“Join us, then.”
A command, not a suggestion, and everything in her rankled at it. She told herself that if she hadn’t been so dead tired she would have ignored him just on principle. But as it was, the adrenaline pumping through her veins was only making her shakier than she had been on the drive over, so she lowered herself into the free chair and forced herself to meet her father’s eyes.
“You asked me who the father was.” Clenching her hands together on her lap, she breathed through the sudden hammering of her heart as best she could. “I didn’t want to tell you, but it’s been made clear to me that I no longer have a choice in the matter.”
Braden’s brow wrinkled. “Made clear by whom?”
“Your friend here.”
Okay, maybe it was petty of her, but damn it felt good to watch her father’s eyes flash with anger as he turned his attention to the man on her right. “Goddammit, Killian. That isn’t what I asked you to do.”
Yeah, Killian.
Beside her, Killian sighed. “This isn’t how you were meant to find out, Braden. I’m sorry.”
“Find out what?” Agitation poured off her father in waves as his gaze—equal parts furious and confused—shifted between her and Killian. “What the fuck is going on?”
“You wanted to know who the father of your grandchild is. I found him.”
The reminder that her father had gone behind her back to find out the identity of her baby’s father reignited her fury from the night before. “Which is a whole other discussion we need to have. I told you I didn’t want to tell you who he was. You told me you’d respect my wishes, but then you sent someone to go snooping around in my personal business.”
Her dad didn’t even have the grace to look sheepish. “I wanted to be sure you were safe.”
“Fine. But Killian O’Rourke of all fucking people? Knowing how I feel about him?”
“You have to admire the irony of it,” Killian said, his tone dry as he lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug when she turned to glare at him. “Okay, well I admire the irony even if I am the one caught in the snare.”
“What irony? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you hiring the father of your grandchild to hunt down the father of your grandchild.”
Silence fell over them, the air around them so perfectly still Aria wondered if they could hear her pulse thundering in her veins.
“You?” Braden’s voice was strained with disbelief when he finally spoke again. “You… and my daughter…”
“I didn’t know she was your daughter when it happened. But yes. I went by Aria’s apartment yesterday to confirm with her. I wanted to be sure before I spoke with you.”
“No.” Pushing away from his desk, Braden shook his head as he paced, his movements jerky, borderline frantic. “Absolutely the fuck not. This is some sick practical joke.”
She should say something. Anything. She’d imagined this scene a hundred different ways with a hundred different outcomes. Rehearsed what she would say over and over again.
But now that the moment was here, she couldn’t speak. Couldn’t even force her mouth to open as she watched her father’s increasingly agitated movements. Her own fury dimmed again, snuffed out by the knowledge of how badly she’d failed her father.
“It’s not.” By contrast, Killian’s voice was calm, quiet. “But you have my word I’ll do right by your daughter, Braden.”
That stopped her father in his tracks, his furious glare locking on Killian. “My daughter is not marrying into the mob.”
She sensed more than saw Killian flinch beside her. “It’s the best way to keep her safe, Braden. There are dangerous men out there who would love nothing more than to get their hands on my child, and they would care nothing about the fate of the woman carrying said child.”
All the blood drained from her head. Holy fuck. This was real. She was actually carrying a mob boss’s baby.
Suddenly, her father’s reaction seemed like the least of her concerns.
“No.” Braden shook his head. “I’ll send her back to Oregon. Hell, I’ll send her to fucking Antarctica if that’s what it takes to keep her safe. But she is not marrying you.”
“I understand why you feel that way.” Though the words were delivered in an even, almost bored tone, she could hear the hurt underneath. “But this really is the best option, Braden.”
“Is anyone going to ask me what I want?”
