Page 61 of Reluctant Surrender

Chapter 29

Maggie

“You should have called me, Margaret.” My father stood in the center of Lukas’ living room with his hands fisted at his sides. His face, sunburnt from his beach vacation with his wife, screwed up into a twisted rage.

“I tried,” I argued, fisting my own hands but tucking them beneath me on the couch. Lukas had left for the day already when my father showed up on the doorstep. Thankfully, he’d left his child bride at home. I don’t think I could have handled watching her try to keep up with the conversation.

“Well, not hard enough apparently!” He paced between the couch and the fireplace. “Do you understand what this looks like? You running off and getting married to Lukas Kaczmarek and I wasn’t even consulted?”

“Consulted?” I blinked a few times. “What would you need to consult about?”

“You know what I mean.” He pointed a stern finger at me.

“No, Dad. I really don’t.” I pushed off the couch. “You left. You cut me off and flew out of the country.”

“Yes. I wanted you to become a self-sufficient adult, not latch onto the first rich man you saw!” His voice shook as he yelled at me.

“Is that what you think? You think I’m just like the little girls you keep marrying?” I shot back at him. “I never once asked you for anything, Dad.” Other than his time, which he was stingier with than his wallet. “You put me on that allowance and moved me into that condo. You did those things. And then you just ripped them away.”

“So instead of getting a better job, you whore yourself out to one of the most powerful families in the city?”

“Did you just call my wife a whore?” Lukas barreled into the living room, throwing his leather jacket on the loveseat as he tore through the room. He must have been on his motorcycle, because his hair was wind-blown, and he wore a long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans instead of his usual suit.

“What? No! Of course not!” My father shook his head and stumbled backward until his back hit the fireplace mantel. Dad liked to play the big boss man when he worked outside the confines of the law, with men like Lukas. But when it came down to it, he was just a man with a lot of money but no real power. He would always be the man on the outside, the man who hired out his dirty work so he could keep his soft hands clean. He had no problems working with the mafia, it gave his ego a little boost, but he would never step inside their world. He didn’t have the backbone for it.

“Lukas.” I hurried forward, putting my hand on his back. “Don’t.”

“What are you doing here anyway?” Lukas demanded of my father.

“You sent two men to get me.” Dad looked at him with confusion.

“You did what?” I pulled on Lukas’ shirt, but he ignored me.

“They spoke to you a week ago,” Lukas stated flatly.

“It took some time to get travel arrangements made.” Dad shrugged, diverting his gaze toward the floor. “But I’m here now.”

“Yes. I can see that.” Lukas’ voice dipped. “You should have been here weeks ago, months ago. Did you see where your daughter, your only child, was living? The building had no security, and it was falling down around her ears.”

I blinked a few times. It wasn’tthatbad. I mean, it wasn’t as amazing as Lukas’ estate, but it was home.

“Well, she seems to have done pretty well for herself.” Dad made a point of looking around the large living room that led into an even larger room.

“What sort of father just pulls all support from his daughter?” Lukas took another step toward my father and I grabbed hold of his shirt, trying to pull him back.

“Lukas, stop it.”

“She needed to grow up. It was time she took her life in her own hands and did for herself,” my father lectured.

“Is that what you thought or what your pretty little wife thought? Did she not like sharing the bank account with your daughter so she had you cut Maggie off?” Lukas’ lips pinched tightly together, a tic pulsed in his jaw.

“If all you wanted me here for was to be disrespectful, I think I should go.” Dad tried to sidestep Lukas, but my bullheaded husband took another step to block him.

“You missed her wedding.”

“What wedding? She told me it was a quick ceremony with a judge. That’s not a wedding.” Regret shone in his eyes the moment he finished his statement. Lukas was on him in a blink of an eye, fisting my father’s sweater.

“Stop!” I yanked on Lukas’ arm. He wasn’t wrong to be pissed, I would like to throw a punch myself, but he was my father. The only father I had. “Lukas, please,” I appealed to him in a soft voice.

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