A/N: Hello there!! This chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but it's not too bad 😊 enjoy!  xo

~Leah~

When Harry told me about his altercation with Heath outside of the visitation centre and how it all started, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I couldn't believe Heath tried to start a fight with Harry in a public place. But most of all...I couldn't believe that Heath actually screamed in Piper's face because she tried to stop the fight.

Harry told me that Piper tried to protect him from Heath by pulling him away – and I was astounded. Piper loved him so much that she was willing to go against her own biological father so that Harry wouldn't get hurt.

I was amazed at her bravery, and I was amazed at how much love she had in her heart for Harry. In fact...it was so full of love for Harry, that there wasn't even any room left for Heath.

In Piper's eyes, Harry was her father. In Piper's eyes, Harry had always been her father. But as for Heath...I don't even know if there was ever a moment where she saw him as her father at all.

I'd been having these thoughts for a long time, but what happened today with Harry and Piper just proved it to me: there was no point in letting Heath continue to see her.

Any connection he might've had with Piper sizzled out and died a long time ago. Not in a million years would Piper ever consider him as the man who loved her, looked after her, and taught her the ways of life. That was Harry. She knew it was Harry, and even I knew it was Harry.

Harry showed her the love she needed, exactly when she needed it. And once that happened...it was too late for Heath.

It was meaningless to let Heath keep sticking around. I've tried to keep giving him chances because he's Piper's father...but with the way Piper sees it, he's not even her father anyway. And besides, after what happened today, I don't ever want Heath to see Piper again.

From what Harry told me, it sounded like Heath had flipped out on Piper the almost same way he flipped out on me before. And I told myself that day that I don't give a fuck about what he does to me. But if he ever does anything to hurt Piper...that's it. He's done. And when Harry brought Piper back home today...she looked so confused and frightened that it completely broke my heart.

Heath had made Piper scared of him. And that made me furious. How anyone could possibly have the heart to scare my little girl and make her upset...I have no idea. But I'll wring the fucking neck of anyone who tries.

That's it, Heath. You're finished.

You don't get any more chances.

As Harry and I talked in the living room, I was suddenly startled by the sound of my phone ringing and vibrating loudly against the coffee table. And when I picked it up, I was completely shocked when I realized it was Heath trying to call me.

He was trying to fucking call me.

I didn't even want to answer it, but if he was outright refusing to listen to Harry, he was going to listen to me. He didn't have a fucking choice.

"Leah?!" Heath's panicked voice came through the line as soon as I accepted the call – before I could even speak, "Leah, a-are you there?!"

"What do you want?" My face hardened as I forced myself to speak to him – putting the call on speakerphone so that Harry could hear the conversation as well.

"Leah...listen to me very carefully," he spoke to me slowly, "if there's anything...anything that Harry and Piper are telling you about me, don't believe a word of it. It's all lies."

The look on Harry's face when he heard Heath's words perfectly described the way I was feeling exactly.

The actual audacity of this fucking bitch...

"Oh really?" My eyes narrowed, "And what exactly have you done, Heath, that would make Harry and Piper tell such 'lies' about you?"

"Nothing! I've done nothing!" He insisted, "Things just got a little out of hand, and-"

"A little?!" I angrily rose up from where I was sitting on the couch, "As if. You're too late, Heath. I already know everything."

"N-No Leah, wait!" Heath was starting to sound desperate, "Look, j-just let me explain!"

"Explain what? How you literally screamed in my daughter's face and made her fucking terrified of you?! If you're going to explain anything, how about you explain why on earth you would fucking think that was okay?!"

"Leah. Let's talk," he begged me, "just you and me. Please."

I looked up at Harry, and I could tell by his face that he was definitely not fond of the idea of me and Heath talking alone. And to be honest, I wasn't either...but maybe it had to be done.

"Give me a minute," I spoke into the phone, "I need to think."

"Okay," Heath agreed immediately, "I'll wait right here."

I put the phone on mute and paused for a moment.

"Alright...it's muted," I told Harry, "he can't hear us right now."

"Leah, this is a bad idea," Harry spoke up straight away, "I don't trust him around you in the slightest."

