Page 106 of His Greatest Treasure

“They aren’t responsibilities. They’re choices someone makes when it comes to caring for those they love.”

“You don’t love them.”

It’s easy to tell him otherwise and easier to admit it to myself.

“I do. I love the two of them more than I’ve ever loved anything. They’re my family, and I’m not here out of obligation. I want to be here more than anything else. I chose them, Chris. And I’m not letting them go. Not right now with you spitting mad in my face, and not in twenty years. So, either get over the fact we’ll be seeing a lot of one another or don’t and continue having every meeting with them feel like this. Either way, I’ll be here to put you in your place.”

“She’s hard to love, buddy. Expects someone who can move mountains with his bare hands and will turn up her nose at anything less than. I gave up trying to be the man of her dreams years ago.”

It’s comical. So much so that I toss my head back and laughbeneath the weight of his poisonous stare. Never in my life have I heard anything so fucking wrong.

Laughter finally ceasing, I say, “Avery’s so incredibly easy to love that I started falling for her when I was just a kid. The problem has never been her, buddy. It’s all you. Always has been.”

Chris is shit at hiding his emotions, and when his top lip curls, I swing out of the way before he can hit me with the fist he sloppily throws at me.

I take another step back to create more distance between us. “Collect yourself and get the fuck off my property. If you try to hit me again, I’ll have the cops here before you can run off with your tail between your legs. Don’t let your daughter watch you get driven away in the back of a squad car.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t enjoy that? It would make it easier to take her from me,” he hisses.

I swallow, a sudden sadness seeping into my blood. With a slow shake of my head, I stare past him at Avery’s house, wishing I was there with her instead of here.

“She’s not a possession. I don’t want to keep you from her. If you can’t see past your own selfishness when it comes to them, that’s on you. I’m not fighting you. I’m fighting for them. And Nova deserves better than to witness her father make a fool of himself again.”

“I won’t let you turn them against me,” he threatens.

Every word I’ve spoken has fallen on deaf ears. It becomes obvious that nothing I say will ever make a difference with him. He’s stuck so far in his own habits of selfish manipulation that he can’t see the truth right in front of him.

“Alright, Chris. Don’t let me, then. It won’t make an ounce of a difference once you’ve done it all on your own.”

I leave him in my yard, deciding here and now not to give him another second of my time when I could be next door with my family. Nova has Avery, but who does Avery have?

“Tell her that we need to talk,” he says from behind me. “Alone.”

Closing my eyes, I halt. “If you want to speak with her, call tomorrow once you’ve both had time to cool down. I’m not your middleman.”

“You know what? I’ll talk to her right the fuck now.”

I’m spinning and planting a hand on his chest before he makes it a single foot on her lawn. Anger bleeds into the calm façade I’ve slipped on.

“One more step.”

“Until?” he goads.

“Do you have any idea how lucky you are? I’ve known several men get handed terrible custody agreements and take them on the chin because they didn’t want to cause a stink with their kids. But you? You get served with a generous one and still take it for granted.” I scrape a hand over my jaw, chuckling in disbelief. “Any judge worth a dime would take one look at you and know you deserve far less than one weekend every two weeks. Your threats would mean nothing to Avery with something written in ink.”

“She won’t take it to court,” he snaps.

“Maybe not before, no. But now? You’ve just threatened her, Chris.”

This time when I turn and leave, I let his next words drift away on the wind. He’s not worth my time. Not worth anything when it comes to Nova and Avery.

His threats to Avery were worthless in my eyes, but to her, they might not mean the same thing.

They could mean everything.

35

OLIVER

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