Gabriel’s life. She’d needed to be close to him. Needed to feel him. Hold him. She had been desperate, she acknowledged as his broad shoulders filled the bathroom doorway.
There was a new tension in his expression that set her on edge. “What’s wrong?”
“Get over here.” He yanked her to him with an arm around her waist and held her tightly for a moment, his face buried in her hair. Her own arms came up to encircle his neck and she basked for too short a time in the feel of him so strong and sure against her. With a light squeeze, he drew back then took her hand and set them in motion.
“What’s going on? You’re making me nervous.”
He kept walking. “Don’t be.”
O-kay. Maybe Nika was here. That would be good. She was dying to know what had happened between her and Vincente; something clearly had.
But their company wasn’t Nika.
It was a tall, commanding man who watched them enter the room from where he stood in front of the windows, his arms behind his back, legs braced. He was dressed business-casual, all in black, right down to his leather shoes. His hair was as dark as hers, his skin…the same tawny shade…as hers…his eyes a deep blue…
Just like hers.
As realization dawned, she gripped Gabriel’s hand like a lifeline.
“Your father didn’t want to wait any longer to meet you, sweetheart.”
She drew in a sharp breath as the room tilted, and even though she’d understood who he was just by looking at him, it was still rattling to hear it confirmed.
“I’ll give you some privacy.”
“No.” She held tighter, knowing without a doubt she couldn’t do this alone. “Stay. Please.”
Gabriel looked inquiringly at her father—Vasily Tarasov, Russian mob boss, the love of her mom’s life—who didn’t return the look but nodded almost imperceptibly as he stopped a few feet away. His focus was on her, as hers was on him.
Looking beyond their resemblance, the first thing to strike her, and it did with the force of a slap, was the sadness in his eyes. The heavy, weight-bearing sorrow was unlike anything she’d ever seen, and it reached into her chest to squeeze her heart.
“Evangeline.” As he slowly reached out, Gabriel released her so that her father could cautiously take both her hands in his. “I cannot express how sorry I am that we are coming together under these circumstances.”
He didn’t have to express it, she thought as her eyes and nose began to burn in reaction to the energy surrounding him. She could see it. Feel it. His remorse. His guilt. The pain.
The pain that mirrored hers over the loss of her mom.
Gabriel had told her that her father had loved them, and it was clear to her now, in that, at least, that he’d told the truth.
Her lip trembled when she forced a smile. “It would have been nice if it had happened long before now,” she admitted, making sure to keep any accusation out of her voice. She’d never been one to inflict pain on someone already suffering, and she wouldn’t do so now. “But it is what it is. Gabriel explained a lot, and I’m beginning to understand that you did what you thought was right, even if it did take you away from us. I think I’ll eventually appreciate your effort, but I’m…” She winced through her honesty. “…not there yet.”
As the stiffness left his shoulders, an extended blink hid the relief that flashed in his eyes. “Your mother’s death.” He roughly cleared his throat. “It…I wish…I would do anything to change the mistakes I made…”
When he stopped again, her empathy grew because he clearly wanted to take responsibility for the loss she’d suffered, the loss they’d both apparently suffered, but he couldn’t get through it.
“You loved her,” she whispered as tears flooded her eyes. The realization blunted the sharp edges that were always at the ready to impale her when she thought of him.
Agony rolled over his features like storm clouds. “Yes.” It seemed as if he wanted to say more but he didn’t. Or couldn’t.
She glanced at Gabriel to see surprise and a deep sympathy swimming in his eyes as he stared at her father in a way that made it clear he, too, hadn’t understood the scope of her parents’ love until just then. And speaking of…
She gave the hands holding hers a light squeeze. “She loved you, too.” If ever anyone needed to hear the truth, it was this grieving man.
He nodded as his mouth