Page 57 of Almost Paradise

Wyatt didn’t say anything I didn’t already suspect but hearing him confirm Nia and Audrey’s accusations in such a factual manner makes me want to vomit. I didn’t want it to be true, but after my initial reaction, I knew Nia wouldn’t lie about that. As far as I know, she never lied to me. Back then, I trusted her with my life.

Really? Then how did a few lies from Daddy Dearest manage to destroy something that you valued so much?

“Why? Why would he do this? He loved his children, and he couldn’t wait for grandchildren.” Wyatt stares at me and crosses his arms as if I’m some kind of idiot. “He wasn’t like that!” I yell.

“Then why? Let’s take the same scenario and instead of Nia, we’ll insert Scarlett. Let’s say she even worked here and had no connection to your family. Do you think your dad would have done this had it been her?”

He holds my stare, and I hold my breath before looking away. I already know the answer to his question. He knows it too, so I’m glad when he doesn’t push.

“It doesn’t make sense. This is not how he and Mom raised us.”

“Maybe he did believe in all those things he taught you in theory, just not for his family, and especially not for his heir. I knew your father well. I spent a lot of time with him, and one thing that always stood out to me was that he put you on a pedestal. He loved all his children, but you were special. He saw you as an extension of himself.” He stands and leans over my desk. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it, Drake. Your father did this. He successfully conspired to keep you from your son and Nia, and the only reason I can assume he did that is because of the color of their skin.” He walks around my desk and puts a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, but you need to hear it and accept that he did this.”

I don’t push his hand away. He’s right. I did need to hear it. I’ve been dragging my feet about looking into this, and the only reason I asked Wyatt is because I know he would give me a straight answer without trying to spare my feelings.

“What have I done?” I stand and stare out the window. My office faces the back of the building. There’s a man-made pond and water fountain in the middle of it. It’s frozen and dead now, just like I feel inside. “I threatened to ruin her father. I blackmailed her into marrying me.” I turn and face my friend. “I never would have done it, you know. I never would have had her father fired, but I still used it against her because I knew she would do anything for her family. I felt like I had no choice.” He tilts his head to the side in disbelief, but I continue before he can say I’m full of shit. “There was another man. She was going on a date, and I was running out of time.”

“Drake, you had a live-in fiancée, and you got jealous over a date? Come on, man,” he says, throwing both hands up.

I ignore his comment about my jealousy. He’s right again. I have no defense. I don’t tell Wyatt this, but while I regret threatening her father, I don’t regret that it got me what I wanted. “She told me she hates me, and that I’m no better than my father.” I hang my head in defeat. “She’s not wrong.”

“I told you not to do it,” he says again.

“Stop saying I told you so,” I warn him.

“Well, I did.”

“What the hell else could I have done?” I yell. Especially after witnessing her getting all dressed up to go on that date. Was I supposed to walk away and let another man have my family? I did what I had to do. I did what any man would have done, and I made sure to do it before Wyatt could confirm the news.

“Anything else but what you did. But listen, prior to that, you didn’t do anything wrong either. You both are victims.”

“I don’t see it that way, Wyatt, but thanks for that.” When he remains quiet, I turn back to the window and stare outside.

I could have taken my father’s office, which is twice the size of this one, but there are too many memories here. Memories of us doing things two people have no business doing in the middle of a workday. Sometimes, I’d watch her from this window. Unbeknownst to her, of course. She’d sit on the bench with one of her co-workers. Even after we were together, she’d come out here on her breaks, and I’d watch her. Always so beautiful and content. She was so optimistic about her future. She loved this job and the independence that it brought her until my father took it away from her, and I let him do it.

Four years ago, I let my pride get in the way. That’s on me. I didn’t have to go through a pregnancy thinking that the father wanted nothing to do with me and the child. I didn’t have to deal with my father’s hateful rhetoric. I didn’t have to be a single mother for three years, thinking the father had abandoned me. I went on about my life. I’m the CEO of the biggest construction company in the United States. I got engaged to another woman. The same woman I told her I had no interest in, while she had responsibilities that I can’t imagine.

“I loved her then,” I admit. Saying the words out loud is bittersweet. I should have said them to her years ago. “I loved her so much. She was coming to join me in Berlin a couple of weeks after I got there, and I was planning on telling her. I wanted it to be special, and I wanted Berlin to be our place. The last stop of our private little bubble before going public, and then it all went to hell.”

“Do you think she loved you?” he asks.

“I know she did,” I say without a moment’s hesitation. “I felt it. It was in everything she did. It was in every touch. Every kiss. I’ve never experienced anything like it before or since.” I know he’s long suspected that I wasn’t in love with Scarlett. He accused me of being with her because she was safe. He was right even though I denied it. I was never in any danger of being hurt by Scarlett. While I feel guilty about how things ended between us, I don’t miss her. I haven’t thought about her at all.

“Well, then, try to remind her of that,” Wyatt says, taking me out of my thoughts. “Stop being an asshole. Show her you can be a good father. Try and be that guy she fell for all those years ago.”

He makes it sound so easy, but I’ve made so many mistakes. She’ll never forgive me for serving her with the lawsuit for full custody and for threatening her father. In her eyes, I’m no better than Donald Paradise.

Chapter 32

Nia

I don’t bother staying for dinner at home tonight. After picking Carter up from daycare, he said he wanted to see his daddy. I tried not to roll my eyes, and I succeeded.

Drake was there when we arrived. Carter runs to him the instant we get through the front door. Drake picks him up and hugs him tight before Carter pulls away and kisses his cheek. I turn my back, pick up my bag, and walk up the stairs without a word to Drake.

Tonight, I plan on going back to the guest room, but I stop at the master bedroom first to pick up the clothes I intentionally left on the bathroom floor. I felt bad about that all day. I don’t want to make more work for the housekeeper, but when I get to the bathroom, the clothes aren’t there. The bathroom is back to being immaculate. I stomp out and go to my closet to find something comfortable to change into and come to a complete stop when I see the short navy blue dress I wore all those years ago. We went dancing that night, and he could barely keep his hands off me. The silver stilettos I wore are also there. I bend down and pick them up. He bought these for me, and they were obscenely expensive. I run my hands over the rhinestones and put them down almost as if it burns to touch.

Why would he have left everything here like some kind of shrine? Unwilling to think about the reason, I grab my duffel bag and almost bump into him at the door. He eyes my bag, but I step around him, go to the guestroom, and slam the door shut. I know he’s right behind me. I’m barely in there five seconds before he knocks on the door.

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