Page 42 of Against All Odds (Ember Falls #3)

Ten minutes later, they are escorted in and Dylan takes the seat across from me.

He looks tired. That’s the first thing I can think of.

His hair is longer than it normally is, there are dark circles under his eyes, and although he always had swagger, it’s not there anymore.

I’m not sure if he was told to look this way or not, but I know he’s not that good of an actor and it’ll slip after long enough.

He lifts his blue eyes to meet mine, and he quirks his lips into a half smile, not villainous, more of a gesture of hello.

I look away. Fuck him.

His lawyer speaks first. “We’re here because?—”

Gail cuts in. “We’re all aware of why we’re here. Your client went public with a pregnancy that he decided he didn’t want to be part of. He was signing his rights away until it no longer served him due to his own actions.”

Get him, Gail!

“A father has every right to be involved in his child’s life. Mr. Leone was made aware of the child and was forced to make a decision immediately.”

My eyes widen, but my lawyer slides the water toward me, an indication I need to stay quiet and calm.

Right.

I take a sip and drop my hands to my lap. I wanted a piece of Everett with me. A sort of talisman to hold on to him and his strength. So I wore his mother’s ring on my right hand, diamond down so it looks like a gold band to anyone else.

I spin the ring slowly, trying to feel his presence. Just the thought of Everett calms me, and I return to my stoic demeanor.

“There was absolutely no pressure from my client. In fact, you sent the dissolution paperwork to us. So where exactly do you claim to be getting such ... urgency from?”

Dylan shifts and I stay statue still. “I didn’t have a choice.” He looks to me. “I want this baby. It’s my child. You know I’ve always wanted children.”

It takes every ounce of strength I have not to scream at him. He did want kids, when we were first starting off. He wanted to get a job at an accounting firm, work his way up, start a family while I was teaching. That was the plan.

Until he decided otherwise.

Once he started acting, there was never talk of kids or any of the life he’d promised.

It was what was best for him. His acting. His fandom. The roles he could get and the money he could make. Him, him, him.

Which still seems to be the case.

I turn my head to Gail, who nods once. “We never disputed his rights as a father, but it was made abundantly clear he was uninterested in any parenting.”

“He is now.”

Of course he is. “As you know, my client no longer resides in California. Upon the birth of the child and confirmation from a DNA test that it is, in fact, Mr. Leone’s child, we can discuss options for co-parenting.”

His lawyer speaks immediately. “Unfortunately, Mrs. Leone would be considered a flight risk in our assessment. She disappeared after their separation and has abandoned the marriage. It’s clear she has the means to do so with the child.

We’re going to request that she remain in California, and we’ll be requesting fifty-fifty custody where they can split time each week. ”

My eyes instantly fill with tears. They can’t do this. I can’t stay here. This is absolutely unfair. I fight back the tears, the pain that fills my heart at the idea of having to stay here.

“Absolutely not. She’s not a flight risk,” Gail says. “If anything, we can show that Mr. Leone has wavered this entire time. He hasn’t even seen his wife once since they separated or shown any interest in his child.”

“She cut me off!” Dylan says. “She left and then just filed for divorce.”

I know I’m supposed to stay quiet, but I can’t hold back anymore. The fact that he is asking me to leave Ember Falls is too much. I can’t spend the next five months here while Everett is in Virginia. Not when I can be with him. Not when I know he can’t be here.

“You cheated on me! It was literally all over the television. I didn’t leave. You pushed me out.”

“And now you’re punishing me ,” he growls. “I’m being dragged through the mud and called all kinds of names.”

Here’s the opening that Catherine talked about. My chance to show him the way out, which I hoped would show itself.

Image and his work are his sole focus. It’s not the baby or me—it’s what will serve him.

Whereas my goals are what’s best for my child, which isn’t Dylan, and it isn’t me being stuck here because of co-parenting demands.

“Can you give us a minute alone to talk?” I ask the room.

Gail shakes her head. “I would strongly advise against it.”

I ignore her and look at Dylan. “We used to be able to talk. I’d like to think we loved each other once. Surely we can discuss things.”

Dylan looks to his lawyer. “Leave.”

“Mr. Leone.”

Dylan’s arrogance is above his sense. “Give us ten minutes.”

Gail’s pleading eyes tell me how much of a bad idea she thinks this is. I nod once. “Please.”

She leans in, whispering in my ear. “You have the upper hand in this. Don’t give that up and agree to anything you don’t want.”

“Thank you.”

Gail hesitantly rises, extending her hand toward the door to show his legal team out, and she follows, closing the door behind her with a click.

The two of us sit here, and Dylan’s mask drops, revealing the man I knew a long time ago.

Please let him be the man I once knew, if even for just ten minutes.

“Dylan,” I say softly. “Why are you doing this?”

He looks over at the wall, shaking his head slightly. “You’re with him?”

“Who?”

His gaze moves back to mine. “Him. Everett. The guy that you loved before me.”

I blink, confused and a little unsure why the hell that is the first thing he’s talking about.

