Page 106 of Forbidden Desire

“She’s your daughter. I understand.”

“She’syourdaughter too.”

I don’t know if she’s ever said that to me, and the words feel like they are mending all the broken parts of me. I want them to echo over and over in my head, alongside the way Josie says my name.

Mah-cooooo.

I can hear it now and it makes me smile.

“I’m sorry that I missed the important parts of her life up until now. Ofyourlife,” I say regretfully.

“I’msorry for being the reason why.”

“It couldn’t have been easy going through all of that alone. You’re probably the strongest person I know.”

“Strong, yes. Stupid, definitely.”

“Don’t say that,” I say, shaking my head.

“I just didn’t know how you would take it,” she says, her lips pulling to one side thoughtfully. “When I found out who you were. Who youreallywere, I got scared. The way everyone painted you out to be was a billionaire with a ruthless heart.”

I laugh softly to myself, knowing my reputation paints a different picture than who I really am. It’s had its way of protecting me in a way. People are too scared to get close, which is good because I’m too scared to get close to anyone.

“I didn’t think you would want anything to do with being a father. I thought you’d see it as an inconvenience, or a trap. I thought it best to keep her blissfully unaware that you even existed. To be honest, I think it would hurtmetoo much if you rejected her.”

“How could I ever?” I ask, looking at her intently.

“I know now that I was wrong. I see the way you are with her. I see the way she is withyou.She’s obsessed. I can’t go a day without her saying your name.” Erica laughs to herself. It’s good to hear her laugh.

“The feeling is mutual,” I say.

“I’m willing to let you in our lives, so you can spend more time with her. But you have to be patient with me. Up until now, I’ve never had to share her with anyone.”

“I understand. I’ll take anything I can get.”

“But you have to promise me something…”

“Anything.”

“You have to promise you won’t seek full custody of Josie.”

I’m shocked she would even think such a thing, but then again, she’s seen me as this ruthless businessman who sees what he wants and takes it. I wish more than anything that she could see me asme.Marco. The man she met on the rooftop, having a night together that I can’t and will probably never forget.

“You’re her mother. I would never take that away from you. Or her.”

Erica nods solemnly.

“I’m sorry about the custody papers. I thought you were trying to get close to her, so you could take her away from me just to hurt me.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper because my chest hurts from her words.

“And then the whole thing with the tabloid. I panicked. To know someone knows about Josie…our lives…”

“I understand. You had every reason to panic,” I say understandingly. “About the tabloid…”

She looks up at me fearfully, as if another shoe is about to drop.

“No, no. Don’t worry.” I put my hand up to ease her worries.

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