Page 75 of Throne of Sin

It takes us two hours of playing with every dog or cat in the back room before she decides on a two-year-old golden retriever.

Oakleigh’s smiles and laugh are addicting. I find myself smiling and laughing with her.

“Let’s go show your mom,” I say after I’ve also purchased a collar, leash, dog bed, food, and some toys Oakleigh picked out. Whatever she asked for, I gave her, because who am I to say no? I have nine years of not being around to make up for.

This is the first time my smile slips as I think about everything I’ve missed, the time I’ll never get back.

The dog, who isn’t named yet—Oakleigh wants Demi to help name it—jumps up on my lap and licks me in the face.

“Alright.” I laugh, brushing it off and back to Oakleigh.

We get back to the old neighborhood and Oakleigh runs to the front door. I stand there looking around, not understanding why Demi would ever want to come back here. I would love nothing more than to light my old house on fire and here she is trying to make hers a home again.

The door opens before we get to the steps. My arms are overflowing with dog stuff while Oakleigh chases the dog without a name.

“What do we have here?” Demi asks with one of her fake smiles.

“A dog to help protect us!” Oakleigh yells with delight. It’s the most perfect sound I’ve ever heard.

“I can see that. Why don’t you take it to the backyard and make sure it pees?”

She runs through the house to the backyard and Demi levels me with a look. “A dog, Dante?”

I walk past her and into the house, placing the dog stuff down before heading into the kitchen to put its food and water dishes down.

“You can’t get her everything she asks for.”

Ignoring her, I fill the metal dish with cold water and place it on the floor.

“You need to ask me first over stuff like this. I can’t afford to feed a dog right now!”

I stand to my full height and stalk toward her. “I can do whatever I want because you hid her from me. Fornineyears. If she asks me for a fucking lion, I’ll buy her the whole damn zoo. I will take care of the dog bills. Your job is to love and take care of it, and in return it will protect you,” I sneer, my anger wanting to consume me.

“When will you see I need to stand on my own two feet?”

I get right into her personal space. “When you actually try and do something about it!”

She’s doing her deep breathing thing again, and her brows pinch together, wrinkling her forehead. “Why have I seen a police car driving past here every hour?”

I shrug. “I have no idea.”Lies. And it’s every forty-five minutes, not every hour. “I’m done with your bullshit for today. I’m going to say goodbye to my daughter and leave. You can make our life easier by not talking to me when I pick her up from now on.”

Chapter 38

Demi

Amonthhaspassedand I’ve tried to avoid Dante as much as possible. In front of Oakleigh, we stay civil, even when it’s impossibly hard because Dante is determined to make my life difficult. He goes out of his way to ruin my day if he can.

My phone rings. “Hello?”

“You realize this is not your phone, right? I bought it for Oakleigh, yet she is never the one answering it.”

“I’ll go get her.” I pull the phone away from my ear, not wanting to hear his deep voice.

“Not so fast, Demi.”

Reluctantly, I place the phone back to my ear. “What is it?” I ask, annoyed. I already know I’m not going to like whatever he says.

“It’s time that Oakleigh starts having sleepovers at my house. We’ve done it your way for a month. Now I want what real half custody looks like. She needs to start living at my house too.”

---