"I know, Harry. But..." I looked at him, "I think we've been handling this the wrong way. I've kept my distance for the most part and I've been happy to let you deal with him and what he's been doing, but...I don't think that's the right way to do it anymore."

"Why not?" Harry demanded, "Leah, I swear to God, that if he does anything to you or Piper, I'm gonna fucking kill him."

"I know," I said again, "and I love you for that. I love you for being so caring and protective over us, but...again, we're handling this badly. At this point, your relationship with Heath is way too hostile for any progress to be made with this whole thing. Don't take this the wrong way, H...but it looks to me like he hates you so much, he's absolutely refusing to listen to anything you have to say."

Harry huffed. "The feeling is mutual."

"We don't have a choice, Harry," I continued, "I think I have to talk to him. Like, sit down with him and really talk to him. Or else we'll just keep going on and on like this forever."

Harry let out a long sigh. 

"I guess you have a point, love..." he anxiously ran his fingers through his hair, "but please don't shut me out of it. I'll just sit there and keep my mouth shut...I just want to be with you while you do it," he looked at me, "I'll never forgive myself if anything happened to you, and I wasn't there."

I gave him a soft smile. "Okay, Harry. You can sit with me. It'll be good to have you there...but you have to promise to not say anything. Seriously, Harry. Even if he says something that pisses you off to the high heavens, you have to hold it in. Promise?"

Harry sighed again and took a long moment of silence before finally nodding. 

"I promise."

My smile grew, and I walked over to him to take his face in my hand and kiss his cheek before I finally turned my attention back to my phone. I unmuted the call and mentally prepared myself to speak to Heath once again.

"Still there?" I spoke into the phone.

"I am," Heath replied almost immediately.

"We can talk," I told him, "come to the house. We'll talk here."

***

Before Heath's visit, Harry and I had to prepare ourselves. We went up to Piper's room and comforted her about what happened before telling her that we'd talk to Heath, but she needed to stay in her room. Piper agreed immediately – since obviously the last person she wanted to see right now was Heath.

Luckily for us, Aria was napping in her bassinet upstairs. We brought our baby monitor downstairs with us to listen for her crying in case she needed us while we were talking to Heath. We weren't exactly too keen on keeping her in the room with us while he was here.

Soon enough, we heard a loud knock on the door – and we knew that he was finally here. Harry and I looked at each other anxiously upon his arrival.

"Wait here," I told Harry as I rose to my feet, "I'll get him."

Harry nodded and tried to force himself to lean back on the couch to try and relax a little as I made my way to the door. Heath was standing outside the house with a frantic look on his face – and he appeared thankful to see me through the glass panes as I approached him.

"Hi," I told him as I opened the door, "come in."

"Leah, thank you so much," he spoke hurriedly, "I...I'm really glad you gave me a chance to talk to you."

"Mhmm," I was trying my hardest to fight off the anxiety that was filling me to the brim as I led him to the living room.

"What the fuck?!" Heath had finally spotted Harry sitting down on the couch, "Are you fucking serious?! Why is he still here?!"

Harry's lip curled upwards into a small scowl – but as he promised, he didn't say a word.

"Harry is a part of this conversation, too," I told Heath as I sat down beside Harry, "you can either deal with that and sit down, or leave right now. I mean it."

Heath let out a frustrated sigh. "Alright. Fine. Whatever."

He sat down on the free sofa and began to look around a little – causing me to narrow my eyes.

"Where's Piper?" He asked, "C-Can I see her?"

"No. She's not here," I replied firmly – thinking it might be better to make him believe that Piper wasn't in the house right now, "she doesn't want to see you."

Heath lowered his eyes and sighed again. "I suppose I can't blame her."

"No. You really can't," My face hardened, "explain to me right now: Why the fuck would you yell in Piper's face, Heath? In a public fucking place? How the hell could you do something so terrible?"

Heath bit his lip. "I've just...I've got a lot on my plate right now..." he mumbled, "so much shit has happened, Leah."

"Like what?" I narrowed my eyes, "What could've possibly been so bad that it made you scream at your own daughter?!"

"Danica left me..." he responded in a low voice, "it's completely broken me, Leah. I'm...I'm having a hard time coping..." I heard him let out a shaky sigh.

My eyes widened a little.

Is he fucking serious?!

