Page 173 of The Devil We Crave
“I didn’t want to tell you,” I weep through hot tears. “I know how much money is tied up with the deal with Angelo, how important?—”
“None of that matters, honey,” he rasps. “You couldalwayshave told me?—”
“I felt like a fraud,” I choke, squeezing his hands in one of mine. More tears stream down my cheeks as my other hand slides up to wrap around the little silver pendant hanging from my neck. “You always call me little wolf, but I feltweakand pathetic, like me andmyproblems were this drag?—”
“Yelena,” Dad croaks, his face haggard as he reaches up to cup my cheek and brush a tear away with his thumb. “I didn’t call you that because I expected you to be a stoic, lone wolf. You’re my little wolf because you’re part of mypack.”
A fresh wave of tears blurs my vision. “B-but you and Mom…you’re like…” I look away. “You’re these larger-than-lifegods?—”
“I’m no god, honey,” he says quietly. “Just your dad.”
I start to sob. “I didn’t want to disappoint you.I didn’t want to be this burden or mess you had to clean?—”
“Yelena, honey,look at me,” he chokes, cupping my face and forcing my eyes back to his as he kneels in front of my chair. “You’re mydaughter, and there is no one else on this Earth like you.”
I cough out a harsh, haggard, mirthless laugh. “But I disappoint?—“
“No. You fuckinghumbleme,” he hisses fiercely.
“Momhumbles you.”
He shakes his head. “Your mother takes my breath away and makes me forget how to fucking talk,” he smiles. “But we’re partners. She doesn’t humble me.You do, sweetheart,” he hisses. “No onehas ever managed to do that but you.”
I collapse into him, crying and clinging to him like I’m a little kid. Dad just holds me, hugging me and stroking my hair, and tells me that everything is going to be okay.
That he’s proud of me.
That he loves me unconditionally. That nothing I could ever do or say or need from him would ever change that.
“What do you want me to do, little wolf?” he finally says quietly, still holding me in his arms and gently stroking my hair.
My brows knit as I lift my face from his shoulder a little. “What do you mean?”
“What I mean,” he says quietly, “is making your pain intomypain is what small men do. Making what happened to you aboutmyhonor, pride, or rage—that’s not being your father. That’sbeing yet another man deciding whatyourstory is.” He gently cups my cheeks, his fierce eyes meeting mine. “You don’t need my outrage, sweetheart. You need to know that what happened to you doesn’t change asingle fucking thingabout how I see you. Or how much I love you.”
A fresh sob rips from my throat as I throw my arms around his neck and hug him tightly.
“Honey,” he growls, “I will burn this entire city toashif you ask me to. I’ll go to war this very second and drag that motherfucker and every member of his family out into the street. But only if that’s whatyouwant.”
I shake my head, smiling grimly. “That’s not what I want.”
“Then I’ll wait and do whatyouwant, only when you want it,” he murmurs, stroking my hair. He exhales. “The building deal, obviously, is off, though.”
I frown as I pull back. “No, Dad, there’s way too much riding on?—”
“You are mydaughter,” he growls, holding me tighter. “Fuck the deal. There isnothingin this world that matters more to me than my family.Nothing.” Dad pulls back, his face crumpled as he takes my hands in his and looks into my eyes. “You, your brother, and your mother areallthat matter to me. You’re all that everwillmatter to me, until the oceans run dry and the mountains crumble.”
My heart surges as I hug him tightly.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you too, little wolf.”
35
ACHILLES
“Well, Mr. De Luca—”
