The MANny (Whip 4) ✔️

Chapter 21

DAVID

I pace across the floor of my office, my hands shaking as I try to calm down. Every fiber of my being urges me to run to the living room where my son is currently speaking with that woman.

The woman, being his absent mother, the same one who has hurt both of us so much.

My instincts tell me that I should be there, that I should be by my son's side, protecting him from whatever Jessica has in store for him.

I've fully intended to throw her out, unwilling to let her hurt my son again, despite her reassurances that she had changed, that she was sorry for leaving, and that she only wished to get to know Leo better.

But Leo had been adamant. He'd demanded to speak with his mother alone, looking so grown up in that moment, so stoic as he gazed at her coldly, so much so that I couldn't help but feel proud of him even though I knew that the boy would have rather cried.

So, I allowed it, respecting Leo's choice, despite being terrified. I didn't know why Jessica had decided to come back after so many years of no contact, but I feared that it couldn't be anything good. After all, she hadn't expressed any desire to see her son for so long, so what could have changed for her to wish to do so now?

To say that I've been surprised when Nancy had informed me that Jessica was there and wished to see me, would be an understatement. I had walked out of my office to meet her in a daze, not sure if I was truly awake or if all of this was some weird-ass dream concocted by my brain. But as soon as I opened the door, the woman I once loved standing on the other side of them, still the same, still ridiculously beautiful, I finally realized that it was true.

I could remember a time when seeing her there would have been everything I could ever wish for, despite my anger and pain, the love I once had for her too great for me to stay mad for too long. But now, after all these years and everything that has happened in between, all I felt was fear and a healthy amount of resentment.

And it's hard to admit, especially for a man like me, that I'm afraid. But I am, I'm afraid for my son, for what this sudden appearance could do to him. Leo has been such a mess when Jessica left, and it was only recently that he has started to get over it, with no small help from Mihail.

He's laughing again, talking, and spending his time doing other things, childish things, aside from reading all day. And I know, I just know that one wrong word or deed by Jessica could erase all of that progress.

I sigh, slumping down onto the small, white couch that sits in the corner of my office, as I run a hand through my hair. I feel exhausted already and it's only noon. I wish to just go back to bed, my arms wrapped around Mihail just as they were this morning, and sleep. Forget that Jessica has ever appeared on the front steps of my home, wishing that all of this was just a nightmare from which I would soon wake up.

A small, barely-there knock brings me out of my tumultuous thoughts and I sigh again, wishing for whoever is on the other end of it to just leave me alone. I'm in no state of mind to talk, right now.

"Yes?" I still say, in case it's Leo, or something about my son.

The door opens, Mihail stepping in slowly and closing it behind himself. He takes a step closer before stopping, his body language speaking of how unsure he feels about his welcome.

He's biting his lip, his gaze fleeting between his feet and my face, as he cracks his knuckles repeatedly, all of it so reminiscent of the scared, unsure man he had been the day he stepped into my home, and I feel guilty for causing it, no matter how unwillingly.