Chapter 66 Chapter 0066
•CASSANDRA•
"Will Daddy come to see me today, Mama?" Alena asked when we arrived home.
I looked at Dante for a moment as we took her out of her car seat. I shook my head and Dante took her hospital bag and headed inside the house.
I didn't even know how to answer her when I didn't even want Mason in her life. The fact that he asked me for custody was unbelievable.
"I will call and ask him. So, you like him?"
She nodded with a smile as I took her to her room. "I've always wanted to have a father and Uncle D. And now I have both!"
When we got to her room, I tucked her into bed and sat beside her, stroking her hair.
"I'm sorry I kept your father a secret from you," I muttered, but she was already sleeping, probably tired from the road and endless tests when she miraculously woke up.
"I didn't want you to know about the man who hurt me when I was carrying you," I sniffed. "I almost lost you, Alena. So please forgive Mommy. She's trying everything she can to keep us together."
A part of me wished she were awake so I could explain everything to her, and hope she would understand.
But my sweet baby was only five years old and would never understand if I tried to explain to her why I didn't want Mason in our lives.
I got up from the bed, turned off the bedside lamp, and stood at the doorway. I watched her chest rise and fall, feeling grateful that she was alive and breathing on her own.
I couldn't get the fact out of my mind that she almost lost her life. Those stressful hours made me grateful to see her talking and laughing without a care in the world.
I closed the door and went to the kitchen for a glass of wine when I found Dante leaning against the counter with a bottle of wine in his hand.
I had never seen him drinking anything before, which meant that whatever was on his mind was stressing him out.
I didn't know how to ask him when it was obvious that Mason was threatening his place in my life and in Alena's heart.
But he didn't want to say it out loud how stressed Mason made him.
"Alena's sleeping," I muttered as I stood beside him, hoping he would pick me up into his arms and take me to our bedroom.
"I'm sorry," he sighed as he turned to me. "I didn't want to pretend as if everything's alright." His voice had little sharpness, and I didn't know if he was mad at me or not.
"You're right," I sighed, pulling a strand of hair behind my ear. "Mason's interest in being involved in Alena's life is outrageous. I must arrange another meeting with him."
"That's not the point, Raven—"
"No, I will talk with him and make him understand that you are Alena's father now," I answered, cutting him off. "He can't come here and want custody of another's child."
"I failed to protect you and Alena!" He blurted out, and the room went quiet for a moment. "I am failing you and our daughter."
"No, Dante—" I sighed as I turned to him and cupped his face in my hands. "You can never fail Alena and me. You've been here from day one and never turned me away. You're the only person who didn't think someone was wrong with me because I was rejected by my mate and banished. Instead, you cared for Alena and me."
He didn't answer for a moment. "So, what do you want us to do with Mason?"
I pulled away from him and drank from the bottle before I turned to Dante. "I won't let Mason get shared custody of my daughter. He will turn her against me just as he did with Rowan."
Dante’s jaw tightened. "Perhaps we should let him claim custody, and at the court, we will present the court with the evidence of him turning Rowan against you as his mother."
"No," I scoffed. "There won't be enough evidence. He will do everything he can to make me be seen as a bad mom."
"I know he would do that," he answered. "And everything you are saying is right. But getting emotional about it won't protect Alena. A good lawyer will."
I looked at him.
"I will find someone," he continued. "Someone who knows exactly how to handle this kind of case. Mason has power and resources, but so do we. He has no legal documentation or history with Alena. And he has been absent in her life for five years, so they won't give him custody just because he shares DNA with her."
"And if the court disagrees?" I whispered.
"Then we fight harder," he replied. "Alena is ours, and he won't change that."