Page 50 of Wrathful King
“Papà?” I whispered, caught between disbelief and hope. “A-are… are you real?”
He gave me a tired smile. “Of course, baby girl.” He stood up and approached the bed, and I just stared at him. The mattress shifted under his weight and his frail palm cupped my cheek. “I didn’t think I’d see you again before—”
His voice cracked and his face crumbled like an avalanche. I leaned into his cool touch, my chest tightening with each heartbeat.
“I’m here,” I whispered.
“You are.” A tear rolled down my cheek and he wiped it off with his thumb. “I’m so sorry, my baby girl. I failed at protecting you.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “It’s not your fault.” We stared at each other, so many things unsaid, lingering between us. “I… I’m not—” How were you supposed to tell the man who raised you that you weren’t his? “I’m not your daughter,” I croaked, the emotion in my throat suffocating me.
A heartbeat passed.
“I don’t care who your biological father is. You are my daughter. Until my dying breath. It was my job to protect you, and I failed monumentally.”
Ghosts lingered who started this story without our permission—Angelo, Hana, even Mamma. She was mostly the victim but I couldn’t remain oblivious to the fact that she’d had an affair with Angelo. If Angelo couldn’t be sure which one of us was his, their relationship must have lasted a while.
A shuddering breath left my lungs, loosening the tightness. “Papà, it’s not your fault. You didn’t fail at all. It’s Angelo Leone’s fault.Hemade me a target.”
He released my cheek and a stretch of silence followed. His gaze rested on me, haunting questions in them unmistakable, but deep down, I knew he didn’t have the energy for the answers. He didn’t have much time left on this earth.
“I should have recognized the signs,” he muttered, moving back to the lounge near the window. “Grace begged me not to go to Leone’s home. She didn’t want to move to Italy, which I chalked up to her nervousness. But I couldn’t do business from the States, and I needed to arrange a business deal with Angelo to access his ports.”
I was sick and tired of hearing justifications. Mamma had had enough money to support us for several lifetimes. He didn’t need to worry about any business deals, didn’t need to put them before his family.
“What happened to her, Papà?” I hesitated, looking at the wedding ring on my finger, at the sparkle that I didn’t feel in my soul. “Did Mamma have an affair with him?”
A heavy sigh left him. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked, but I didn’t want to go through life wondering. I needed to know the truth.
“Grandma will kill me if she learns I told you,” he muttered, then a mischievous smile curved his lips. “It’s a good thing I’m almost there already.” I rose from the bed and padded over to him, wrapping my arms around him and hugging him tightly. “I’ll be meeting your mamma soon enough, so I’m sure she’ll have her say in the matter too.”
“That’s a morbid joke,” I muttered, sighing tiredly, my tremors increasing and the itch under my skin spreading. My body begged me to return to the bed, to the warm sheets, but I knew I had to be strong.
He waved his hand. “I earned that right.” He might have a point there. I lowered to sit next to him, my eyes catching the sight of my bare legs. My skin was no longer flawless. They carried maps of my pain, of what I’d endured. I closed my eyes and waited for him to start. “God, I’m not even sure where to begin,” he grumbled.
“The beginning,” I whispered, terrified of the truths I’d learn. I glanced out the window while he gathered his thoughts, letting it sink in for the first time that I wasfinallyat Amon’s house in the Philippines. I always imagined what it would be like, especially after finding out he’d spent much of the time we were apart here. I could see why now, just by looking out the window at the calm, turquoise waters lapping against the stilts my bedroom sat on. The scent of salt mingled with the humidity and promised to keep me warm. Ineededto feel warm.
“Okay, well, as you know by now, I was married before your mamma,” he started. I tensed, my fingernails digging into my palms. I now knew who he was married to and who was the result of that marriage. “But I didn’t tell her, and when she learned, she became quite upset, thinking she was the reason behind it.”
“Was she?”
He shook his head. “No, Hana—Amon’s mother, who you’ve met—and I didn’t see eye to eye, but I came to that revelation too late. We were already married by then. Like a fool, I convinced myself that the business deals that would come along with it would be worth it. Bottom line, it was deceitful, and I can see now that it was wrong to lie, even by omission. I made that mistake with your mother, with you and your sister.”
I nodded, unsure what I was feeling right now. Our parents kept way too many secrets from us and they weren’t the only ones paying for them. Amon, me, Phoenix… heck, even Dante, who’d almost married his half sister. It was all fucking wrong.
“I’m sorry you didn’t hear it all from me first,” he said, clearly at a loss for where to go from here.
“What did Hana want that you didn’t?” I asked, my voice hoarse.
“She wanted more power, more control to secure our future children’s positions. It’s best if you don’t know the details. What matters is she wanted power and control. I never did. Business dealings, yes, but not the kind of shit she was after. Ruling over the Yakuza was never on my radar.” My brows furrowed, but before I could question it, he continued. “She took our separation hard. Grace found out that I left Hana for her, that I was married before. It was a half-truth, but it was enough to send Grace searching for comfort outside our marriage. I never knew it was with Angelo Leone.” Fuck, it was so damn messy it made my head spin. “I learned only recently that the marriage wasn’t annulled at all. Jesus, I’m still married to that crazy woman.”
“When did you learn about the annulment? Or, I guess, the lack of it?” I asked.
His lips thinned. “Not until you disappeared.”
“How did you find out?”
“Your husband.”
