"Mama... Hiks ... Humm... I don’t want to!"
Daniel rebelled, throwing toys in front of him, and even refusing to eat. He crawled and stood up, walking towards the room, prompting Hannah to intervene.
"Hey, don’t... Your mom is working on her tasks..." She embraced Daniel.
"No!" Daniel slapped Hannah’s face. "I want Mama!"
"But Mama is working... it’s better if we take a bath now, co on... Let’s play with water!" Hannah pleaded.
Daniel sulked, shaking his head.
"I want Mama!"
He pushed Hannah to release her embrace, then stumbled into the room.
"Oh boy..." Hannah quickly followed Daniel into the room.
__
Valerie, drawing on her tablet, put it on the table and welcod Daniel, carrying him.
"What happened, Honey?" she asked softly, wiping away her son’s tears.
"Dada," Daniel whispered with teary eyes.
Valerie fell silent, thinking Daniel missed Damian.
"I want Dada..."
"Umm..." Valerie glanced at Hannah, who shrugged as if unable to provide a solution. She looked back at Daniel, inviting him closer to the window. "Look, outside... it’s so cold and snowy. Maybe Dada can’t co because the roads are too snowy or slippery."
Daniel remained silent, gazing outside.
"You can play with mama... Mama won’t work today," Valerie said gently, looking at Daniel’s chubby cheeks and kissing them. "At 10, we’ll go to Grandma’s store. Let’s see how things are there because Grandma has to take care of Aunt Adriana..."
"Dada..." Daniel pointed outside.
Valerie turned around to see Damian’s red sports car entering the yard. She took a deep breath, furrowing her brow as if disapproving of his arrival.
’Okay, I’ll tell him I already have a boyfriend, and he doesn’t need to pay attention to us anymore!’ she thought angrily, taking Daniel out of the room while Hannah disappeared sowhere.
__
Damian got out of the car, took off his sunglasses, and hung them on his matching white shirt collar with a long black robe and black pants. The handso man smiled upon seeing Valerie carrying Daniel.
"My future wife and my baby," he said, approaching them.
Valerie remained silent, giving Damian a cold look as if preparing to face his arrogance, while Daniel smiled and clapped his hands.
"Dada!"
"Hey, little man!" Damian exclaid.
Valerie pouted, seemingly disliking their closeness.
"I’m coming!" Damian imdiately reached out to Daniel, who eagerly grabbed his hand.
Valerie reluctantly let go of Daniel, letting Damian carry him.
"Why are your eyes teary? Have you been crying?" Damian asked Daniel.
Daniel just nodded.
"Oh man, you’ll be a strong man; you can’t be a crybaby!" Damian said sternly, furrowing his brow.
"I want to be with Dada," Daniel replied, still unclear in his pronunciation.
Damian proudly smiled. "And now Dada is here... Don’t cry anymore."
Daniel just nodded.
Valerie remained silent, crossing her arms and looking towards the street, seemingly unwilling to look at Damian.
"You better get ready," Damian said.
Valerie imdiately looked at him.
"We’re going to Arizona," Damian continued, while Valerie frowned. "My private plane is scheduled to depart at 10... You have two hours to get ready," he added.
"No!" Valerie exclaid. "I don’t want to... You said we’d go on the weekend, but why now?" she asked sharply.
"Because I have ti... I’m not busy at the office..."
"But I’m busy creating a cover!"
"Cover?"
"For my new novel!"
"Okay..." Damian sighed. "I’ll pay soone to create the best cover for you; you’ll get many readers. I can even pay soone to promote your book, then..."
"Please, stop!" Valerie exclaid, waving her hand. "You don’t need to do anything for ... we don’t have a relationship anymore, rember that!" she continued firmly.
Damian fell silent, recalling Samuel’s words from the night before.
(Honking sound)
They turned to see a black car entering the yard and stopping.
Valerie smiled, knowing it was Samuel. She walked towards him as he got out of the car, intending to greet him, but her steps slowed as she noticed his bruised face.
"Samuel..." She gently stroked his jaw, examining the bruises. "Who did this?"
"Umm, it’s okay..." Samuel smiled thinly, then glanced at Damian.
Damian clenched his teeth, feeling emotional, feeling that Samuel was trying to gain Valerie’s attention. He walked down the short stairs to the yard, approaching them.
"I beat him up," he said.
Valerie narrowed her eyes at Damian. "What do you an by that?"
"I had to do it because he’s a traitor!" Damian pointed at Samuel but kept his eyes fixed on Valerie. "Proudly, he said he successfully dated you. Of course, I was angry. I’m disappointed in both of you. My pain hasn’t healed from you hiding from for so long, like traitors, hiding about Daniel... and now you’re dating... Who is the real villain here? or both of you?" He asked angrily, trying to keep his voice down because Daniel was with him.
Valerie remained silent, feeling slapped by Damian’s words.
"Again, I say, Clara and I have no relationship... we just had fun that night... but you respond by accepting my friend as my replacent, as the stepfather of my son... You’re crazy!" This ti, Damian pointed at Valerie.
"Damian..." Samuel imdiately grabbed Valerie’s hand. "We’re together out of love. It has nothing to do with your past... I know I was wrong, I was like a traitor, but I also want to make Valerie happy... And she allows ..."
Damian fell silent, with a disappointed look on his face.
"You don’t need to pay attention to and Daniel anymore. I will soon marry Samuel," Valerie said.
Damian widened his eyes, while Samuel remained silent, but surprise was evident on his face at her words.
’Is she going to marry ?’ he wondered.
"You don’t need to keep coming... Please respect our relationship," Valerie added, then hugged Samuel’s arm. "And don’t bla him again, don’t hurt him..."
Damian clenched his jaw, his face stern, seemingly getting hotter seeing Valerie defend Samuel.
"And... and maybe I will go to Arizona with him. He will accompany ," Valerie added.
"Ok, Fine... You can marry him..." Damian nodded firmly. "But don’t expect you can be with Daniel again. You go with your boyfriend... Daniel stays with ... From today!"
"You can’t do that!" Valerie imdiately approached Damian, wanting to take Daniel, but she stepped back.
"No!" Damian insisted.
"He’s my son, I carried and gave birth to him. You can’t take him away from !"
"I can!" Damian asserted. "If necessary, we’ll take this matter to the legal realm. I won’t hire a lawyer; I’ll just tell the truth to the judges. They’ll be more inclined to let him be with rather than you because you deliberately kept him away from , even ford a relationship with my friend!"
"But I’m his mother!" Valerie hissed.
"And I’m his father!" Damian asserted. "Even a father deserves the right to have custody of his baby, especially since I can provide a better future for them. The judge will view Samuel negatively because he previously hid you and Daniel from ... The judge will think he’ll be a bad stepfather... They’ll prefer as the custodian!" He turned, pointing at Samuel with his widened eyes.
Valerie fell silent, trembling, as if afraid Damian would indeed take Daniel away from her through legal ans.
’This ans we’ll be apart, he’ll be under the McCourtney family’s control, and it might be difficult to see him... And he’ll have a stepmother... No, that must not happen!’
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