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But, in this moment, in Ernest Adams’s presence, it occurs to me that he’s something else.
In a way, he’s more dangerous than the others, because of what he represents, the manipulation he’s capable of…
“Please, Delphi,” he mumbles when she says nothing. “I’m alive. I’m back in the flesh. I want to be in your life. I want to be in your son’s life. I’m your father.”
Don’t fucking fall for it, Phi. Don’t fucking let him in.
I speak to her in my silent glare. All while she refuses to look in my direction.
A long moment passes where I’m watching her, but she’s staring ahead at Ernest. Dominic squirms and coos from where he’s flush against her shoulder.
I don’t know what to expect, if she’ll fall for Ernest’s manipulation, or if she’ll do what’s best for our family and keep him out.
I have no choice but to wait it out in the tense silence, my adrenaline still racing. Finally, she makes her decision, clutching Dominic even closer.
“I want you to go,” she says.
“Delphi—”
“Please leave,” she tells him, blinking away tears. “You… you don’t get to do this to me. You don’t get to show up uninvited and intrude on our private time.”
“Delphi, I’m your father!”
“You lost those privileges a long time ago,Dad,” she spits out with a hint of bitterness. “You want to see me, you reach out first. You don’t force your way in like this.”
Ernest looks more wounded by her words than by the serious strangulation he suffered at my hands. He rubs at his throat, stares for several seconds at his daughter as if in hopes she’ll change her mind, and then finally gives a stiff nod.
“Alright,” he says. “If that’s what you want. I’ll… I’ll show myself out.”
He stands up straight and leaves the room without bothering to address me in any way. Which is for the best if he wishes to make it out of the birthing center alive.
I turn toward Delphine. “It’s better this way—”
“Salvatore, I’m exhausted,” she says matter-of-factly, like Ernest isn’t the only one she’s pissed with. I’m on her bad side too. “I don’t want to deal with this right now. Dom is frightened and upset, and I just want to make sure he’s okay.”
Suddenly, in a rare occurrence, I feel foolish. Only Delphine would be able to conjure such a feeling out of me without even trying.
I realize, through my explosion and anger, I didn’t consider other angles. While I’ll never apologize for protecting my family, I might’ve reacted too impulsively. I lost control and let Ernest make me look like some kind of violent brute.
I stressed out Delphine at a time where she’s already exhausted and made my infant son cry.
You’d think that would be enough to set me straight. I’d forget about the scene that just unfolded and try to make it up to Delphine and Dominic.
But that’s not what my obsessive tendencies allow for in the moment—I’ve been triggered, my paranoid and bloodthirsty tendencies stirred from their dormant state.
I leave the room. Several of the nurses give disapproving stares as they watch me pass, even muttering amongst themselves. I keep going, ignoring every last one of them, as I make my way down the fluorescent-lit corridor.
I catch Ernest just beyond the doors to the birthing center. He’s heading toward the town car that’s waiting for him. I stride up from behind and call out to him, a feverish pitch about me as my rage returns in full swing.
“HEY!” I yell. “Ernest, you hear me!”
He slowly turns around, and there it is, plain as fucking day on his face—that unparalleled arrogance he always displays whenever we’re alone. When it’s just me and him and he knows he can get away with showing who he really is. He flattens a hand over his suit and quirks a brow at me.
“Yes, Mancino?”
I jab a finger in his chest and walk him several steps back. “You don’t understand, Ernest. You think it’ll be like before. I’ll fight fair and with Delphine’s desires in mind. That’ll I’ll spare you or go easy on you because you’re her father.”
“Look, Mancino, this is really out of hand,” he says in his deep, condescending tone. His dark eyes gleam, speaking a whole different language,tauntingme. Even the corners of his lips do, almost curling. “All I wanted to do was see my daughter and grandson. The last time I checked, that isn’t against any law. Congratulations, by the way. You’re a father now yourself.”
