The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 112

By the time he figured out what she meant, she was on her way out the door and it was too late to stop her. He didn’t think it sane to follow her. What would he tell her? That he was too cowardly to make any decision about their relationship at the moment?

There was a lot to consider and if he was being honest, he was not ready to face it yet. He poured himself a drink and sat down in contemplation. What was worse? Being stuck in a relationship because of a child or letting his child know his parents were not together?

There was nothing wrong with parenting their child without being in a solid relationship, as proved by Avery, Damon and Angel, but they were different. They loved each other. It may have taken them ages to confess it and get together but deep down, they had always known it.

He and Mina didn’t feel the same way for each other, which meant there was a high chance they end up in other relationships. The possibility of another man being involved in his child’s life did nothing but remind him of Bryce. Yet, there was nothing he could do about that. He couldn’t drag Mina back and make her vow not to be in a relationship with other men.

"Or I could do just that." He thought aloud.

....

He had always found psychologists ridiculous. Sophie had tried to talk him into therapy before and he had thought it was a waste of time and money to sit before a stranger and have them help him face his feelings but after a sleepless night, he didn’t realize what he was doing until he had knocked on the door to Mabella’s office.

"Gabriel?" Mabella was puzzled when she looked up and saw him. "Why are you here? Is Avery okay? What about Angel? Why didn’t Damon call me?"

"Your loved ones are all fine." He slotted himself in the seat opposite hers, which he guessed was meant for patients.

"Okay. So, why are you here?" She asked.

He smirked. "Why are you asking? Aren’t you a shrink? You should know everything about a person as soon as they walk in through the door."

She nodded. "I see what this is." She straightened up in her leather chair. "First of all, Gabriel Vaillant, I do not read minds."

"You use behavior to determine what patients need, I get it. You said that before." He scoffed.

"I didn’t say that either." She studied him. "If you hate it so much, why are you here?"

"My sister is the only other person I would go to with this and I don’t want to bother her. Besides, she would kick me in the balls for not following her friend."

It took a while for Mabella to figure it out. "Did you have a fight with Mina?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Fight isn’t the word I’d go for. I’d say ’child’." He shifted in discomfort, avoiding her reaction.

"Why is this child not a good thing?" If she was shocked, she hid it well, he observed. But again, she had probably handled situations thousands of times more complicated than this. Nothing was shocking to her anymore.

"The child in itself is the best thing that has ever happened to me." He revealed, surprising himself.

"And?"

"And I’m not ready." He was once again puzzled that he was answering her every question like a loyal little minion.

A chime sounded on the clock on her desk, making both of them snap out of it.

"Sorry, I got too caught up. My first appointment should be here any second. Why don’t you sign up if you want to talk more about your situation?"

"Why do I have to sign up? You shrink my entire family." He complained.

"They are my family and they don’t speak of shrinks like you do. If you don’t mind..." She indicated her hand at the door.

He shrugged. "Fine."

Gabriel left and she remembered who her first appointment of the day was with. Knowing her, she would not come. Not after how horribly she had handled their argument.

She sighed. How hypocritical was it for her to guide people through their feelings when she couldn’t handle her own well enough?

____

Meanwhile, in Damon’s villa.

Damon had to leave for work early so Avery had dropped by to take Angel to school, only to find a distressed Chloe sulking in the living room on her own.

"Chloe?" She sat at the edge of the couch. "What’s happening?"

"My session with Mabella just started. I’m waiting for her to send me a message letting me know she no longer wants me as a patient."

She knew why Chloe would think that way but still didn’t think it was worth making that huge kind of assumption.

"How do you know she is going to let you go? What if she’s waiting for you?" She asked.

Chloe shrugged. "Why would she ever wait for me? Mabella D’Aboville waits for no one. You either dance to her tune or fuck off. But a woman can dream."

Avery thought back to the expression she had caught on Mabella’s face before and grinned. "I bet a hundred bucks she will be glad if you show up."

"You think she will want to see me?" She asked for confirmation.

"I think so, but I must warn you, she is probably avoiding her feelings based on what you said before. If she says something she wouldn’t usually say, ignore it." Avery warned her in advance.

Chloe realized she was serious and there was a high chance of Mabella trying to push her away. She chuckled. "You’re becoming as much of a relationship expert as Mabella." She joked.

Avery tapped her shoulder. "Get your big girl pants on and go! I’ll wake Angel up."

She ran upstairs when she remembered what time it was. Angel was still sleeping when she entered his room, and she couldn’t help chuckling. He had knocked the comforter off himself and was sleeping diagonally across the bed, which must have been the result of him moving a lot through the night, but the bear in his arms had stayed intact.

She didn’t recognize it as any of his toys and when she pried it gently, she took notice of the purple ribbon on its neck and the fact that he had not returned with the toy he had insisted on carrying to school the day before finally made sense. The kids had exchanged teddies.

"Baby, wake up." She whispered gently and tapped his nose. Angel stretched his limbs and hugged her when he noticed her.

He sat up and looked at her in confusion, and she knew he was wondering what she was doing here when he was at Damon’s villa.

"Daddy had to go to work earlier," she explained. "Come on, let’s get you ready for school."

Instead of climbing down from the bed, he raised his arms to be carried. She picked him up indulgently and kissed his cheek.

...

By the time he had cleaned up and changed into his cute school uniform, his bento box was ready too. He took her hand so she would walk him to the car. He then slotted himself right next to her. She had let the chauffeur drive her today so she would continue working on the way to his school but despite seeing how busy she was, he hugged her arm and rested his head against it.

She set the documents aside and pulled him onto her lap. "Did you miss me last night?"

His nod confirmed the reason for his clingy behavior.

She tousled the locks of his hair gently. "You know daddy doesn’t live far from home, right? You can come over any time you want."

He nodded, rendering her confused. If he knew that already, why didn’t he ask to come over?

They arrived at his school before she could get much information, so she promised to have Damon drop him off at her villa in the evening when he picked him up. With his request, she walked him to class and only left when Aubrey arrived and he had someone to stay with until the bell rang for class to begin.

The rest of the day was busier than she had hoped, but each time she remembered her son missed her, she would be invigorated. When it was finally time to go home, she dropped by the grocery store and got ingredients for Angel’s favorite meals. The boy would be pleasantly surprised to come home to a table of dishes he loved.

She had just taken the chicken out of the air fryer when Damon came in.

"Damon, you’re here already? I sent you a text message asking you to delay your arrival by a bit." She took off her mittens.

"How funny. You asked me to pick Angel up, picked him up yourself and ignored all my calls. Was it funny?" He looked annoyed.

"What are you talking about?" She walked past him to the living room where her phone was charging and froze when she saw all the missed calls. He was not joking.

"You didn’t pick Angel up?" She stuttered.

"How could I? You already did and how many Angels do we have?" He grabbed her arm. "That was not funny. Do you know how worried I was?"

She pried her arm out of his grip, her lips trembling. "Damon, I didn’t pick our son up."

"What?"

"You said you would. I knew you would so I didn’t. I only dropped him off." She sighed. "Our baby must still be in school." She led the way and was annoyed by his thunderstruck expression. "Do you want him to stay on his own for a while longer?"

His lips trembled. "Avery, this is not funny. His homeroom teacher personally handed him over to you."