"I'm...sorry that happened, Heath," I tried to be sympathetic, "I'm really sorry that she left you. It's hard – I know. But that still doesn't give you an excuse to do what you did to Piper today. You do not take your negative feelings out on others – especially not young children."

"I know. It was wrong. It was so wrong," Heath sniffled, "Leah...I-I'm so sorry..."

"You'd better be," I crossed my arms, "but this isn't over."

"Do you..." he looked at me, "do you know...why she left? Why Dani left me?"

I let out a long sigh. I honestly did not give a flying fuck about what happened to Danica and Heath, but I decided to play along to keep him docile.

"Why did she leave you, Heath?"

"She saw it before I did...it's you. It's always been you," He bore his eyes straight into mine, "Leah...would you believe me if I said I still loved you..?"

My breath hitched, and my eyes widened again at his words. 

I immediately felt Harry tense up beside me – and I heard him inhale sharply as if he was preparing to say something. I reacted fast and quickly put my hand on his knee to remind him to stay calm. Sure enough, his rigid body slowly softened as I touched him – and he took a deep breath as if he was reminding himself to stay calm, too.

"Heath..." I began slowly with a long sigh, "you don't love me, Heath. You never loved me."

Heath looked shocked. "Th-That's not true! I did love you, Leah! I loved you so fucking much! And I still do!"

"No you don't," I retorted, "this isn't love. This is jealousy."

"That's not true, Leah!"

"It is, Heath," I told him, "whatever you felt when we were together...it wasn't love. But even I didn't know that at first," I looked him in the eyes with unmoving and unfeeling regard, "I didn't know what true love felt like until I met Harry. The way I feel about him...I've never felt about you."

"W...What..?" Heath's voice was small, "Leah...y-you don't mean that..."

"I do, Heath. I know this is hard for you to hear, and I'm sorry," I continued, "what we had together...it was a...fleeting romance...but it wasn't love. You & I were too young to even know what the hell was going on. We weren't in love, Heath. I realize that now."

As I looked at him, I honestly think it was the first time I've ever seen him look so...dejected. He looked like a lost child who had been trying for months to get back home and was about to just...give up.

Harry remained silent – but I felt him take my hand and squeeze it before tenderly brushing his thumb over my fingers – which instantly made a soft blush slowly spread across my cheeks. And as soon as Heath saw Harry take my hand, he looked completely crushed.

"The only reason you came back into our lives was because Piper wanted to meet you," I continued, "and because you're her biological father, I've tried my best to ignore my gut feelings and keep giving you chances to build a relationship with her. But...it's not working, Heath. Surely even you can see that. If you can scream in her face like that and see nothing wrong with it...it's obvious that the bond between you and Piper is completely non-existent."

"But...sh-she's all I have left..." Heath stammered, "she's all I have left of us..."

"And that's why you're failing," I told him, "you're holding onto her for the wrong reasons. You're trying to stay in her life so that you can also stay in mine. You don't actually make any effort to properly bond with her, because you're not here for her."

Heath was silent for a long time – unable to give me any response.

He knew that I was right.

"How did you do it?" He finally spoke up – but his question wasn't directed at me.

It was directed at Harry.

"How did you do it?" He asked Harry again, "How did you get my daughter to love you so much?"

Harry looked at me as if he had to ask for my permission to speak, and I simply gave him a smile. He was asked a question. Of course he was allowed to answer.

"Simple," Harry replied, "I just loved her back."

"What does that even mean?" Heath demanded.

"Showing her that I cared," Harry said, "being interested if she had something she wanted to show me. Being there to cheer her up when she was sad. Giving her a hug when she wanted or needed it. The best way to tell someone that you love them is to let it show through your actions. It's really not as hard as you think it is."

My smile immediately grew at his words.

The words of a true father.

Something that Heath could never be...

"Actions speak louder than words," Harry continued, "you might've told Piper that you loved her, but you never showed her that you did. That's where you went wrong."

Having received his answer, Heath dropped his head and remained silent again. I took this as a sign to speak up once more.

"After what you did today," I told him, "I'm no longer comfortable with letting you see Piper."

Heath's head immediately jerked up in alarm.

"W...What..?" He let out a shaky breath, "A-Are you serious?!"

