37. Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Leo
B y the time the next day rolls around, I still haven’t fully processed what Juliet told me at the gala.
Piper is my daughter. The same little girl who has lit up my life with a kind of light that I’ve never experienced before. Just hearing her laughter and seeing her makes me smile. It makes me want to protect her from the world.
Can I really leave her?
There’s a part of me that still wants to drop everything and flee back to the city. To the life that I built for myself that’s free of drama and lies.
Juliet lied to me for years. She never tried to tell me the truth about my own child .
But can I really leave the woman that I still love despite all of that?
And what about my father?
If I leave, the family’s business will be bought by someone and used to diminish the resources of the town I grew up in. And the people working there will probably be replaced even if I try to negotiate.
It won’t be the family business anymore, and the legacy my father worked so hard to create will die with him. This house that has always been my home and Juliet’s home will be sold to someone who will never cherish it like we did.
Can I really leave all of that?
What do I have in the city besides my company, my penthouse, and a few friends who actually give a damn about me outside of my money? It all feels so…small.
“Fuck,” I breathe out as I stare at the fireplace in the library.
That’s all I can say about this predicament I’m in.
I need someone else to talk some sense into me and help me figure out what to do. Someone who will give it to me straight and not sugarcoat things .
I head out of the library and upstairs, silence ringing throughout the house. By the time I came home last night, the rental car was parked here and Juliet’s car was gone. She went back home, and she hasn’t been back since then.
When I reach Dad’s bedroom, I lightly knock on the door before stepping inside.
Dad looks away from the television, his brow furrowing. “What’s with that look on your face?”
I sit on the edge of his bed, feeling like that kid who just needs his parents. I haven’t felt that way in a very long time.
“Piper is my daughter.”
Dad’s eyes grow wide. “What?”
“Juliet told me last night,” I tell him, a deep ache spreading throughout my entire chest. “She knew all this time and didn’t say a word to me.”
I drag a hand over my face, my chest tightening painfully. “All this time…” My voice is rough. “She let me stand there with Piper while I had no idea she was mine.”
It hits me like a punch to the gut. Piper laughing with powdered sugar all over her face. Her tiny hand gripping mine in the hospital. The way she looked up at me like she already trusted me.
Dad looks away from me and breathes in as deeply as he can. “That’s…”
Crazy? Messed up? Unacceptable?
“Incredible.”
My eyes snap to his. “What?”
A small smile forms on his face. “She’s my granddaughter. I’ve loved that kid since Juliet started bringing her around. And she’s family. Actually family.”
Something stirs deep in my chest. I can’t even identify it, but it takes the air out of my lungs.
“I loved her like my daughter before I even found out,” I say. “I just don’t understand why Juliet didn’t tell me. Piper went seven whole years without her dad. I missed all of those years with her.”
I missed her first steps. Her first word. First birthday. First day of school.
Every nightmare. Every Christmas morning. Every scraped knee .
An entire lifetime with my daughter gone before I even knew she existed.
“You left,” Dad tells me. “And nobody thought you were coming back. You chose a life in the city. Why would she believe you would come running back when you left so suddenly?”
I frown. “I would’ve come back.”
“How would she have known that? She was a scared single mother trying to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. You really think she would want to reach out to the person who left her like that?”
Well, I did want someone to give it to me straight. It still stings to hear all this, though.
“I love Juliet. I never stopped,” I admit.
“You didn’t choose her.”
And that’s where everything went wrong.
I lower my head. “I didn’t think I could. I thought everything would fall apart if I did.”
Dad sighs. “Because of the ultimatum I gave you. I’m sorry for the part that I played. I regret it every day. ”
His voice is heavy with genuine regret that I don’t think I’ve ever heard before. There was a time when I didn’t think that he was even capable of it, but I assumed a lot about him that didn’t end up even being true.
“I don’t know what to do,” I say, my eyes moving to his.
“Yes, you do,” Dad replies. “You do what you feel is right. What you need to do.”
I draw in a deep breath as the cloudy haze in my mind starts to clear. I look past all the shit that doesn’t matter. The companies. The money. The power.
“I need to claim what I let go of years ago.”
I let the best thing in my life slip through my fingers. I’m not going to let that happen again.
Dad nods. “And you need to do it before it’s too late.”
Family comes first. I learned that early on and then I let it slip from my mind. I focused on everything but that and it has left me miserable, lonely, and empty.
I stopped feeling that way when I came back home. I just didn’t realize that because I was so swept up in my own selfishness .
I stand from the bed. “I need to go see her.”
“Wait,” Dad says, lifting his hand. “Open the nightstand drawer. You’ll find a pouch in the very back corner.”
I do as he says, pulling open the drawer and sticking my hand in deep enough until I feel soft velvet against my fingertips. I grab the pouch and hand it to him, my forehead creasing in confusion.
