Ex-Husband's Regret

"You can't be serious," I whispered, trying to wrap my head around what he had just said.

Like I said, I know Gabe and I know this isn't an idle threat. Given that, I still needed to make sure, because after all, this is Lilly we were talking about. She's not only my daughter, but also my life. I couldn't let him take her from me. It would surely kill me.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" he asks as his eyes sear into me. "I can assure you that I'm fucking serious, Harper."

Have you ever felt like you've been hit, even though nothing has happened? That is how I feel right now. A phantom hit, right in my gut. I force myself to breathe through the pain. I couldn't afford to lose it right now, even though I wanted nothing more than to break down, cry and curse Gabriel all the way to hell.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, close to tears. "You divorced me and kicked me out, Gabriel. I left, just like you wanted, and I've never bothered you again. Why can't you do the same? Why do you want to turn my life upside down?"

I just couldn't understand it. I couldn't understand why the hell he was doing this. Gabriel is a playboy. Plain and simple. I don't see him settled as a family guy. He wasn't a good husband, and I can bet everything I own that he won't be a good father.

"Don't give me that crap, Harper... You want to start questioning my motives. Let's start by asking why you hid my child from me. I think that is a better question."

He had been calm, but now he looked pissed. Actually, pissed is an understatement. He looked downright furious. He seemed ready to kill, and it's me he wanted to end.

"You kept my daughter from me for years; never once did you reach out to let me know I had fathered a child. Then, as if that wasn't enough, you had the audacity to let another man fill in the capacity I should have been allowed to fill in as her father.

a field day keeping both me and Lilly in the dark? If I hadn't found out, would you have taken that

you pulled is low even for you, or was it your way of paying me back because I didn't love you? Take revenge on me by hiding the fact that we have a daughter. Your attempt at keeping my daughter from me is

open my somewhat healed heart. It's funny, really, how we delude ourselves into thinking that we've moved on. Only for something to trigger us and bring us back to the

years since I've heard him say that he hates me. I thought that I was okay. That I'd healed. That I'd moved on with my life. Hearing him say those words takes me back to when we were married. Hearing those

malice," I whispered, trying my

he thinks I would deliberately hide Lilly just to hurt him and seek revenge.

to believe that? You're a devious woman who used her brother to force me to marry her; I wouldn't put anything past you," He growls, his words aimed to hurt and annihilate me. "Then why would you want to marry

said, it's none of your

somehow involves me,"

join the fucking club. Not only was I pissed, but I was also hurt. I hate that Gabriel still has the power to hurt me, and he is wielding it like a powerful weapon. "You'll marry me or else I'll take Lilly with me. I think it's

part, but I did anyway. Those words turn my stomach, because they just confirm what I know about Gabriel.

won't let you

fall away and my motherly instincts take over. I won't let him use, hurt and

hell not? She's my daughter!" he bellows, the sound