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I’d been on cloud nine ever since, my life finally gaining a meaning I thought it never would have.
Of course I said yes.
A million times yes.
I had no doubt in my soul that it was what I wanted. To marry for love would be a blessing. Marrying the love of my life, my soulmate, was a gift from Heaven.
As if that didn’t make me the luckiest woman on Earth, Liam had found out who my real father was. Another demonstration of his love and undivided devotion to me. He had gone through all that trouble to make me happy.
Knowing he was willing to meet me was just the icing on top of the cake. I was nervous, but the simple fact that the man was interested in meeting me was already a good sign.
I had never had a real father before. Frank was… well, Frank. He put up with me for the money and the threat that came with it. There was nothing in that deal that said he had to be nice to me, never mind love me. He didn’t have it in his broken heart to do so. I knew that now.
I was far from being a little girl, but a part of my heart still longed for fatherly love. For a family.
“You look amazing,” Liam whispered from behind me, giving my arms a small squeeze as I reviewed my reflection once again.
I knew how superfluous wanting to look good was, but I wanted my father to like me. I wanted him to be proud to have me as his daughter, from my achievements to my personality, from my flaws to my looks. Everything.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
“I’m sure.” I smiled, trying to hide the nervous jitters that ran free in my body. “I think I need to do this myself.”
It was only the hundredth time he’d asked me that. In all truthfulness, I’d be more at ease if he came, but I felt it in my bones that I needed this leap to grow. To be myself and stand on my own.
And then there was the other thing. My big bad mafia boyfriend could come on a bit strongly sometimes. It came from a place of love, but still, I didn’t want my father to be intimidated into accepting me. I wanted him to do it freely. If he didn’t, it just wasn’t meant to be.
I shivered at that thought, Liam’s hand steadying me again, rubbing my skin and pulling me back to the present.
“I’m here if you need me.”
“And I love you for it.”
Maybe it was Liam’s unbreakable connection to his family rubbing off on me, but knowing I could have that, too, took the stakes to a place so high I got vertigo.
I could see our little family with ease, but I wanted an extended one, too, made up of the Battaglia clan and the family I was about to meet. I had all my fingers crossed and then some that it was what my father wanted, too. Whomever he might be.
There was still that part of me, that small fraction that would never completely cease to exist, telling me that there was a possibility that this man wouldn’t find me worthy. And even though those thoughts of unworthiness still came to me from time to time, I could deal with them better now.
Harden was my mother’s maiden name. Frank didn’t bother to give me his. Ever since Liam told me he had found him, I wondered what his last name was. I’d soon get a new one. Dornier was waiting to set a date to become mine. But I was too excited about this not to wonder.
Did I have brothers and sisters? Cousins, uncles, and aunts? Did I look like my father? What did he do for a living? And then there was the ultimate question that haunted me more than all the others. Why had he never searched for me?
“Hey,” Liam called out from behind me, my smile fading right before our eyes. Was it possible that my father knew about my existence and never bothered to look for me? Was I setting myself up for another disappointment?
“It will be okay. Please trust me on this.” Liam saw right through me. He wouldn’t send me into this meeting if I was going to come out hurt on the other side. So trusting his judgment, I straightened myself, inhaling deeply and setting my mind on the positive outcome I was wishing for.
Besides, Liam must have had Jimmy digging from here all the way to Mars to find some dirt on my father. If he was allowing me to go alone, it meant it was one hundred percent safe.
Yet somehow, there was this growing feeling in my gut, a sense of dread that amplified at every passing second.
I swallowed it down with a glass of water before grabbing my purse and kissing my soon-to-be-husband goodbye.
“Everything will be perfectly fine. I know you’re nervous, but there is absolutely no reason to be. Can you trust me on that?”
I nodded, knowing he was being truthful, but I couldn’t shake this bad feeling.
“Carl will leave you on 5th Avenue, and then it's up to you. I will keep my promise and let you do this alone and on your terms. The guys will step down.”
