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I sat there for several seconds, needing to catch my breath and sort through my thoughts. I’d worked myself up to the point of actually getting out of the car, but I hadn’t gotten anywhere after that. I was still keeping a secret even after all of that.
My hands shook as I gripped onto the steering wheel, my brain fighting with my body on whether I should just go back to the gates and blurt it all out.
But what if they didn’t believe me? What if they thought I was just another random woman trying to get close to them.
If only they knew…if only they knew who I was—who my father was.
And that was the only reason I put my key in the ignition and started to drive off. Maybe this was the universe’s way of telling me that Dante didn’t need to know. Maybe it was sending me signals for my own safety? Or maybe I was overthinking it just like I seemed to do with everything else in my life lately.
I was so occupied with trying to figure out everything else that I didn’t notice the flashing lights behind me until I’d taken several turns. Frowning, I glanced in my rearview mirror, realizing that the lights were for me—police lights.
“What the…” I pulled over to the right, already reaching for my license and registration, but when I moved my attention back to the rearview mirror, it wasn’t a uniformed officer that I saw walking toward me, but instead, my dad.
What was going on? He was supposed to be away for work again. He’d told me as much last night before he said he had to hop on a plane.
My emotions were all over the place, not knowing which way was up and which way was down, but before I’d had a chance to figure them out, he was at the driver’s side.
I lowered my window, staring blankly out of it as he halted beside me. “Dad? What are you doing—”
“What amIdoing?” he fumed, staring down at me with swirling eyes. A vein in his neck throbbed, a sure sign that he was mad. “What the hell areyoudoing, Navy?”
“I—”
“What were you doing at the Berettas’?”
“I—”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ!” He slammed his hand on the top of my car, making me jump. “Are you on drugs? Are you looking for drugs? What did Christian say to you?”
“Dad!” I held my hands up, trying to get him to calm down. “I don’t know who Christian is,” I said, feeling even more confused.
“The man you talked to.” He bent at the waist so his face was closer to me. “What did he say to you? What did he want?”
“Dad.” I let the silence stretch between us. There was only one way I could get out of this, and that was to tell the truth, although, going with his assumption of looking for drugs would have been the easier cop-out. I stared at him, trying to see the father that I’d grown up with and not the one who had been present since Mom had died, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“I…” I inhaled a deep breath, not knowing how to broach this, but knowing it was time I came clean. This was it. “Wait…what are you doing here? I thought you were on a work trip?”
“Iamworking,” he flung back, so fast it almost felt rehearsed. He said he’d be out of town, but he wasn’t, he was right here, close enough to come home every night, yet he didn’t. I wondered how often he said he was going on a work trip but was still in the same area we lived in. Did he do that just so that he didn’t have to stay at home?
I narrowed my eyes on him, tilting my head to the side. “You were watching the house?” I was putting it all together now. He was already there when I went up to the gates; he’d seen the entire interaction. But he hadn’t heard anything. If he had, then he wouldn’t be asking the questions that he was.
“That’s on a need-to-know basis, Navy.” His nostrils flared. “Now tell me why in the hell you were there!”
“Not here,” I said, feeling the sternness disappear from my tone. “I’ll tell you at home.”
“No.” He shook his head, his face starting to turn red. “Tell me right fuckin’ now.”
My eyes widened, my body shrinking back in my seat. My dad had never cursed at me before. He’d never even shouted at me, not unless he was trying to wake me up in the morning.
“Dad—”
“Tell me right now, Navy. I have Pete waiting in the car.”Pete. His partner in the FBI.
I swallowed against my dry throat, trying to figure the best way to say this…
“I…I’m pregnant.” It was out of my mouth before I’d even realized.
He blinked several times, taking in what I’d said. I saw the moment it registered because he stumbled back a step, his red face now turning white as if he’d just seen a ghost. “What?” I slowly placed my hand on my stomach, showing him the bump that I had there. “Ho-how far along?”
