I turn around and face him fully, my face contorting slightly. “Haven’t seen or heard from you in four months and that’s the first thing you’re going to say to me?”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“Are you serious?” I scoff loudly in disbelief. “How about an apology for what you did to me that night? Or an apology for the last decade? Or better yet, why don’t you ask about the daughter you’ve been neglecting?”
Travis looks at the table with a deep furrow between his brows. “What night are you talking about?”
“The night you forced your way into the apartment and tried to force yourself on me.” I study his face closely and see the confusion clear in his expression. “You don’t remember.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, so low I almost don’t hear it. “I was a mess back then; I had just relapsed. I don’t remember much of anything from those couple of months.”
I study his face closely, and the more he seems to disappear into himself, the more I see that man I met all those years ago. “You need to go back. You need to go back and stay this time, Travis.”
His head shoots up, pinning me with a new fire behind his eyes. I take a small step back, surprised by the sudden change in his demeanor.
“I want to see Claire.”
I shake my head. “No, no way. You are not seeing her when you’re like this.”
“She’s my daughter,” he spits, the anger radiating off him causing me to grind my teeth together.
“And your daughter doesn’t deserve the pain and confusion that she will feel seeing you like this.”
Travis approaches me, and I move away, circling the table to keep some distance between us. “You don’t get to tell me when I can and cannot see her. She’s mine as much as she is yours.”
“Actually, I beg to differ,” I fire back immediately, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. “I’m the one who has been there for her. I’m the one who has fed her every day. I’m the one taking care of her when she’s sick. I bring her to school every day and buy her all the things she needs. It’s me who bends over backwards to make sure she’s happy and healthy, and I’m the one who, even though I do all those things for her, still wonders if I’m being a good enough mother. She may be yours by blood, but she is not yours by parenthood.”
Travis advances on me so quickly that I trip over my own feet, trying to scramble away. I reach blindly for one of the chairs to steady myself, and he’s grabbing my arm before I get myself upright.
“You can’t keep her from me,” he says, his nose almost brushing mine as he speaks through clenched teeth. “If I want to see her, I’m going to see her.”
I stay perfectly still as his grip tightens on my forearm, never taking my eyes away from his. “Let go of me.”
“I will see Claire.”
“Why are you really here?” I ask instead, knowing that continuing to have this argument would get us nowhere. “I know it’s not because of your sudden interest in seeing your child.”
His expression softens slightly, a look of shame passing so quickly in his eyes that I almost miss it. Travis eases his grip slightly, but he doesn’t let me go. “I’m in trouble, Mar.”
“And that concerns me why?”
“I need money,” he whispers, and I can’t stop the surprised laugh that escapes my lips. That only causes his grip to tighten once more. “Mar, I owe some very dangerous people money, and if I don’t give it to them—” He pauses, his head hanging for a moment before meeting my eyes again. “I don’t know what they’ll do.”
Before I have the chance to reply, the door to the room flies open, causing both of our eyes to turn towards it. My eyes widen as Levi stands in the entryway, his eyes narrowed on the hand wrapped around my arm.
“Let her go,” he states with a lethal calm that has me swallowing. Travis’s eyes flare at the unspoken threat as he looks back at me before letting go of my forearm.
“This doesn’t concern you,” Travis tells Levi, his eyes never leaving mine. “This is between me and my fiancé.”
My face falls, my mouth hanging open slightly in surprise before the anger sets back in. “I’m not your anything.”
Travis reaches out and grabs my biceps, his nails digging in tightly. Before I can utter a word, Levi is at my side, pushing Travis away from me and putting himself between us.
“I’ll be in touch,” Travis says simply, not sparing either of us a glance as he turns and leaves the room. I watch through the glass and don’t release the breath I’m holding until he disappears into the street.
Wordlessly, I beeline toward the door, heading straight to the elevators to go back to my office and try to calm down my beating heart.
“Hey,” Levi calls, running up behind me. “Are you okay, Lowe?”