“What does that matter? You cheated on me,” I say slowly, keeping my voice even and without censure.

I need him to be relaxed through this. “You were happy without me. I don’t understand why you would do this. ”

“Do you know why she left me?” Dylan asks with a huff.

“Well, I know what the press and your statements have said, which is what has me back here now.”

Dylan shifts in his seat and turns to me.

“She said I wasn’t over you. That I clearly still loved you, which is why we went on that trip together, why she had to force my hand for me to make a decision.

She leaked those photos of me and her so that you’d leave, which you did.

So I officially got with her, and for a while it was great.

It was everything that we didn’t have. Whitney loves the spotlight, she thrives in it, where you wanted no part of it.

When she sees the cameras, she turns to get a better angle, kisses me so that they’ll capture it, where you hid behind me or refused to even be seen with me.

I wanted to be in the light, Violet. You didn’t. ”

As I listen to him, I don’t feel sadness for myself, considering he’s talking about all the things wrong with me. I just don’t ... care.

“No, I didn’t.”

“And I resented you.”

“Yes, you did,” I agree.

“So, after the paperwork was drawn up, I ... couldn’t stop talking about it. That we were going to have a baby, that I wasn’t going to be around, that I wondered if you were okay, and I guess I did it all the time.”

“And she left you,” I finish.

He huffs. “Then she painted me as the villain.”

I sigh heavily. “So you used the baby? Don’t you see how ... unfair that is? If you really cared about me, if you ... were so worried if I was okay, then how could you do that to me—to us?” My hand moves to my belly.

He doesn’t miss the movement, and his eyes go to where it would be. “I think that being a father ... it will fix things.”

“Fix what?” I ask.

“Whatever I need it to fix. I lost roles, Violet. They’re talking about killing my character off on the last movie so I can’t be in the sequel. Do you know what all this is going to do to my career?”

I truly loathe him. The fact that his entire concern is around himself is the entire reason we’re here. He doesn’t care about me or the baby. He cares about his job.

“And what about the child you so want? What about their life?”

Dylan rubs his forehead. “I’ll share custody with you, and we’ll figure it out.”

“Okay, let’s talk it through.” Now is when I’m using the things Catherine suggested. To point out all the ways it won’t work and where it’ll be inconvenient to him. “You want shared custody?”

“Yes, I want the baby with me during the week. We can split time,” he demands.

“All right, then you can have them Thursday through Sunday? Or even Wednesday, if that works better?”

Immediately I’m hitting him with the fact that he will have the child on the weekends.

“I can’t do that. I have to work.”

“I see, well, if I have to be back here, then I’ll have to work as well. I think it’s only fair we split up the weekdays, and since you make more, you can afford to pay more in childcare, don’t you agree?”

“You can keep the baby during the weekends, and I’ll do ... the childcare part. I’ll hire a nanny.”

Another opening. “I don’t want a nanny raising our child. You’ll need to spend the weekends with him or her without someone else taking them.”

“I have to film sometimes.”

“You’ll have to figure that out. Now, what about during the summer? I’ll have off from school, and since your schedule is flexible, I think maybe we should do like every other week. So you can get ample time, and I can have a chance to travel.”

His eyes widen. “This summer I’m filming in France. I can’t come back and forth every week.”

“Dylan, this is your child. The one you said you wanted.”

I can see the frustration mounting. “Yes, but I thought that you’d be more helpful.”

“I am going to help when it’s my time with them.”

“I meant that you can keep the baby when I have to film or travel for premieres,” he says with exasperation. “I’ll pay you so you don’t have to work.”

My voice returns to its original softness. “I can’t rely on that. I’ll need the income on my own, plus benefits. So back to my original point: You’ll have to keep the baby every other week during the summer and then half of the week during school.”

“I can’t.”

I know he can’t. Well, more like he won’t.

I stare at him, my face as docile as I can make it. “Do you really want the baby, or do you just need a way to help get back the roles you’ve lost?”

“I want my life back. I don’t have ... time ... I can’t give up my life for a kid. I’m sorry, Vi. I just can’t.”

It’s what I thought. He really doesn’t want the child. He just wants the good PR that would come with it.

I have never hated him as much as I do right now.

His blue eyes find mine, and I continue to do what I have to in order to protect my child. If Dylan doesn’t walk away, signing his rights away, he will be a deadbeat father. He’ll abandon the baby anytime it suits him, and it’ll break their heart each time he doesn’t show up.

He should know better than most.

I lean forward, resting my palm on the cool table.

“Please don’t do what your father did. Don’t come around, asking for things, and not wanting a relationship.

I’m asking you, for once in this entire situation, to put me or even the baby first. To think about what you’re asking and willing to do.

This baby will need a father. One who will do anything for them.

One who will love them, give them attention, and whatever they need.

If you can’t be that father, then please, don’t do this. ”

“Violet, I can’t ... fuck, I can’t walk this back.”

“We can.”

Hope flares in his gaze. “What?”

“You can put out a statement. You can do what you wanted from the beginning, but do it so it’s what’s best for the baby.”