I took a step forward and held out my hand. “Mr. Princeton.” I didn’t offer that courtesy to every man I met. This man, however, deserved respect. Not because he was Rayden’s father. No. Because his commanding posture was a dead giveaway, he feared no one. A man after my own heart.
“Please, call me Drake.” His grip was firm, telling me just how resolute he was in his decisions. No hesitations.
“It takes a man with serious balls to walk into the lion’s den and demand to see the king without protection.” I attempted to break the ice with a small smile.
Releasing my hand, he stood back. “Not when he possesses something more powerful.” There was no mistaking the authority in that tone. At my raised brow, he added, “the love for his son.”
I hid my surprise with a quick gesture for him to sit then poured two glasses of whiskey. “So, you know who I am then?” I handed him a glass.
He accepted the drink with a nod. “The man who kidnapped my son.Twice?” He raised a brow, pouring a lot more into the emphasized word than I cared to examine.
I held my irritation in check. “If you’re here to ask me to stay away—”
“I’m not. You’re not a likely friend I’d want for him but sometimes a parent knows when to stand back and let his children determine their future,” his words were strait-laced but not insulting. I frowned and he continued, “I’d be remiss or hurting my son if I did so.” He met my gaze head-on, not many men did that without feeling intimidated. “I’m no fool Lorenzo, nor do I take anyone hurting my children lightly,Idid, and I regret my action every day. Unfortunately, we have no hold on the implications of falling in love. It makes you do strange things. It knows no bounds, nor does it direct the heart who to love.” He paused.
Eyes filled with something I couldn’t read, scrutinized my features. I might be powerful in my world but this man right here, was a powerhouse unto himself. Something told me he didn’t get to where he was on family name alone. He worked hard and like me, he dominated on sheer willpower to succeed and overcome a life of pain and betrayal. All that I read in one look. I could only imagine the wealth of knowledge he’d pass to Rayden with words alone.
And then it hit me. “You know?”
He nodded. We stared at each other, the air thick with unasked questions. His expression indifferent but there was a ton of emotions brewing in those eyes the color of storm clouds before he unbuttoned his suit jacket with one hand and sat. I took my seat opposite him.
“You might’ve kidnapped him, held devious intentions regarding his well-being then, but you’re also the man who loves him more than I could.” Drake regarded me carefully while sipping his drink.
His words hit me like a gut punch. Because I did. Loving Rayden was not only my weakness but my strength as well. Surviving his decision would take a lot more than surviving my dangerous world required. I sighed, pain gnawing at my insides making each breath more difficult to inhale.
“How would you know?” I asked.
“Because you let him walk away. Twice.”
This time his words slammed my chest, squeezing until I closed my eyes just to reminisce a moment longer with a man close to Rayden, if I couldn’t be with him.
“Three times,” I muttered. “Says a lot, doesn’t it?” I rolled my thumb and forefinger over the bridge of my nose, willing my heart to pump oxygen into my body.
“Three times?”
I looked up, catching the curiosity swirling in those gray irises. “The second time wasn’t a kidnapping. He came to me...” I was trying to be as subtle as possible but realized the truth worked better where Rayden was concerned. “Broken. Hating you and your new wife.”
He took a moment to contemplate my words. “So, you know?” His calm expression gave nothing away until his next words. “You gave him strength when I gave him pain, Lorenzo. You mended his heart when I broke it.”
I picked up the underlying sorrow beneath the words, the regret. It was genuine and I hoped for his sake, Rayden knew that.
Drake continued speaking, this time the low firmness was back in place. “This isn’t a pissing contest for the affections of my child. It’s my love for him that’s asking you to persevere in your love for him. Not to give up. Alpha men love hard, but they can bend to the will of the person they love, and they can beg. Ask me, I did. There’s no written law that we have to stand tall, aggressive and dictate all the time.”
I stood and moved over to the window. Slipping my hands in my pants pockets, I rocked back on my heels. “He’s afraid what the world would think of him.”
“Does it matter?” he replied, sounding surprised. Frowning, I turned to look at him. “If he has your love and mine, does it matter what the world thinks?”
“You’re not upset by his choice?”
“Why should I be?” His brow creased.
“You’re Drake Princeton, affluent, a name and status people respect.”
His chuckle was low. “I make my title, Lorenzo, it doesn’t make me. Just like how the title gay doesn’t make my son who is, nor does it determine his future. Your love for him does and that’s all that matters.” He stood. “You seem like a man who knows what he wants and goes after it. My son on the other hand, is young and brash at times but I’ve watched him over the last couple of days. He was broken when Zena and Sianna betrayed him. Still, it’s got nothing on what he’s feeling right now. I think you were a lot of firsts for my son and nothing in the world will match that, not even my love for him. Don’t allow him to destroy himself by being the stubborn boy he can be. Give him what he doesn’t know he needs, just to breathe.”
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“You.”
