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Thankful for his small act of mercy, I swallowed down another mouthful of coffee. “So, are we going to do this?”
“You want to do this now?”
“No time like the present.”
“Fine,” he said, giving me a hard look.
“Fine,” I replied, giving him the respect that he deserved by keeping eye contact with him, while my conscience screamed, It’s showtime. Get ready for the pain.
“You let me down, Joey.”
Christ, hearing him say it out loud hurt worse than I thought it would. “I know, Tony.”
“But worse than that, you let my daughter down.”
“Yeah.” Jaw twitching, I nodded stiffly. “I know that, too.”
“What are you going to do about this mess?”
“I’m going to step up.”
“Step up.”
I nodded stiffly. “Do whatever Aoife wants me to do.”
“What about what Trish and I want you to do?”
“That too.” I shrugged. “As long as it aligns with what your daughter wants.”
“You’re going to stick by her?”
“I am.”
“Are you going to marry her?”
“If that’s what she wants.”
“What do you want?”
“Her.”
He stared hard at me for a long moment before blowing out a frustrated breath. “Goddammit, Joey, this would be so much easier if I didn’t like you.”
Yeah, I know.
“She might be having your baby, but she’s still my baby,” he snapped. “She will always be my baby. I would die for her. I would kill for her. I know you’re a good lad, but I’m telling you now, man to man, if you ever consider laying so much as a finger on my daughter or that child—”
“You wouldn’t have to kill me, Tony,” I cut him off and said. “I’d do it myself.”
“I’m not saying that I think you would, but you know why I have to say this to you, don’t ya? I have time for ya, boyo, you know that, and I know you love her, but the home you come from and the man you were raised by…” His words broke off and he dragged in a sharp breath before leveling me with a warning look. “Do we understand each other?”
Sick to my stomach, and feeling like I’d taken a knife to the back, I forced myself to swallow down the bitter taste of betrayal. “Yeah, Tony, we understand each other.”
“I’m not saying that I think you’d do it,” he offered. “But you’re—”
“I’m my father’s son,” I filled in flatly. “I get it.”
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