Page 19 of One Last Chance

“Take the kids to yours, I will pick them up later,” I say, dashing to her car parked by the road to speak to Mac. Everything in me softens the moment I see him, like it’s not even possible for me to display the sort of inhospitable energy in his presence. I knock on the window on his side and the moment he sees me, his face lights up.

He quickly—and clumsily—rolls the window down. “Daddy!” he rejoices.

Doing my best, I put on a gentle smile and reach in to ruffle his hair. “Hey, little bean… I’ve got to take care of something important for work right now, but I’ll pick you up from grandma’s as soon as I’m done, okay? Have dinner and get washed there. Or you can stay overnight, if you want?”

“No, I wanna go home! Can we watch the Snow Prince?” he asks excitedly.Again?

I suppress the part of my brain that threatens to self-destruct if I hear even the melody of the intro to it one more time and nod. “It’ll probably be too late by then, but we’ll watch it first thing in the morning, okay? Promise,” I say, giving him my pinkie. While he locks his with mine and grins, bouncing in the seat, I glance behind him.

Mina’s entire body is pressed against the door on her side, and she’s drawn her legs up against her chest as if she’d rather die than even risk meeting eyes with me.

“Alright. I’ll see you later,” I whisper and draw back.

Mother stands at the end of the driveway, waiting for me to pass by her. “Rowe, where are you going?”

“Madisonville,” I reply drily. She’s not the one I’m angry at, but right now, I can’t deal with her. To my surprise, she lets me get in my car without pushing any further. She knows what thatmeans, and that I’ve run out of patience. In fact, she’s probably happy, thinking I should’ve done this years ago.Maybe I should have.

?

My rage is all well and good by the time I arrive in Madisonville. I expected myself to cool off and change my mind, but not this time. I keep seeing Mina’s face, filled with hatred. Her words echo in my head, wounding me over and over again.

As I pass through the east side of the town, there are fewer cars and lights. My stomach twists around itself and my heart pounds in my ears the closer I get. Once I park my car outside the trailer, I get out and march to the door without missing a beat. Most of the lights around are off, though I hear voices somewhere across the trailer park and a few of the windows dance with colors from TVs.

I bang on the door a few times and step away, waiting. As I try to relax my clenched jaw, I remind myself how, every single day for the past four years, I’ve been slowly losing more and more chances of spending time with my daughter. And I know exactly who to blame.

With a creak, the cheap, banged up wooden door opens. Hope pokes her head out, wearing a robe and squinting at me. “Ro— What the hell are you doing here?” The speed at which she switches from mild tepid to hostile is truly something.

“Did you put Mina up to ruin any attempt at a fulfilling human relationship I try to have, or is she just coached and corrupted enough by you that it was all her?” I vomit all of my anger out—every thought I’ve been biting down to keep to myself, every truth I’ve been trying to push aside to be the bigger person.

“What the fuck are you going on about?” Hope gives me the nastiest look, and after glancing behind her, steps outside, closing the door. “It’s almost ten o’clock. What the hell do you think you’re—”

“You’ve got some nerve,” I go on, baring her teeth at her, already at my limit of keeping civilized. “Just because I don’t confront you on it every time I know it happens—because I know well enough it’d lead fucking nowhere—doesn’t mean I don’t see what you’re doing! All this demeaning, hateful crap Mina parrots about betas and how people like me hate them. How I hateherbecause of what second gender she is. That is fromyourmouth!” My voice trembles. Like so many times before, I’m assaulted by the memories of theotherHope. Of the person I loved, and that loved me. One who didn’t care about all this drivel. Who didn’t have so much hate in her heart. But maybe I never knew her. Maybe she never even existed.

“This is exactly why the judge ruled in my favor; because you can’t stop yourself from poisoning our own children against me with nothing but this ignorant, bigoted bullshit your good-for-nothing husband keeps feeding you!” I get louder than I’d be proud to admit, and a part of me hates sinking this low, but it makes me feel good, and today was supposed to be that for me. I was supposed to have a good time with Dayton, and this is the closest I can get to joy or satisfaction right now.

Unfortunately, Hope is too nasty to even entertain the possibility of me being right and too far down to ever reconsider her views. “You’re the one coming here to scream at me in the middle of the night like a psycho! And don’t you fucking talk to me about the ruling ever again, when you know well enough it was only because—”I can’t even listen to her.

Zoning Hope out, I roll my head back and walk in circles, hands pressed against my face while I take deep, controlled breaths. I’ve heard it a million times already. I won full custody because I’m an alpha, because of my position, because whatever conspiracy she or her husband cooked up that day. Not because I was the only one wanting what was best for the kids or not lowering myself to personal attacks. To shouting in court and in front of lawyers, to physical threats.

Somewhere in the distance, I hear crickets. It would have been peaceful, if only… “—a good parent, huh?! Maybe don’t drag cheap fucking omegas home to screw if you don’t want your children to be exposed to that shit and get hurt!”

Dizzying anger surges through me. I’ve never wanted to strangle anymore more in my life.No, focus. Don’t let her personal attacks distract you from what’s important.

“So she did tell you! Did she text you before your spontaneous visit at school or after?” Pausing with my hands resting over my hips, I shake my head at her.Unbelievable. “You never cease to amaze me, Hope. I can’t comprehend how you’re able to stoop to the level of poisoning that little girl’s mind when you know all too well how hard the separation itself has been for all of them! It’s like you don’t give a shit about her actual wellbeing at all! This is why I can’t even leave Mac alone with you in this putrid environment, and why I won’t until you get your head screwed on straight!”

“Oh fuck off, Rowland! What thehelldo you know about love?” she snaps back, pointing a finger at me. Clearly, I have some gaps in my knowledge, especially when looking at her, but at least I have a heart. “He’s my kid, they all are!”

I snort. “I am their parent too, remember? The one actually taking care of them.”

“Iam only doing what’s best for them. Telling Mina how the world really is, and how people like you function, instead of sugarcoating the ugly truth! You wouldn’t—”

With my mouth half open and ready to refute, I freeze when someone opens the door behind Hope. And lo and behold, it’s the conspiracy-forums-dwelling, unemployed douche of her husband, Jordan. Wearing a torn up, greasy looking top and sweats, he opens it wide and stands in front of her like he’s protecting her from some monster. He tightens a baseball bat in his hands, tapping it into his palm while he shoots me his best threatening glare.

“The hell do you think you’re doin’ here?”

He’s free to take his chances, but I’m starting to sober up from the white-hot anger, realizing we’re not only making a scene, but how this could affect the kids. Violence is not the example I want to give to them. That’s not me. I can’t let her make me this person who I hate again.

“Having a parenting discussion with my ex-wife,” I answer similarly tensely, but lower my shoulders and step back.

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