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“There may be a chance my daughter forgives me…someday. But she’ll never forgive me if you die and she knows I’m the one responsible. I’ve dissolved our partnership and told him we wouldn’t be moving forward.”
“I should kill you, you know that?”
“My daughter wouldn’t appreciate that. And if she really didn’t care…then I wish I were dead.” He spoke with a breathlessness, like he was too tired to carry on this conversation. It was a very different version of him than I’d ever met.
“That was a stupid move, Dante.”
He gave a sigh. “I just wanted my business back. Theo had great connections, but you’re a young hothead who lets his arrogance get in the way.”
“You’re one to talk.”
He didn’t rise to the insult, still not caring. “Doesn’t matter anymore.”
I let the silence settle in, pierced by the crackle of the flames every few seconds. There was nothing left to discuss, but he continued to linger, like his daughter would come around the corner at any moment. “Dante.”
After a breath, he looked at me.
“I only took your business because you took Scarlett. I never would have wanted it if you’d just let us be together.”
He gave an almost imperceptible nod. “I know. A mistake I’ll always regret.”
“So I’d like to give it back to you—as a sign of a truce.”
The defeat in his eyes started to fade as light returned to his stare. “A truce…”
“I know what it’s like not to have a relationship with my parents. I don’t want that for Scarlett. Despite the horrible things you’ve done, I know you love your daughter. You just have a really fucked-up way of showing it.”
In disbelief, he continued to stare.
“I can ask Theo to walk away too. He would do that for me.”
Dante seemed to be stunned into silence because he didn’t speak for a long while. “While I’m touched by your merciful offer, it doesn’t matter now. I lost the one thing that actually matters.”
“I’ll help you rebuild this broken relationship, Dante. As I said before, I think it would be a great disservice to her to lose her father. Your business will be separate from your personal relationship with Scarlett, whom you need to accept will never be associated with that world again. And you need to tell her the truth. The whole truth. Everything.”
He released a shaky breath.
“Tell her—and I will do everything I can to help you.”
“You said she already knows?—”
“But it should come from you. And you should explain why you made the decisions that you did. She’ll still be angry, but at least she’ll understand why you did those horrible things. With the full story, she’ll never have to wonder, and she’ll be able to move forward with life—forward with you.”
He looked away. “Why would you help me?”
“I just told you?—”
“We both know I’m the reason your family hates you.” He said it quietly, with a hint of shame. “How can you forgive me for that?—”
“Who said I forgive you?” I snapped. “I will never forgive you for shoving my father to the floor and shooting him in the arm. I will never forgive you for threatening my mother. I will never forgive you for destroying what little hope I had of reconciliation. But this isn’t about me. It’s about Scarlett. I can put aside my ownfeelings for her best interests—because that’s what a husband does.”
He blinked several times as he stared at me. “I guess I was wrong about you.”
“Yeah, you were.”
“I’m sorry for all the complications I caused to your relationship. But it seems like this love is real. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have endured for so long. That’s a special kind of love.”
It is.
