He didn’t argue with me, but he was clearly disgruntled. “Then where do we stand?”
“We’ll never be the same again. But I won’t stab you—if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“No, I don’t care if you stab me.” He walked farther into the room and approached my desk. “You aren’t just my brother, Cato. You’re my…” He couldn’t say the rest out loud. “I can’t lose you. I need you. And I don’t mean for the business. I mean…you’re the most important person in my life. I love you…” He dropped his gaze as he turned emotional. “I’m sorry for what I did. Really. Truly.”
I was eternally grateful when Siena forgave me, especially when I couldn’t have blamed her if she’d never forgiven me. I felt like I should extend that mercy to him, but what he did was unforgivable. “I’ve never felt so terrible in my life. When I saw her hit the ground…I felt like I’d lost everything.”
“I know…”
My eyes watered just thinking about that moment, that moment when I thought the bullet pierced her brain and ended her life. In that split second, it made me realize that all the money in my account meant absolutely nothing. All the success I’d found was laughable. My greatest accomplishment was finding that woman. “Bates, I love her.”
His eyes softened as he took a deep breath. “I know, man.”
“I love her more than anything in the world—even you. What I feel…” My hands balled into fists as I tried to describe the sensation. “It’s happiness. And it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever actually felt it. All the women before her were just practice. They were just ways to kill time until the right woman walked into my life. Now that I have her, I feel complete. And when I thought that was gone…I was gone.”
Bates listened to every word. “Have you told her?”
I shook my head. “I’m too much of a pussy.”
“You could have told her to get her to forgive you.”
I shook my head. “That’s not how I wanted to say it. I didn’t want her to think I was only saying it to get her back. That would be cheap—and make it less meaningful.”
“Then call her and tell her.”
“I’m not doing it over the phone. I’ll do it when the time is right.”
“Well, she already knows, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”
After what I’d done, maybe she didn’t believe it anymore. “I hope so.”
After a long pause, Bates sat in the leather armchair. “How’s Martina?”
“Wonderful.”
“Really? She doesn’t cry and shit all the time?”
“Are you trying to get on my good side?” I asked sarcastically.
“You know what I mean. Being a father can’t be easy.”
It was a drastic change from how my life used to be, but I did enjoy having her around. I had to change my priorities and work out in the evenings since I needed to take care of her in the morning, but being a parent was about making sacrifices. “It’s a lot easier than I thought it would be. I guess it’s because she’s my daughter…so I don’t mind taking care of her. And I have it easy. Siena is the one who takes care of her all day while I’m at work.”
Bates nodded. “Do you want to have more kids?”
“As many as she wants to have.” She’d told me she wanted to marry me and make more babies with me, even before Martina had arrived. Now that I’d admitted my feelings to myself, I knew that was exactly what I wanted.
“It’s crazy to think that just a year ago you were the asshole playboy who only believed in threesomes.”
“Yeah…it is.” I was a different man until that woman walked into my life and told me off. I got her pregnant by mistake, but Martina ended up being the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Without her, I would have killed Siena that day…and never would have what I had now.
“But you’re happy…so I’m happy for you.”
“Took you long enough.”
He shrugged. “I’m a little slow. But you already knew that.”
I had to work late that night. My clients flew in from China, but their flight got delayed for bad weather, so I had to stick around for a few extra hours.
When Siena got worried, she called. “Hey, you’re usually home by now…” She didn’t outright ask for an explanation, probably because she didn’t want to seem jealous like she’d been in the past.
I liked it when she got jealous, so I didn’t care. “I had a meeting that got pushed back. Bad weather delayed their flight. I just finished with them, and I’m going to be heading home soon.”
“Good. It’s dark already.” It was almost summer, so the days were getting longer. It seemed like just yesterday when winter made the sun go down by five.