out of my way, Alessandro. Nice meeting you. See you never." For the gazillionth time, I tried to maneuver my way around him, but he still proved too stubborn a brick wall to let me pass.
"Sienna. You know I can get you arrested for hiding this baby from me. I could file a case of kidnapping. She's my daughter."
"You know..." I told him, feeling too angry to hold back any spite. "...you have this nerve...this irritating disposition that makes me want to puke on you right now. This is the first time we meet in three fucking years. No conversation on how I've survived this long. You couldn't even care less if I was dead at this point...but now, you see me...with a kid...and the only thing you think about is taking the child. A child you knew nothing about till this point. The only person I have left in this world that I call family. Whyare you doing this, Alessandro? What did I do to you to deserve such shitty treatment?"
At this point, tears flowed freely from my eyes, and I didn't make any effort to stop them. He hurt me and even if he didn't give a shit, I wanted him to at least know that he did hurt me.
He dropped his shoulders in resignation and took a long look at my convulsing self.
"You can come too. Of course. Would I ask for the child without the mother?"
