Lured into Love (Blossom in Winter #2) - Melanie Martins Page 0,153
he even knows that. Dad doesn’t watch TV, and Julia doesn’t even talk to him. It must have been Sebastian who told him.
“Tess Hagen, yeah. Julia told me she enlisted with the CDA for the elections next year, and I don’t think it’s to become a member of parliament.”
Dad tries to contain his laugh. “She hates Julia, doesn’t she?”
“And me, and Roy, and everyone involved in that incident.”
Dad’s gaze drifts away, knowing exactly what I’m referring to. “Does she have evidence?”
Letting out a sigh, I say, “Mom said she does.”
He nods pensively, his eyes staring at nothing, before they land on me again. “You are in deep shit, son.”
Classy.
“Well, I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.” I shouldn’t have been so blunt with him, but the words came out of my mouth before I could even do anything about it.
Dad crosses his legs, an ankle resting over the other knee. “So, let me see if I’ve got this straight: you steal my best employee, vote me out of my own company, force me to leave my country, and now you come here all the way from New York with your barely legal fiancée because you need my help?”
I take a quick sip before blurting out, “Pretty much, yeah.”
Blowing out a breath, he starts shaking his head in disgust. “What a son of a bitch you are.” And yet I can’t stop laughing at his comment. Coming from him, it nearly sounds like a compliment. “It’s gonna cost you a fortune.”
And that was expected. “How much?”
“Oh, this is not about money.” He pauses, his smirk growing. “This is about family.”
I observe him attentively, my brows pinching together. “What do you want from me, Dad?”
He keeps the smirk on his lips as he revels in my situation. And after a brief silence, he says, “Your indisputable… loyalty.”
Yet he knows perfectly well my answer. “I’m afraid I can’t afford that. Anything else?”
Dad thinks something through then promptly demands, “I want to attend your wedding.”
But I protest just as fast. “Mom will kill me if I let you come.”
“She doesn’t need to know.” He pauses, studying me. “I can just… invite myself.” And since I don’t appear convinced, he adds, “Just give me the details, and I will take care of the rest.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I insist.
“I won’t miss my son’s wedding.” His voice carries a severity that moves me. After all, Dad wasn’t invited to Maud’s or Yara’s weddings. And I know how much it affected him not being there.
“If I tell you the details, it stays between us, are we clear? Not a single word to anyone, including Mona. No one can know you are attending the ceremony.”
“I give you my word.” Dad raises his glass, as if holding his whiskey up gives him more credibility.
I ponder for a moment as I look at him. His tired blue eyes are craving what he lost a long time ago: love and acceptance. Love and acceptance from us—his children. For a long time, I was the only one who would send him photos and videos of his family and the birth of his grandchildren. Until I managed to persuade Sebastian to get back in touch with him. “It’s the fifth of December, on Petra’s birthday, at the St. John’s Cathedral in Den Bosch.”
With raised eyebrows, he asks, “Where Julia got married?”
“Yep.”
“Oh, so the bishop of Den Bosch is marrying you?” His tone remains just as surprised.
“Do you have a problem with that?”
He cocks his head to the side, uneasiness written all over his face. “Sebastian is behind it, huh?”
“Julia suggested it,” I point out. “And he endorsed it just as fast.”
“Be careful with them.”
“I know.” Blowing out a breath, I say, “Sebastian made it clear if Tess steps out of line, consequences are to be expected.”
“Does Petra know about it?”
The question leaves me just as uneasy as he is. “To a certain extent…”
But Dad seems to be determined to know all the details inside out. “Does she know what you and her dad did?”
“Of course not,” I promptly snap. And I hate Roy for not keeping his mouth shut about that incident to my dad. Jeez! He had been thirty-five, and yet he couldn’t stand not telling the truth to his dear mentor. “She just knows her mom is blackmailing us.”
“And she’s okay with that?” Dad seems surprised, and I must say, I’m also surprised that she is.