Page 21 of Yours Until Forever

“This isn’t you,” she hisses. “You don’t handle things this way.”

“I do now.”

Blair’s letter was exactly what it needed to be. Firm, direct, and leaving no room for Shayla to keep letting Luna down. It outlined our custody agreement in black and white, noted every time she’d violated it over the past year, and made it clear that any further breaches would put us in court. No more changing plans and dumping Luna with me when she wants to party or when it simply doesn’t work for her. No more unilateral decisions. Blair warned her that if she kept this up, I’d file to modify the custody order, and I wouldn’t hold back.

Her perfectly glossed lips purse, and from experience, I know this will go one of two ways. She’ll either start yelling or begin crying. Always the victim when things don’t go her way. Today, though, she’ll find I don’t have my usual patience for any of it.

“You chose Blair Whitney?” she says, voice dipping, softer now. The same quiet she always uses when she wants to pull me back in. “You know how she is, Gage.”

“She’s the best.” I’m not buying into the nostalgia she’s peddling. It’s not us against the world anymore, no matter how often she tries to use that tactic on me. “She’s exactly what Luna needs.”

“She’s a pit bull,” she spits, dropping the soft act like it was never there. “You’ve never once involved anyone like her before. Why now?”

Truth is, I’ve let Shayla run rings around me when it comes to Luna. Not because I don’t care, but because every time I’ve pushed back, Luna’s paid the price. Less attention. Less affection. More whispered bullshit like,“Daddy doesn’t care about us,”slipped in right when Luna’s defenses were down.

The worst has been watching my little girl shrink in on herself recently, trying to be the perfect daughter so her mother might love her a little louder. It’s gutted me.

I could fight Shayla, but Luna? She was the one who’d bleed for it.

I hate playing hardball with my ex, but I will go to the ends of the earth for my daughter.

I walk around the desk, moving in close to her, my entire body vibrating with anger. “I’m doing what I should have done a long fucking time ago, Shayla. I’m protecting our daughter.”

Her lip curls. “No. You’re punishing me.”

“Fuck, can you hear yourself? Where’s the woman I married? The woman I thought would be the greatest mother alive? She sure as hell wouldn’t whine about me trying to punish her.”

“God, you’re an asshole.” Her eyes glitter with hatred. “You’re going to rip this family apart.”

I stare at my ex and wonder for the millionth fucking time how I ever loved her. “You’ve already ripped this family apart.I’m trying to make things right for Luna.” I snatch Blair’s letter from her and angrily shake it between us. “From now on, Blair’s handling everything for me. You want a switch of nights with Luna? You go through Blair. You want to pick her up an hour later than our agreement? You go through Blair. You want anything at all from me? You go through Blair.”

She draws back slightly, stiffening at my tone. “You think you’re a saint. Like you’re the best father out there and I’m the worst mother. Do you have any idea how hard it is being a mother in this world that’s not made for women? I’m doing my best while trying to juggle motherhood and work.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I clench my jaw. “You have two nannies, a housekeeper, a driver, a personal shopper, and a goddamn spiritual guide, whatever the hell that is. All paid for by me. The only thing you’re juggling is the attention you gain from Insta-fucking-gram.”Fuck.

“You never understood me! And you still don’t!”

She’s right about that. But I’m not getting into this shit with her today.

“We’re done here.” My tone is colder than it’s ever been with her. “And I’m done with pretending this is working. It’s time you start showing up for Luna.”

Her eyes go wide, flickering with shock for a split second before she gathers herself and we’re back to the practiced Shayla. The woman who stopped knowing how to be real a long time ago.

She squares her shoulders. “You keep acting like I don’t care. Like I don’t love her. But I do.”

“Then show her that. Show her she matters more to you than your followers or your image or your next event. Be her mom, Shayla.”

She slaps me. Exactly as I knew she would.

Then, she pivots and stalks out, heels echoing like rapid gunfire.

I exhale, the weight of this shit settling deep.

I didn’t want this.

None of it.

I just wanted Luna to have two parents who loved her enough to put her first.

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