"Yes, Heath," I replied without hesitation, "I'm sorry, but what happened today proved to me that you and Piper have absolutely no relationship. You may insist on calling yourself her father, but she sure as hell doesn't feel like you are. Now it feels pointless to me to keep letting you see her."

"B-But what about Piper?!" He demanded, "Have you even talked to her about this?! Does she also not want to see me anymore?!"

"No. I don't want to," a new voice suddenly chimed in.

We all turned around in the direction of the voice, and I immediately gasped. Piper had snuck downstairs and had been listening in on our conversation for God-knows-how-long. My eyes had widened to the size of saucepans.

"Piper..." Harry began slowly, "what are you doing down here, sweetheart? Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine," Piper replied as she entered the room and looked up at Heath with narrowed eyes, "you aren't listening. You aren't listening to my mummy and it's annoying!"

Heath's eyes widened. "Piper..."

"You're mean and nasty! You do mean things to me, and my mummy, and my daddy!" Piper crossed her arms, "I don't want to see you anymore!"

Heath's jaw immediately dropped to the ground. So did mine and Harry's.

Holy shit...

"Piper, I..." Heath was starting to panic, "I...I-I'm so sorry that I yelled at you..."

"I don't care if you say sorry!" Piper retorted, "I don't want you to be my daddy anymore! I hate you!"

"Piper!" Harry quickly rose to his feet, "Piper, that's not nice-"

"He's not nice!" Piper cut him off while pointing at Heath – her blue eyes looking wet and glassy with tears as she glared at him, "I hate you! I hate you, Heath!"

I was completely shocked. She had just called him by his first name without a care in the world. In that moment, I knew that Piper had just completely disowned him. For a five-year-old girl, she knew exactly what she wanted. And I was so proud of her. 

As for Heath, he had no words. He didn't know what to say at all – but I could see his body tensing up with his fists clenching, and my eyes narrowed. My body immediately stiffened as well – fully prepared to whiplash him in case he decided to start yelling at her again.

I honestly couldn't blame Piper for anything she just said. She'd had enough of him. And to be honest...so had I.

"What the fuck did you just call me?" Heath's eyes darkened as he scowled at Piper.

Harry sensed his hostility straight away and rushed to Piper's side – picking her up and holding her close to him before glaring right back at Heath.

"If you touch her," Harry began darkly, "you are leaving this house right now."

Heath inhaled sharply, and he began to lean forward a little – like he was preparing to lunge at the both of them. And when I saw that, I leapt to my feet and stood in front of both of them – causing Heath to stall as he looked down at me.

"Go on," I dared him with narrowed eyes, "are you gonna hurt me again? Just like you did on that day?"

At my words, Heath quickly stopped what he was doing, and focused his gaze on me instead.

"Harry," I addressed him, "take Piper upstairs."

I thought he was going to protest, but Piper was very quickly deteriorating into a hysterical condition due to witnessing this entire thing unfold – so he instead quickly nodded and disappeared down the hall with her.

"After you leave this house," I spoke to Heath once they were gone, "you are never welcome here again. I want nothing more to do with you after this day, and Piper's made it clear that she doesn't want to see you anymore. You don't have any excuses left to stick around."

"Leah-"

"Stop," I cut him off with a glare, "just stop. Nobody wants you here. Just fucking go."

At my words, Heath started to smirk a little bit. "Don't you know I can take you to court for this? That order is still in place, you know."

"You won't take us to court," I said confidently, "the evidence against you is so damning that not even your precious 'law studies' will save your fucking ass now. If you don't want this to get any worse, you're better off leaving it alone."

Heath's smirk instantly disappeared, and he let out a long sigh before finally dropping his head.

Clearly, undoubtedly, and irrevocably defeated.

"Get out of this house," I told him through gritted teeth, "and don't ever fucking come back."

A/Nl Geez Louise, a whole shit load just happened!! Is Heath really out of their lives forever? Is this finally the end of the book?!

It's not lol I'm joking

Still quite a bit to go, but I do imagine we'll be finishing up soon!! But don't worry - I still have no idea how many chapters it'll take to finish this so there might be 10 more or 20 or even 30 more depending on how much content I end up delivering lmao

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you in the next one 😊❤️