wanting his father to like him, terrified he would not. Then to watch those hopes be dashed. Wyatt had all but caved in on himself, the emotional toll of rejection weighing him down. “No. Go away, Zach Sato. Go back and crawl under your rock. Just leave me and my family alone.” She moved to close the door, but Moto stopped it with his hand.
“I can’t do that. Ben’s in serious trouble. These people he’s working with are big-time criminals, Davina. We’re talking on an international scale.”
Two things struck her at once—her own concern for Ben and the lack of concern Zach had for Wyatt. A creak from the staircase behind her let her know Wyatt was behind her, and she wished she had slammed the door in Zach’s face after all. But how could she do that when Ben was in trouble, believing only his brother could save him?
“Besides, I want to see Wyatt,” he said. “I’m sorry about dinner. I screwed up, but I still want to get to know him. Please.”
Damn him for begging with those sincere brown eyes, and damn this whole situation for making her oblige. Begrudgingly, she took a step back for him to enter, glancing over her shoulder at the staircase. Wyatt was gone, and her shoulders relaxed a little. She put the dog down. “I made your favorite—zuppa toscana and crusty bread.”
“That sounds fantastic. I’m starving.”
“There was a bunch left, so I put it down the garbage disposal.”
His face fell. “Oh.”
She grinned, the smile not reaching her eyes. She led the way to the kitchen, taking a seat at the island. “There’s peanut butter in the pantry.” She watched as he got himself a plate and knife, then correctly selected the bread drawer. She’d never bothered to reorganize anything when she began renting the house from Ben. She’d been eating in this kitchen for years before she lived here.
He moved to the opposite side of the island and made his sandwich, the light illuminating his bruised face, and she frowned. “You got in a fistfight with your brother.”
“He deserved it.”
She couldn’t argue with that, though it bothered her this was how the Sato brothers settled their disagreements. “Physical violence will get you nowhere. How did it go?”
“He blamed me like he always does. Said I wouldn’t have been a good father, that I would have ruined everything. That I was too selfish and egotistical to raise a family.”
“You were driven. You knew what you wanted out of life, and you got it. That doesn’t automatically make you a bad father.”
He cocked his head. “Thank you.” He took a bite of his sandwich.
“Ditching your kid for dinner does.”
He sighed, lifting guilty eyes to hers. “I know. It won’t happen again.”
Was she making a mistake letting him into their lives, even a little bit? Did she have a choice? Fear told her to stay away from this man, to give him the smallest glimpse into their lives that would satisfy him, then send him on his way. But Wyatt deserved more than that. He deserved a father who would know him and love him for the man he would become, and that was something only Zach could provide. “It had better not.”
Before he’d blown them off for dinner, she’d been intending to offer Zach the guest room so he could spend more time with Wyatt. Now that felt like leaving an open cash register in front of a robber—the epitome of vulnerability.
She’d once trusted this man completely. She’d been sure of his love, of his faith in her, that they would be together through thick and thin. Then the accident had shattered his world, and he’d found her with Ben, and in the time it took to snap her fingers, everything that mattered was gone.
The dog whined at Zach’s feet. “He wants part of your sandwich,” she said.
Zach obliged. “What’s his name?”
“Piggy. Wyatt named him when he was three. He was going through a pig phase.” It seemed like eons ago, and she was acutely aware of how much Zach had missed.
From the look on his face, he was thinking the same thing. “I was hoping I could stay here.” She opened her mouth to object, but he held up his hand. “I know it’s awkward, and it’s an intrusion, and it’s rude of me to ask. But I really want to spend as much time with Wyatt as possible.”
It was exactly what she’d been thinking earlier, but now it seemed like a terrible