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"What?" he gasped. I had never seen him so shocked in my entire life.
"I know how it sounds," I explained. "But I...I’ve been with both of them, since they started working for you. And I...I’m not going to give up on them. They want to be here for me, they want to raise this child as part of a family, and I want that, too-"
"They slept with you?" he snarled back at me, sheer rage taking control of his voice. I reeled back from him, withdrawing from his anger. I had known he was going to be pissed, of course, I had, but it was another thing entirely to be faced with the reality of his fury now he knew what had gone down.
"I chose it-"
"After I paid them to take care of you, they took advantage of you," he muttered, rising to his feet and beginning to pace back and forth. I could feel the rage coursing through the air, his anger barely contained.
"I should have them – fuck, I should have them killed for what they’ve done," he spat. My heart dropped.
"Dad, no!” I exclaimed, my heart twisting at the mere thought of it. "It wasn’t like that. No way. I...I wanted to be with them. Both of them. It was a choice I made, you understand? Neither of them pushed me towards it. And neither of them is making me stay with them now. It’s what I want. For me, for the baby, for both of us."
He ignored me. I could tell he wasn’t taking in a word I was saying right now, no – all that he cared about was the anger running through his system, the burning fury that was consuming him whole.
"I have to get rid of them," he continued, shaking his head. "I can’t trust them to stick around after what they did. I need to hire someone else, someone who can keep them away from you-"
"No, Dad, listen to me!” I insisted, and, finally, he turned to look at me.
"I know you’re angry," I told him, my voice shaky. "But I need you to understand that I’m not...I want them close to me. I don’t want them to go anywhere. I need them. I...I can’t stand the thought of raising this baby without them."
His jaw was still clenched tight.
"You think they’re going to be decent parents?" he demanded. "After how they betrayed me?"
"They didn’t betray you," I protested. "They...they’ve cared for me in ways you don’t even understand, Dad. They’ve made me feel whole again, even being locked down this whole time. If it hadn’t been for them, I would have lost my mind..."
And maybe worse. I shivered at the memory of what had happened at the club, the sharp pain of it all too familiar. I knew I had to be more careful, especially now the baby was here. I couldn’t take stupid risks like that, I wouldn’t.
"But I want you to be part of this child’s life, too," I continued. "And, trust me, if you can’t get your shit together enough to handle the fact that I’m involved with these men, then it’s not going to happen. But I...I need my dad right now. I want you to be here. Every step of the way."
Finally, I saw something in him shift, his eyes beginning to soften slightly. He took his seat again, staring at me, and then let out a long sigh.
"I can’t stand the thought of them...them laying hands on you like that," he muttered.
"I know," I replied. "But do you think that’s a problem with them, or a problem you would have had with any guy I got involved with?"
He managed a small chuckle.
"I suppose you have a point," he agreed. He reached for the glass of scotch that was sitting at his desk and lifted it to his lips. I was surprised that he wasn’t bringing up the fact that I was talking about keeping both of them around, but I wasn’t going to go questioning it. The more acceptance I could get, the easier it was going to be to navigate this.
I looked down at my hands, twisted into a mess on my lap. I knew there was so much I had never told him – so much that was rising to the surface now that I was pregnant, about my mother, about what it had felt like to be left behind by her.
"I need you here, Dad," I continued, my voice cracking slightly. "I can’t...I can’t imagine raising this baby without either of their grandparents in their life, you know?"
He let out a long sigh and reached out to take my hand.
"I know," he replied. "I just wish your mother..."
He trailed off. I didn’t even know what he wished my mother had done. Taken care of me better? Been there for me, at all, at any point? It was pointless trying to imagine what life might have been had she stayed, because she had well and truly shown herself to be finished with me the moment she had left me on his doorstep, and never looked back.
"I do, too," I replied. Whatever it was, I knew I agreed with him. "But...I need you here. I need you to support me. I want you to be a part of this family, even if it’s hard for you to accept that this is happening."
He nodded, squeezing my hand tight. I could tell he was still struggling with all of this, but the fact that he was even willing to sit here and hear me out...it meant a lot to me.
"And to accept that Alex and Solomon are part of my life now," I continued, my voice dropping slightly. "And...not as my bodyguards."
"I’ll hire you new ones."
