Page 126 of Mended Fences

Chapter Forty-Seven

CHASE

Now, May 2025

At first,I didn’t recognize him.

Peter stepped into the nursery like he belonged there—like this wasn’tourhome. He looked bloated, unshaven, twitchy. His eyes were glassy, pupils blown, like he’d vacuumed up half a pharmacy before breaking through our back door.

If anyone knew that look, it was me.

The gun in his hand wasn’t steady. That scared me more than anything.

My body moved before my brain caught up—I spread my arms wide, blocking him from Elena and Luci behind me. “Don’t—Peter. Don’t take another step.”

He laughed. Sharp. Unhinged. “You.” His lip curled like the word tasted bad. “Fucking babysitter in a hoodie. You’re who she chose?”

“Get out. Right now. You don’t want to do this.”

“Where is she?” His voice was raw, slurred. “Where’smybaby?”

My heart dropped straight through the floor.

“Peter, she’s not?—”

“She’smine,” he roared, lifting the gun higher, the barrel twitching with every breath.

“She’s not yours, Peter,” Elena said from behind me, her voice steady. “She never was.”

“Lying bitch,” he spat.

I heard Elena suck in a breath behind me—and Luci let out a sharp, terrified wail.

Peter’s eyes snapped to the sound. “She’smine,” he hissed. “You think you can take my daughter, mylife, and hand it tohim?”

He sneered and staggered a step forward, raising the gun higher and pointing it straight me.

I stared into the eyes of a man I might’ve become.

If I’d kept drinking.

If I’d let the bitterness rot me out.

If I’d let my shame curdle into rage.

If I hadn’t found Elena.

I saw it. Isawwhat rock bottom could’ve looked like if I’d kept digging.

Never again.

Never fuckingagainwould I put myself in a state where I lost control, where I forgot who I was. Where I hurt the people I loved because I couldn’t face my own goddamn darkness.

I took a breath. “You’re not thinking straight. You’re going to regret this.”

Then I saw it—the point of no return. The line he’d already crossed. Drunk. High. Cornered. And gone.

I opened my mouth to speak again, to stall, to dosomething.