Stella (Book One of Dark Souls Series)

Ribollita

*~*
odiare- intense dislike for someone or something.
*~*

"How do we win this?" I asked Arthur.

Arthur was a nerd. This was his second year in law school. He moved to Italy for an internship at Mr. Veretti's firm. He had the best experience with pro bono cases, so Mr. Veretti chose him to be my lawyer.

Arthur pushed his glasses up his nose and sniffed. "We can offer him shared custody options or-"

"I do not want her anywhere near him," I cut in.

"Ms. Macano, we have to be realistic about this," he said.

He looked around the empty room before returning his gaze to me. "I do not know why the Veretti's are so sure about you gaining full custody of the child, but you are not looking good in court right now."

I frowned. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I snapped at him.

"As far as the court is concerned, until Dr. Slavoski either finds your records or agrees to testify in court, you are a mother who abandoned her child. Until it is time for you to prove you were completely cut off from being in the child's life, you are a child abandoner."

I took his words in, no longer having the spirit to argue with him. He was from America, so he knew more about their laws than I did.

"What is another option?" I finally decided to ask him.

He shook his head as he gathered my papers. "Unless he does something within the next few weeks and goes to prison, you will not get full custody of her."

"What happens if I see her?" I asked another question.

He sighed. "Ms. Macano, no one is stopping you from seeing your child. The court does not even know your family exists. You can see her, but for the sake of the case, it would be best not to. You could meet the child, and it can go wrong. That would be another kingpin Mr. Lopez can play in court. We need you to be as innocent as possible if you even have a shot at getting partial custody."

He didn't know about the abuse part, but he did have a point.

"Can't we schedule a meeting? We can have a sit-down, I could see Eva and speak to Daniel."

"That is why we sent a letter to him a week before you arrived," Arthur answered. "He has not responded to any letters or phone calls."

"What about showing up on his doorstep?"

"I also don't know why Mr. Veretti would propose should a scandalous idea. Daniel Lopez could twist the ambush into a story of harassing him and his family. I did my research on him. He is a well-respected man in Cincinnati, Columbus-the entire state. He is married and claims to be of the Christian religion. Who doesn't love a charity-donating man of God? The court would eat you and spit you out. Do not forget you are a foreigner as well. Things are not looking positive for Europeans stepping on American soil right now. You will be seen as a deadbeat."

"You do realize he's Italian through and through, no?"

He rested his case when he folded his hands together.

I sat back in my seat, running my tongue across my teeth. "So, once again, we wait for Daniel."

For three years, I waited on Daniel to answer my many texts and calls. Asking him to accept my child support request, asking him to help me move so that Eva could go to the best preschool in our area, and asking him to acknowledge the pain he put me through.

For seven years, I've longed for justice. For seven years, I have looked in the mirror every day and relived the story of how I got every scar, wound, and mark on my body.

I would not wait on Daniel any longer. I would not allow him to win. He did not deserve it.

I deserved a sliver of happiness, and Eva made me happy. My daughter was my life, and he took it because he couldn't deal with his guilt.

What a Christian thing to do.

"Al diavolo questo," I mumbled, getting up from the table.

"Ms. Macano-"

I zoned Arthur out as I stormed out of the office.

I dialed the only voice I could stand to hear at the moment.

"Estella," I heard that mischievous voice.

"I need his address, and I know you have it, so do not bullshit me right now."

There was a short moment of silence.

"8371 Trent Lane."

I hung up and typed the address into Google.

I scoffed when I saw that it was thirty minutes away from the office and fifteen minutes away from the hotel.

I called a taxi and waited for the driver to pull to the curb.

"Where to, ma'am?" he asked me.

"8371 Trent Lane."

Author's Note:

This took less than an hour to write with a little over 900 words. There are about twelve mistakes.

Anyways, look at how Stella is getting her groove back! I did not want Adonis to take away her feisty spirit, so I gave her a chapter without him to see if she was still an anti-character development-er. It appears she is only submissive to him. How cute. Also, this book is all about Adonis and Estella, so any chapter where both of them are not included will be short.

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(Prewritten December 25, 2021)

Next update coming soon!

~NICOLEGARDNER