Page 3 of Under His Control

“Oh, that’s good. Find your village and lean on them. It really does take more than one to raise a child.”

I didn’t take offense. I knew she wasn’t saying that as a dig at me, that I was a single dad. And she was right. Tessa and I had that kind of childhood, growing up in the same building with all kinds of adults and other kids around.

A couple of hours later, after disembarking and getting a ride to the address Tessa gave me, though, I had no clue what to expect from where she’d ended up in life.

Our calls were sporadic since I left the military, but she’d given me some details to wonder about. She recently met her fiancé. She’d moved to his place. And she would love to have me come stay with her for a while and catch up.

Without any other landing strip or directions for where to go and how to adjust to Olivia, I took Tessa up on the invitation. That was how few people I had in my life.

Or not.I glanced at Olivia still sleeping against my chest as I climbed out of the Uber. I would always have Olivia with me now. It hadn’t sunk in as a reassuring thought yet, still too new and more like a responsibility to oversee than a companionship to know I wasn’t a true loner.

“What the hell?” I muttered, gazing around at this lavish, manicured area. A fucking mansion? Immaculate landscapes, privacy gates, and patrolling security guards?

What in the fuck?Just who the hell was she marrying? Someone rich, clearly, but that made me more guarded.

I glanced around as I walked up the path leading toward the huge house.

“Good evening, sir.” A guard at the gate raised his brows at Olivia waking up in my arms.

“I’m…” I huffed. “I’m lost.”

The man smiled as his partner stooped down to pick up the pacifier Olivia dropped. He brushed it off and handed it to her. “Where are you headed?”

I blinked and shook my head. “I’m supposed to catch up with my friend, Tessa, but?—”

“Right this way, sir,” the first guard said. He looked me over. “Liam Gray?”

I gaped at him. “What the fuck?” I whispered. I was in the right place? I didn’t know how or why, but I figured, like everything else of late, that I’d roll with the goddamn punches. After finding out I had a kid and that I’d be a civilian now, learning that Tessa was marrying up shouldn’t have been too out there. I supposed, in every sense of the phrase, that anything was possible.

The guard led me toward the side, across an enormous patio, then opened the doors to a small gathering inside.

There she was. Tessa looked gorgeous, so happy—and shocked. Her mouth hung open as I entered, reacting just as I figured she might when I revealed what my big surprise was.

“Ababy?” she exclaimed.

I shrugged and tried to smile when scoping out the room. “Surprise.”

A tatted-up man pressed his fingers up under her chin so she’d close her mouth.

“Since when…” Nina, Tessa’s old friend, shook her head, walking up.

“Well.” An older man strode forward. “Since they’ve forgotten how to say a simple hello, welcome to our home. I’m Dante Constella.” He held out his hand, and I shook it the best I could while holding Olivia, who wanted to squirm.

“Nice to meet ya.” I glanced him up and down, wondering who he was.

“Adaughter?” Tessa asked. “You have a daughter?”

“Yeah.”

“But…how?”

“I got a letter that I had a kid, and…” I whooshed out a long breath. “And here I am.”

“Recently?” Nina asked.

I nodded, raking my hand through my hair as I looked them all over. “Yeah. Very recently. Olivia is a very recent discovery in my life.”

Olivia took that moment to pout, then sniffled with pending tears. With everyone dressed up for this engagement party that I was already late for, I felt my eyes go wide, preparing for a wail that I wouldn’t know how to stop. Already, the advice Jessica gave me on the plane was forgotten. “Shit. Which cry is this? What’s wrong?”

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