“I don’t see that you should have been able to predict it happening. The town you live in is well known for the safety and security of its residents being a priority.”
Abandoning the ruse, I leaned forward, leaning my elbows on the table. “What’s your angle here, Joel. What do you want from me?”
“I called you here today to say the photograph of the three of you holding each other was very touching. Both Nemi and Heidi are in love with you, and you with them.”
I looked at him like he was crazy. “Of course I am.”
“I imagine Heidi’s explained some of my history to you and why I’m not in Nemi’s life. Just to help you understand it a bit more, my mother is an abusive bitch.
“When I was a child, she locked me in the basement for days on end without food, water, or even light. It didn’t matter what time of year it was. If I did anything she thought was even slightly incorrect, I was confined. As I became older, she had a man come and whip me instead, assuming I’d reached an age where physical punishment was more educational than psychological.”
That’s what I’d seen in him that threw me, not his physical appearance. He was tightly strung for the sake of his past, not because he was meeting me. No man who’d gone through that, regardless of how confident or powerful he was, would be able to relax his body language, and he was no different.
And that mother was the one reason he wouldn’t allow himself to enjoy the one person who’d possibly be able to help him achieve that relaxation, out of fear she’d do the same to Nemi.
Fuck me.
“And that’s who you want to protect Nemi from, isn’t it?”
“It is,” he confirmed, his nose flaring. “Don’t get me wrong, if I could be a part of her life, I’d be there every day. Nothing else would ever keep me away from her.” And there it was, a veiled threat.
“I wouldn’t want you to be kept away from her, Joel. She’s your biological daughter.”
His eyes scanned my face, looking for something, and then he found it and nodded. “I want you to adopt Nemi.”
I blinked, stunned for a moment as the words registered. I felt like I had whiplash from the change in him. “Sorry?”
“I want you to adopt Nemi. As you know, I’m not on her birth certificate or affiliated with her in any way, so it should be relatively straightforward with Heidi’s consent.”
“We have a lawyer working on it already,” I admitted, frowning at him. “Why the sudden need to tell me to adopt her? Is there a problem?”
One side of his mouth tipped up in a humorless smile. “No, far from it. My mother was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer a month ago. With any luck, we won’t have her around for long.”
I couldn’t imagine hating your mom as much as he did. Then again, I had Gloria Klein as a mom and Angelique Du Plessis as a mother-in-law. I was spoiled when it came to examples of how one should be, especially being married to Heidi on top of it.
“So why not wait and be part of Nemi’s life?”
“Because I know you love her,” he said simply. “It wasn’t easy giving access to her up, Bond, especially once she was born and became a reality instead of a baby inside her mother. I’ve had to stay away, hoping that Heidi would meet someone worthy of both of them until she found you.”
“You knew she wouldn’t bring someone into Nemi’s life who wasn’t,” I pointed out, still unsure of his motive.
“Correct. I saw the love on your faces, and I’ve seen other photos and recordings gathered by my men, so I know you’re worthy of her. I’d like you to pursue adoption and give her your name and make yourself her father legally.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want her ever to know what it’s like not to have a father who wouldn’t go to the ends of the earth for her and keep her safe, and you’re the man who’d do that.”
Unlike his own father. I got the message loud and clear.
Still, I had a question to ask. “Why not just wait until your mom’s dead and be that man? Would your father do the same thing to Nemi?”
He snorted out a disbelieving laugh. “My father’s too concerned with his portfolio and his girlfriend. He’d only see it as an inconvenience having a kid come out of the blue, ‘sullying the Garner name.’” He put air quotes around it and sneered the words like he was reciting them from someone else’s mouth.
“Your dad said that when you went to him about your mom, didn’t he?”
He nodded once, then stared at me intently. “Do we have an agreement?”