Dad reaches into the pouch with a shaky hand and pulls out a shiny, platinum engagement ring. “This was your mother’s.”
A deep ache hits me right in the chest as I gaze at it, starting to recognize it.
“Take it. Make Juliet your wife,” Dad says. “There’s no better woman out there.”
He’s right about that.
I take the ring from him, a small smile crossing my face. “Thank you.”
“Your mom would be proud of you,” Dad says quietly, a bittersweet look filling his face. “She’d be so happy about you and Juliet. She told me that she wished you two would date. ”
My chest warms. That does sound like her. She’d be so excited about having a granddaughter too.
“I’m sorry for threatening your relationship with her. I was selfish. I didn’t want you to run off with her and leave me and your legacy behind,” he admits. “I ended up pushing you even further away.”
I reach out and take his hand, my throat tightening. I never thought I’d hear him say that.
“I forgive you,” I tell him.
And I mean it. If Juliet can forgive me for what I’ve done, I can forgive him for what he did in weakness and grief. I was all he had left.
He didn’t want to lose me.
“And I know that you invested in my company. I didn’t know it back then, but I know now,” I add.
Dad breathes in shakily and nods. “It’s not because I thought you couldn’t do it on your own. I just wanted to support you in a way my pride would let me.”
“I remember getting that anonymous investment. I was so happy,” I say, remembering the joy and excitement I felt when I saw the amount of money. It helped me immensely to get off the ground . “I wish I had known it was you.”
“I wish I called you and told you that I believed in you,” Dad tells me. “I knew you’d be able to do it on your own. That scared me. It made me realize that you didn’t need me as much as I needed you.”
My eyes soften. “You’re my dad. Of course, I need you.”
He swallows hard. “You did something incredible, and you would’ve done it regardless without my money. Whatever you choose to do with the family business, I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.”
“I’ll make you proud,” I promise him.
“I know,” he says with a small smile. He then weakly squeezes my hand. “Now, go. Go to her. She’s waiting.”
I release his hand and tuck the ring into my pants pocket, saving it for the perfect moment.
Before I see Juliet, I need to make one more stop. There’s something else that I need to do.
~* ~
Instead of the coffee shop, I ask Devon to meet me in a parking lot.
I don’t plan on this taking long.
Devon parks his dark gray BMW i7 next to my car and steps out with that typical grin of his. I’m starting to get sick of seeing it. “Leo! I was glad to hear from you, man.”
I stand near the front of my car and smile back, my hands remaining tucked in the pockets of my black coat. “I’m glad you were still in town.”
“I’ve been waiting for your answer,” Devon replies as he wanders closer. “Do you have one for me?”
“Yes,” I say, turning toward him. “No.”
Devon furrows his brow. “What?”
“No. That’s my answer.”
Devon scoffs at me. “You’re kidding, right? Are you messing with me?”
I shake my head. “Juliet told me some stuff last night that makes me not want to work with you. ”
Devon narrows his eyes. “And you’re going to listen to her over me? She’s just the hot nurse your father hired to look after him. He probably got in her head and told her to say bullshit to you.”
“She called you a creep,” I say as I step closer to him. “Why would she call you that? Have you made her uncomfortable, Devon?”
Devon rolls his eyes. “Oh, come on. She knew I was interested.”
My jaw tightens. He shrugs. “Can you blame me? Have you looked at her?” A dark pulse of anger moves through me.
Devon smirks. “If she'd stopped fighting it, maybe we could've had some fun. Plus, why the fuck do you care? You’re about to hop on a private plane and get out of here, aren’t you?” Devon questions me, starting to fray at the edges.
I reach out before he can react and grab the front of his coat, jerking him closer. “I care because she’s the woman I love and the mother of my child. If she says you’re a selfish creep who is going to drain my hometown of its resources for your own gain, I’m going to believe her over you. ”
Devon clenches his teeth as he glares at me. “Let me go.”
I lean closer, my grip tightening. “I want you out of my town. If I hear of you stepping foot back here, I’m going to find you, and you’re not going to like it.”
Devon shoves at my chest, but I barely budge, his coat still gripped in my hand. “Fuck off.”
“No, you fuck off,” I snap in his face. “I don’t do business with assholes. Get the fuck out of my town.”
Devon stumbles back as I shove him away from me. He clenches his fists like he’s going to retaliate, but the look on my face warns him not to even try. He’s smart enough to listen.
With a bitter huff, he throws open his car door and gets back inside, the engine revving loudly as he tears out of the parking lot.
I make sure that he heads in the direction that takes him back to Denver before getting in my own car, adrenaline still racing through my veins. That’s not even the most adrenaline-inducing thing that I’m going to do today.
I still have to tell the woman I love my feelings for her, and I might get to tell my daughter that I’m her father.
That makes my heart race a million miles per hour.