His Queen (18+)

Chapter XXX

THE RECONCILIATION

Never gonna get this time back.
Just sitting here getting too high, I
Always gonna wonder why, I
Never get a chance to try, I
Spent too long in the backseat so
Gimme the keys to the caddie.

***

CHAPTER XXX

*****

THE ROOM HAD gone quiet at the loud slam of the door, each person forgetting about their own arguments for a second as they watched Araceli storm out of the office in surprise.

A beat had passed where they wondered what they should do before Daniel had sprung out of his seat towards the door in hopes of catching up to her before she disappeared somewhere in the maze like building.

Before he could reach the door, Morgan, the woman who had been beginning to pick away at the little patience he did have, spoke up in a snarky tone. “Great. Now look what you did.”

He turned to her, anger bubbling in his chest as he let go of the door handle. “What I did?” he hissed, pissed that she would even begin to blame him for something that had clearly been her fault. “You were the one interrogating her like she'd committed the worst crime possible.”

“And what did you do? Nothing. You just sat there and let it happen? This is the woman you supposedly care about,” she said, making Daniel consider for a moment wrapping his hand around her neck and squeezing the life out of her.

That was the thing with Daniel. When someone got on his nerves, his immediate thought wasn't to try and resolve the issue. It was always to get out as fast as possible or get rid of the person. For a second, he considered if Araceli had been right about him all along.

Though, he could never wrap his head around the thought of lifting a finger to hurt her. In his mind, it was such an absurd thing to even consider. Thinking about purposely hurting Araceli had the same effect on him as thinking about killing a child did. Or incest. It disgusted him so much, he didn't even want to think of the possibility.

He thought he had made that clear, but very obviously he hadn't. Not really if she felt that way around him.

“Can we not fight over the one person that needs the most help out of all of us?” Derek's voice had boomed across the room, making the two of them turn to him with a set glare.

“It's for her own wellbeing.”

“No, it's so the both of you can use her against each other,” he said, calling Morgan out on her bullshit with a frown on his lips. He then turned to look at Daniel. “Especially you,” he said, pointing a finger at him to which Daniel had the urge to snap clean off. These people pissed him the hell off. “Don't forget about the woman that gave you a child just because you're faced with your ex. She doesn't deserve that.”

Daniel couldn't help the anger that surged through his veins at Derek's words. He didn't like the implication of them. That he would suddenly forget Araceli, the only other woman he cared about apart from his mother, to bother about the ex-girlfriend he no longer cared for? It wasn't even that that made his finger itch for the gun in the waistband of his pants. It was the condescending tone he had used. As if Derek thought that he wasn't fully capable of properly caring for Araceli.

Just because he had let her slip from his care once and she ended up running to the two of them didn't mean he couldn't care for her. Daniel had been going through so much shit with his sister being sent to a psych ward, the place that he hated the most, the new baby he had been expecting and the problems their relationship had been developing. He had been going through so much and that was just a perfect opportunity for his enemies to get her.