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“Liar,” I grumbled as he walked into the bedroom. “You’ll pay for this.”
Laughing, he tossed a wink over his shoulder. “Looking forward to it, firecracker.”
Chapter 4
Nik
Rodger pulled to a stop outside the building Mia had bought only months before to start her dance school. The stubborn girl had refused to take so much as a dime from me or her mother. She wouldn’t even allow Barrick to help her with the purchase. Instead, she’d taken out a business loan.
My daughter had a good head on her shoulders. She’d found the right location, the perfect building, and then a reputable construction company to make all the alterations she needed done before she could open the doors to students. Like her mother, Mia had the brains for business without really trying.
With the list of parents already signing up their kids to be taught under her, she would be able to pay back the loan long before she even gained access to the trust fund I’d started for her when she was born.
It was a kick to the chest that she was so grown up and independent. She shouldn’t be old enough to be a college graduate. I wanted to rewind time and go back to when she was a little girl, to when she idolized me.
Before our entire lives were turned upside down, our foundation forever and irrevocably shifted.
Pride filled me that Mia had done everything on her own, that she was already kicking ass in the new career she’d chosen for herself. But my gut remained unsettled, just as it had been since she’d found out about my role in her meeting Barrick. She was never going to forgive me. No matter how hard I tried to make it up to her, how many times I told her how sorry I was, there was still a distance between us that never shrank, no matter how close I attempted to get.
Emmie shifted beside me, her phone back in her hand. “Damn it,” she groaned. “Babe, I have to deal with this really quick.”
I lifted my brows. “We’re picking up Mia to take her to the rehearsal dinner,” I reminded her.
“It’s about the flowers for the wedding tomorrow. I have to deal with it now.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “You go with Mia, and I’ll meet everyone at the restaurant. Marcus is already on his way here to pick you up.”
“She’s going to be unhappy with this new arrangement,” I muttered. “She can’t stand to be alone with me. At least with you here, she’ll talk to me. Even if it’s in stilted, cold monosyllables.”
My wife gave me a sympathetic smile. “You’ll be fine, I promise. Now, scoot. I have to hurry so I can at least make it to the restaurant in time for dessert.” She brushed her lips over mine, and I grasped the back of her head, deepening the kiss.
When she pulled away, her breathing was labored, and her cheeks were pink. I grinned down at her. “I expect this to continue later tonight, baby doll.”
“Trust me, it will,” she said, licking her lips. Blinking her huge green eyes up at me, she sighed and pushed at my shoulder again. “Go. I’ll see you soon.”
“Fine.” Opening the door, I stepped out, but I reached back in for one more kiss. “I love you.”
“Show me tonight,” she challenged. “I love you too.”
Winking, I shut the door and walked toward the building. The door was locked, but one of Barrick’s guards was waiting just inside. Seeing me, he flipped the lock and opened the door. Stiffly, he nodded toward one of the classrooms to his left. “Miss Armstrong is expecting you.”
Of course she was fucking expecting me. We were supposed to pick her up for her rehearsal dinner with the rest of the family. I bit my tongue to keep from snapping the answer at my kid’s new personal bodyguard. My frustration with the situation between her and me wasn’t his fault, but I found it hard not to take it out on others, especially when I was nervous.
Fucking hell, I was nervous to be alone with my little girl.
“How the mighty have fallen,” I breathed to myself as I walked down the wide corridor toward many of the reconstructed dance classrooms.
The sound of music playing caught my attention, and I paused outside one door. Surprised at the song, I turned the knob and stuck my head inside the darkened room. It had been years since I’d performed the lullaby I’d written for Mia. That she was willingly listening to it made my heart squeeze.
A light appeared on the wall that wasn’t mirrored, and I stepped fully into the room just as images began to play from a projector hooked up to a laptop. As the door quietly closed behind me, I was treated to Mia’s childhood playing out all over again through pictures and video clips.
No.
Not just of her childhood.
Of our relationship from the moment she was placed in my arms after she was born until…I’d broken her heart.
Her first steps and her walking into my open arms. That first birthday party that Emmie had cried over because she’d wanted it to be perfect, but it seemed like everything went wrong. Until the cake was placed in front of Mia, and I sang her “Happy Birthday.” She’d clapped her chubby hands and then thrust them into the sugary pink confection and started rubbing it all over her mouth, licking and smacking her lips before offering me a bite from her fingers.
The first time she’d run out onstage at a Demon’s Wings concert, her little ears covered in protective, noise-canceling headphones. Her first day of school. Her first trip to the zoo. Her first dance class, the pink leotard and matching glittery tutu she’d picked out specifically for the moment. Her hair had been put up in the tight bun that would become her signature style from that day forward.
