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He didn’t. “I was expecting you.” He sank back in the armchair and met my gaze head on.
My ankle rested on the opposite knee, my closed fist against my cheek. “She doesn’t know you’re here.”
“I figured as much.”
I rubbed my fingers across my jawline, seeing the darkness that had invaded his soul. There was no hardness to his stare, no arrogance to his stature. He seemed dead on the inside, defeated in the very war he’d started. “What do you want?”
He stared at the table between us, his fingertips rubbing against his temple. “To speak with my daughter…but I suspect that’s not going to happen. She’s ignored all my calls and texts.”
“I’m not keeping her from you—if that’s what you’re wondering.”
He looked at me once more. “I’m sure if she did want to see me, you would keep her away from me.”
“I don’t tell Scarlett what to do. She makes her own decisions. You should take a page from my book.”
A slight smirk moved on to his lips. “The first insult of the night.”
“I can ask her to come down, but I suspect she’ll say no.”
He gave a heavy sigh. “I need to speak to her. I have to make this right.”
“I don’t know if you can make this right, Dante. It’s too much shit for her to forgive. She looks at your relationship through an entirely new lens. Every word you’ve ever said, she’s picked apart with a comb.”
“Did you tell her, then?”
“Tell her what?”
He looked at me full on. “You know what.”
“I didn’t have to tell her, Dante.”
He stared for several seconds, his gaze hard as stone.
“You fucked yourself over when she heard what you said. Don’t blame me for that.”
He looked away.
“So?”
His eyes came back.
“Still going to pull the trigger?” If his answer was yes, I’d kill him right there. I had a gun strapped underneath my armchair. In light of everything that had happened, I knew Scarlett would understand.
“Not really much point, is there?” He looked at the fire and slouched in the chair, like he didn’t want to be there but had nowhere else to go.
I actually felt bad for him.
“She’ll never forgive me.” He spoke so quietly, his words were barely audible. “I don’t even know why I bothered coming down here.”
“Who was that meeting with?”
He turned back to me.
“The man who agreed to take out Theo and me.”
“It doesn’t matter.” He looked at the fire again. “I’ve called the whole thing off.”
“How do I know you’re not lying?”
