I stare into my glass. “Emma doesn't want me."
"This is about your father.”
I look up sharply. "What?"
"Your fear of being a dad. Of failing. Of abandoning your child the way your father abandoned you." He shakes his head. "Don, you're not your father. You know that, right?"
"Do I? Vanessa sure as shit seemed to think that I was.”
"Vanessa was full of shit," Thane says bluntly. "She cheated on you and then blamed you for working too much. That's not your failure. That's hers."
"But she wasn't wrong. I do prioritize work over everything else. I always have."
"Because work is safe," Thane says. "Work is predictable. You can control it. But love? Relationships? Fatherhood? Those are messy and unpredictable andterrifying. So you convince yourself you're not capable of them."
"What if I'm not?" I ask quietly. "What if I try and still fail? What if Emma's right and I can't be what she and the baby need?"
"Then you fail," Thane says simply. "And you try again. That's what parenting is. That's what relationships are. You fail and you adjust and you keep showing up." He snorts. “Hell, you think Julia and I haven’t failed a thousand times already?”
“You and Julia are so damn perfect it’s sickening,” I hiss, taking another swig.
“Sure we are. If you think arguing about parenting methods and work schedules and whose turn it is to do bath time is ‘perfect.’ Spoiler alert: It fucking isn’t.” Thane swirls his own drink with a smirk. “We get it wrong all the time. Last month, I almost forgot our anniversary because I was buried in that Singapore deal. She was furious. Rightfully so. Thought I was going to end up on a poster formissing people.”
"What did you do?"
"I apologized, made it up to her. And more importantly… I plan on doing better the next time." Thane meets my eyes. "That's the point, Don. You're going to fuck up. You're going to fail at being the perfect partner and the perfect father. But that doesn't mean you stop trying." His head tilts. “You afraid?”
I snort, pulse beating an irregular rhythm. “Scared shitless.”
“Good. Fear means you care. Fear means you understand the stakes." Thane finishes his drink. “And the stakes are never higher than they are now. Now, the question is: Are you man enough to face them?”
I blink, my gaze going back to the amber liquid in my hand.
I'm Donovan Mitchell Titan. I faced building a billion-dollar company from nothing. I've faced negotiations with people who wanted to destroy me. I've faced—and survived—every hard thinglife has thrown at me.
Tonight, I’ve even faced a near-death experience.
I can fucking face this. Face fatherhood and fight.
Fight for the woman I love and the child we created.
The two people I want more than anything.
Even if it's terrifying.
Because the alternative—living without them—is worse than any fear.
I stand, and Thane watches me, eyes narrowing. “Whoa, where are you going?”
“To stop running,” I say.
A pause. Then he smiles. “About damn time.”
Chapter twenty-two
~EMMA~
Saturday afternoon—fifteen days after last speaking to Donovan, I stand in my shoebox apartment, attempting to finish painting the nursery.
