Chapter 8

I sat down and stared at Victoria with the look that has made CEOs think twice about their decisions. "Let me be clear. Emma is a Romano. She'll grow up knowing she's part of a family that's been around for centuries. She's related to women who built empires and took down kings. She'll never be without family, love, or good examples."

"But she's also Sterling," Victoria said quietly. "Like it or not, Mikel is her father. That won't change."

Her words hit me hard. No matter how much I've tried to remove Mikel from our lives, she has his DNA. She looks more like him every day—the same strong chin, the same way she tilts her head when she's thinking.

"What do you want me to do?" I finally asked.

"Let him see her," Victoria said. "Let him be her father. Not your husband, just Emma's father. Let them get to know each other."

I thought about Emma's drawing—a family with a tall, dark-haired man standing next to a woman and a little girl. When I asked who the man was, she shrugged and said, "That's my maybe-daddy." It broke my heart.

"I'll think about it," I said. It was more than Victoria should have expected.

She looked relieved. "Thank you. I know this is hard, but Emma deserves—"

"Emma deserves parents who care more about her than themselves," I interrupted. "Something your sister and her father failed to do five years ago. If—and I mean if—I decide to let them see each other, it'll be my way. I'll watch them. It has to be about Emma. One wrong move, one hint that it's about anything else, and he's out forever."

Victoria nodded. "Of course. Whatever you think is best."

After she left, I sat there alone, trying to imagine telling Emma that her father wants to meet her. I tried to picture Mikel Sterling—older, maybe grayer, hopefully wiser—meeting our smart daughter and trying to build something from nothing.

It scared me more than any business deal ever has.

My phone rang, interrupting my thoughts. "Mrs. Romano? The school called. Something happened during recess."

I panicked. "What happened?"

"It's not serious," Sarah said quickly. "But apparently Emma told another kid that her daddy was a king who lived far away and couldn't visit because he was busy ruling his kingdom. The teacher thought you should know."

A king who lived far away. My daughter was making up stories to explain why her father wasn't around. It was both sad and a little true. Mikel was a king, or used to be, before I took his empire apart.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," I said, grabbing my purse.

The drive to Emma's school gave me time to think. For five years, I've told myself that keeping Emma away from her father was the right thing to do. But what if I was really just afraid to see him again? What if I was letting my own hurt get in the way of Emma's happiness?

I found Emma in the principal's office, swinging her legs from a chair that was too big for her. She didn't seem worried about what happened. She smiled when I came in, and her smile could melt my heart.

"Mommy! Guess what? Mrs. Patterson says I have a 'big imagination.'" She said the words carefully, proud that she knew them. "Is that good?"

"It's great, sweetheart," I said, getting down to her level. "But we need to talk about what you said about your daddy."

Emma looked serious. She always did when she was thinking. "I know he's not really a king, Mommy. But Jamie said her daddy takes her to baseball games, and Peter's daddy helps with his math, and I wanted to have a good daddy story too."

Her honesty almost made me cry. My daughter was making up stories because she wanted to be like the kids who had fathers. I was so focused on protecting her from being disappointed that I didn't see that she wanted what they had.

"What if I told you," I said carefully, "that your daddy isn't really a king, but he's a real person who lives close by? What if he really wants to meet you?"

Emma's eyes opened wide. "Really? He wants to meet me?"

"Would you like that?"

She nodded so hard that her hair bounced. "Yes! Can he come to my play? I'm playing a princess who saves the day, and I want him to see how brave I am."

A princess who saves the day. Even her play showed what I've been telling her—that she's strong and independent. But looking at her face, I realized that being strong doesn't mean being alone.

"I'll see what I can do," I promised. And I meant it.

That night, after Emma was asleep, I sat in my office looking at a phone number I haven't called in five years. It was Mikel's direct line. I never deleted it, and I don't know why.

I started to dial three times. I stopped before I finished each time.

Finally, I put the phone down and opened my computer. If I was going to let Mikel back into our lives, I needed to know what I was dealing with. My people have been watching his business for years because I wanted revenge. But I never asked them to check his personal life.

What I found surprised me.

No relationships. No girlfriends. No social media besides business stuff. The man who used to be the most wanted man in Seattle had become a loner. He only focused on work and finding us.

There were bills for detectives, lawyers, and searches around the world. He had spent nearly ten million dollars trying to find us. Not to get revenge or cause problems, but just to find us.

The last thing in the file was from three months ago: a payment to a computer security company to look at the evidence that destroyed our marriage. Five years later, he was still trying to prove he didn't do it.

I closed the computer and went to Emma's room. I stood in the doorway, watching her sleep. She looked so peaceful with her hair on the pillow and her rabbit in her arms. She was the reason for every decision I made. Not my hurt feelings, not my fear of being hurt again, but what makes Emma happy.

Tomorrow, I have to decide whether to let Mikel back into our lives. Tonight, I'll hold onto these last moments of the simple life I built for us, before things get hard again.

But looking at Emma's face—which looks just like her father's when she's sleeping—I knew I had already made up my mind. She should get to know her father, even if it means I have to see the man who broke my heart.

The Romano princess is about to meet her king, whether I'm ready or not.