Sophia hadn’t told me, because at my core, I was selfish, and she knew it.
Again, my hands tightened around the steering wheel, and my foot slammed on the brake.
I needed to go back. That was the right thing to do. Sophia needed me, and so did Lily.
Gio had her, and God knows…
I was about to do a U-turn when two men stepped into view. My men, waiting for me.
Instantly, my eyebrows slammed down. If they were down here waiting for me, then it was important.
Rolling down the window, I nudged the car forward. “What is it?” I snapped. There was more anger in my voice than I meant there to be, but that was because I wanted to get back to help Sophia.
After all, I should never have left in the first place, and I should not have let her go so easily six years ago.
They exchanged a look.
“This best be important.” I revved the engine.
“We have some info.” One muttered and looked away. “You need to come upstairs.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Sounds like an order…”
“It’s not, Matteo,” he said quietly but quickly. “But you need to see this to believe it.”
That piqued my interest. I couldn't deny that. “What…” I began to say, and then nodded. Five minutes wouldn’t hurt, and I could call Sophia and tell her to hold off on calling the cops or whatever other foolish idea she would have had.
The room when I walked inside was basic. I wasn’t going to be here long enough to need anything lavish, and anyway, I was trying to keep a low profile.
There were more than a dozen men in the room, some on their phones, but most surrounding an open laptop on the table.
“What’s going on?” I asked, and the door slammed behind me.
They parted like the Red Sea.
Crossing the room, I scanned the computer screen and then read it again.
I couldn’t comprehend it. Sure, the words made sense, but that was about it.
Scraping back a chair, I fell into it and pinched the skin between my eyebrows.
Yeah, okay, it did make sense, but that didn’t mean I wanted to believe it.
“He knew,” I mumbled. My fingernails dug into my skin painfully. It hurt, but the pain helped to focus my mind.
“Yeah. There was a paternity test done when the child was born,” someone muttered to the side of me. “But I think you know that now, don’t you? That you have a kid.” His eyes widened. “With Sophia.”
My head snapped up. “Her name is Lilly.” Shaking my head, I tried to calm my anger. “But yes, this isn’t news.”
“He knew she was seeing you.”
I groaned. “I know that as well. This isn’t news to me. So this best not be the only thing you have…”
If it was, I was going to murder every single one of them, ideally with my bare hands, because I needed to get back to them.
To the only woman I had ever loved and the child I didn’t know I had.
They needed me, and this time I wasn’t going to fail them.
