Chapter Eighteen
Landon
I stare at the man who raised me, and my sympathies, love, respect, or any type of familial devotion have long since flown out the window. The only thing left simmering is pure satisfaction that it will all be over soon. The truth is clearer now than it had ever been. For years, I believed a lie, fear planted there by him, a seed growing until I became a man obsessed with developing walls that only Lara could scale.
“Johnny, boy. Do you have anything to say?” I ask him, feeling nothing but fiery rage for him. All these years, lies after lies, pain, fear, heartache had been driven by him. However nothing compared to what he did to Lara. That was unforgivable.
“I don’t know why you’re doing this, son,” he says, playing innocent, but there’s no way I’d believe his weak lies.
“Don’t call me ‘son.’ I’m not your son, and I never was.” I practically spit in his face. Despite everything between us, I’d given this man before me every opportunity for a family with love and respect, yet he decided to destroy my happiness.
His face slowly morphs from fear and sadness into a sadistic scowl. “Because your mother was a whore, that’s why. If I’d known you were a bastard’s kid, I would have dumped you on his doorstep a long time ago—in pieces.”
Slow, methodical footsteps come up from behind me. “Then it’s good that you did not learn of it so soon because I would have destroyed you. Vieni, figlio mio. I can handle this,” my true father says to me. He is the mafia boss that supposedly had kidnapped me, but the kidnapping had been a lie. A lie my Johnny orchestrated so I would be killed when I went looking for revenge as an adult. In reality, I’ve spent my life focused on security and self-preservation because of the lie.
“No, I must do this. I don’t care about all of my childhood; I don’t even care that he came to get more money from me. I only care that he came after my wife and my unborn child. That itself deserves to be handled personally and with pleasure.”
“Then I shall be at your service. It is the least I can do.” He claps his hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. I look to the older version of myself and wonder how I hadn’t known sooner that he was my father.
I make quick work of Johnny while my birth father stands by with his men ready to handle the mess. A few hours later, I’m completely clean and my conscience is clear.
“Maybe one day, I can meet my grandchild. I can always use some security services.”
“I’d like that.”
“I’m truly sorry that I never got to know you, Landon. You’ve grown up to be a handsome young man. It’s quite intriguing that no one put a link between us sooner. The resemblance is quite uncanny. In my day, I could snag any woman in my presence,” he says with a wink. He’s still extremely handsome so I have hope for the future that Lara will find me good looking when I’m in my sixties.
“Clearly. Thankfully, I only have one and I am grateful to have her.”
He nods. “She is a tough woman. Country strong, it seems. Maybe I’ll get a bunch of adorable grandbabies.” I was contacted by him two days ago when he learned of Lara’s kidnapping and recovery he did some digging. Apparently, one of his associates suggested that he and I could be twins, so he dug into my background and knew my mother and father.
“I hope so.” We shake hands, but my birth father has different ideas and pulls me into his arms for a long, powerful hug. “I truly wish I had known of you sooner.” I see the tears in his eyes match mine. He may be on the wrong side of the law, but I was raised with people like that. It doesn’t matter to me. What matters for the first time is seeing the love in his eyes. A love I had missed out on my entire life. A love I’ll never let my children ever lose. They will always know their daddy loves them and will always protect them.
For two days, Lara and I have spoken about the truth of my past and I had to come to terms with it all. Having her by my side, I was able to accept it with ease.
The drive back home is a good one. The two other co-conspirators have met their fate. My assistant actually had been killed by my guard because she turned on her to the police. Unfortunately, the police let her out on bail and someone mysteriously paid that bail. I’m assuming it was either Johnny or the guard, but either way, it was done and now, she’s dead.
The other one fled; reports have her fleeing to Mexico, and of course there’s no way to trace her there without the authorities’ help. I didn’t push it. Just this morning, though, her body turned up in a cartel mass grave along with five other bodies. Of course, she’d ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The second I return to the condo, I go for my woman. She’s resting in bed, looking so damn sexy. I strip down and pull her into my arms, throwing the covers over us. “I love you, Lara.”
“I love you too, Landon. Thank you for coming home safely.”
“I always will, my heart and soul.” I kiss her temple softly, and we both fall asleep. For the first time in forever, I truly feel at peace.