“Okay.” Flipping through the paperwork while Anthony turned his attention back to Antonya, I nibbled my bottom lip absently as my mind wandered.
The shock of Antonya had slowly been wearing off, and Anthony’s commanding side had started to shine through the uncertainty and dazed confusion of suddenly being a father. I could hear it in his voice, see it in the way he moved, feel it in the way he looked at me. He didn’t question the decisions I made, but if I was unsure, he would step in.
Like with brunch today. The decision was small, so small it could’ve been overlooked if I didn’t know better. Slowly, with extreme precision, Anthony was inserting himself into my life in ways that had very little to do directly with our daughter. Even his crashing on my couch was something that just happened without my say-so; he’d offered to take one night of feeding so that I could sleep, and that one night turned into five.
Last night, Anthony bought pizza as a surprise for exactly half an hour after we got back to my apartment from Kelly’s. When I worried about eating it, he opened the freezer stocked with breastmilk and suggested I use my electric pump and toss the pizza-tainted milk.
I hadn’t argued because I hadn’t eaten pizza in months, but it also came with a realization.
Anthony was picking and choosing his battles with ruthless efficiency, doing just enough to get under my skin but not enough for me to notice. He was trying with every drop of intelligence and strategy he owned to make this work.
And it was working extremely well.
Chapter 14
Anthony
“So, what did you do for the past ten months, Anthony? You know what I did—” Lifting Antonya out of her car seat, Hailey glanced at me across the table with eyes burning with curiosity. “I know you mentioned trying to get out from under your father’s thumb…”
The restaurant we’d picked out was quiet despite the lack of empty seats, and I flipped through my menu without really looking at it. Across the small table, Hailey held our daughter in the crook of her right arm and bounced slightly to keep her calm. For a long moment, I only stared, and I inhaled a deep, steadying breath before opening my mouth.
“I started going to therapy, actually…” The shame, the self-loathing, that I had always felt about needing professional help was absent, and a grim smile lifted my lips as Hailey stared in wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock.
“Yeah- after what happened, I realized that I needed help, not distractions. I went twice a week… I only stopped going to come here at the insistence of my therapist.”
“Your therapist told you to find me? To apologize?” Hailey’s voice was void of everything but surprise, and I leaned back in my seat to stare at her blankly.
“I told him I wanted to, I just didn’t think it was a good idea. I really… you can never understand the shame I felt for what I did to you, Hailey. He said I should try to get closure, to know you’re alright, and maybe even forgiveness. Now that I’m here…”
Trailing off as I ran out of words, I pursed my lips tightly as Hailey furrowed her brows sharply. My gaze flickered to Antonya, and my heart twisted in its cage.
“I don’t want to go back. I shut off my phone, you know—last week. I don’t want to turn it back on.”
“Anthony…” Breathing my name softly, Hailey smiled slightly, and she reached across the table to hold my hand. The contact sent goosebumps surging up my arm and chest, and I narrowed my eyes on her as she tinged pink. “You beat yourself up too much about that, Anthony. To be honest… I… I don’t think I’ve ever been so satisfied. Not to say it didn’t hurt, of course, but it didn’t hurt, you know?”
My heart nearly stopped beating entirely at Hailey’s sheepish confession, and I stiffened when she tightened her grip on my hand. Bells trilled in my head alongside the blaring of tornado sirens, but there was no way to tell if they were in warning or celebration. A tsunami of relief, even a tickle of pride, rushed my chest, and I squeezed her slender fingers before she opened her mouth again.
“I’m happy you got help, though. What did your therapist have to say about your father?” Grinning slightly at Hailey, I nodded absently, but the conversation was halted by the appearance of our waitress. She was clearly busy, and I quickly scanned the menu as Hailey ordered with confidence.
“My father doesn’t know I go…” Speaking up once the waitress rushed off with our menus and orders, I shrugged slightly at Hailey’s soft hum.
“I’ve been working for the past six months trying to distance myself from his companies—appointing new officials and stuff. The therapist helped me make a plan on how to do it. I finally just finished closing out, and this was what ended up happening. As for my therapist… his professional opinion is that my father is a narcissist—which isn’t such a stretch.”
“So, your plan is to just disappear until your father is forced to take back this burden he put on you?” Licking my lips heavily, my gaze landed on Antonya, and Hailey didn’t need any further explanation. It wasn’t my plan until I found out I had a real reason to disappear. “What if he comes looking for you?”
“I know what our contract says. Since my father insisted on keeping the final say in all major decisions, I don’t need to be involved in the small stuff, which is mostly everything. He can try to get me to come back and be a puppet, but I’m not legally obliged to do so.”
“That’s why you closed out, then. And even if your father did come looking for you, you can fall back on your therapy and go for medical inability just like he did.” Nodding firmly, I relaxed in my seat at the prideful smile Hailey shot me, and we fell into a comfortable silence.
My gaze settled on Antonya, and I leaned forward to reach across the table. She slept peacefully all morning, but a voice just behind my eardrum told me she’d wake up in a half hour, maybe, to eat. Her smooth skin was warm under my fingertips, and her tiny hand flexed at my touch.
“If you want, you can just keep crashing on my couch—I know you’re still paying for the hotel room, but it’s got to be racking up af
ter so long.” Hailey’s fast words stiffened my muscles and sent prickles down my spine, and my eyes flickered to find her turning beet red. Clenching and releasing my jaw in the tense silence that surrounded us, I thought on the offer for a long moment before slowly shaking my head. Clearly, but not hurtfully so, she hadn’t meant to blurt that out, and I wasn’t going to push her.
Not yet, at least.
“It’s okay, Hailey. I might be on hiatus, but I still own a few billion dollars in equitable ventures. I can handle paying $300 a night for a hotel room.” My response only caused Hailey to blush brighter, and I leaned back to laugh and reach to scratch the back of my neck. “It’s okay- I’ve forgotten about that a few times here, too. It’s surprisingly easy to forget.”