She ignored the fighting duo and was about to leave the restaurant when her path was blocked. She didn't need to look up to know who the idiot was.
"Why aren't you out of my life yet?" She was tired of this.
Damon grabbed her hand so she wouldn't brush past him. "My answer will be the same no matter how many times you ask me, Avery. I want to make up for what happened in the past."
She found him ridiculous. "Do you think you can simply "make up" and be done with it? Do you have any idea…" She stopped speaking and decided to save her strength instead. "Never mind. You will never be able to make up for what you did no matter how many times you pretend to be sorry. Even if you give your life, it will never be enough."
He didn't flinch at her cruel words. "How can you he so certain when you have not given me a chance to try?"
"You are courting your own death." She forcefully flung his hand off.
"I really had no choice. I…" He tailed after her, which irritated her.
"Shut up! I don't want to hear your excuses of the past." Whatever happened had already happened. The last thing she wanted to hear was a convincing lie. Heaven knew he had enough time all these years to come up with one.
Since this was not the first time she reacted explosively to the mention of the past, he realized that he should no longer mention it. Just what had she been through in those years that they were apart? He didn't have the right to ask or comfort her, he could only look at her pleadingly. "Can I see our son once? If he dislikes my presence, I will leave and not bother you anymore."
"You are trying to use my son's emotions as a bet against me. Damon D'aboville, are you asking for a beating?" She looked up at him threateningly.
He didn't doubt that she would beat him up if he infuriated her too much. "You are willing to let him meet men who are not related to him. You don't even know whether they will like him or use him to take advantage of you."
She frowned slightly.
"How do you think I feel?" He asked, seeing her flinch.
"Why should I care how you feel?" She dismissed him. Besides, she was yet to let Angel meet anyone. It wasn't like she would let any random man get close to him without investigating whether he can be a good father for him. Did Damon think she was a fool?
"Fine." He furrowed his brows. "Think about how our son will feel when he finds out that he has been used as a chess piece." He spoke before she could enter her car.
"I'm not…"
"Do you prefer involving the court?" He interrupted her. She tried to hide it but she clearly tensed up at the mention of the court. He smiled slightly and closed in on her. "At the very least, I will be allowed to visit him. This should be fair, right?"
"Tomorrow at 4pm. I will pick you up." She entered the car and slammed the door shut.
"That's awesome." He joyously punched the air. If he knew that she would be so flustered at the mention of the court, he would have brought it up much sooner. Why did he not think about it?
Of course, he knew that he couldn't use the court to threaten her more than once. If she took it seriously and decided to fight for Angel's custody, things might go downhill.
_
"I really don't get you, Avery." Mina was confused when she heard that Avery was letting Damon visit. Was she giving in to that scumbag?
She glanced at Avery who was quietly spinning a blue toy gun against the surface of the table.
"You have more chances of winning the lawsuit if he sues you. After all, he abandoned Angel first. All these years, you have been the one to work hard just to bring him up. Does he know what you went through?" She felt her rage building up just thinking about it.
"He doesn't need to know." Avery tapped a finger on the table to make the toy gun stop.
"But the court does." Mina argued. "As long as you let them know everything that happened, Angel will be yours and it will be up to you whether or not you want Damon close to him."
To her words, Avery smiled without looking up. "Court proceedings are a waste of time. Besides, I don't want to expose my son to the vile world of adults. He is still too young and innocent." She gazed at Angel who was building a messy castle on the mat. He knew nothing of what was happening around him, nor was he aware of the vicious battle that the adults were fighting. If possible, she wanted it to remain this way. She wanted to retain his innocence as much as she could.
"Most importantly…" Her gaze turned vicious when she averted her eyes from her son. "Mina, swatting flies away is unnecessarily tiring and hard. No matter how many times you shoo it away, it will keep buzzing around you." She let out an evil smirk. "The only sure method to get it to stop buzzing around is to trap and kill it."