Page 123 of The Ruthless and the Strong

I stared at him in confusion. “Yes, I know.”

“I always trusted him with you, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“My baby. I raised you to be this wonderful, incredible woman. I don’t think I have ever told you this, but I am proud of you. And I’m proud of myself because I raised this woman. I had a hand in the woman she had grown up to be. I’d like to think it means I can read you better than most people.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, still not understanding.

“I always knew you had a crush on Max.”

“Oh, I see.” I could feel my cheeks warming a bit, though I didn’t know why. I was a grown woman. I shouldn’t be embarrassed to talk about these things with my dad. I was.

“It was an innocent crush. Or so I had thought—hoped, anyway. But it wasn’t. It was more than that. I saw you falling deeper and deeper for him every day. And that put him in the perfect position to exploit those feelings you had for him.”

“He never did anything,” I said quickly.

“I know, love. I know all that. He’s a good man. And he kept his distance from you. I could see how bad that hurt you, but he chose to hurt you like that, rather then encourage your feelings for him. So I never worried when you said you were going to Olivia’s house and Max might be there.”

“Why are you saying all these things to me?”

“Well, because I think a part of you is still holding onto that version of Max you had when you were a kid. Your first crush is a powerful thing. It changes the way you see the world, yourself, and the people around you. Loving Max when you were a teenager changed you. And you loved that feeling. Of course you did. It was intense in a lot of ways, and easy in others.”

He grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Finding out this new information about him clashes with this ideal version you have of him as a teenager, doesn’t it?”

I mutely nodded.

“Maybe that’s why you’re finding it so hard to come to terms with it. You love Max?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

“But it’s not the same. The love you have for him now is not the same love you have for this ideal man you had made up in your head, of who you wanted Max to be. Even if you hadn’t made up this ideal version of him in your head, even if that version had been the real him, it’s not the real him anymore. We change as we get older. The goal is finding someone to love us through those changes, no matter what.”

He ran his fingers through his red hair, shooting me a shaky smile. “I love your mother very much, a stór. I loved her when she was nineteen, and I love her now. But she has changed. She is no longer that fanciful little girl. She’s a strong woman who thought she was doing what was best for her family.” He tucked a strand of my red hair away from my face. “For her only daughter. I still love your mother, through all the changes. I’m not going to ask you to forgive her. That has to be your decision, but I hope you will, and that you will continue to love her through all her changes, just as you love your”—he paused, his lips twisted in a small smile before continuing with—“gentleman friend. And tell him Stephan O’Connor would be honored to welcome such a wonderful man into my family as my daughter’s husband.”

I let out a small cry then, and getting up, I moved over to him. He opened his arms wide for me, and I buried my face in my dad’s burly chest, hiding my tears.

He patted my back. “There, there, little darling. No more crying. You know I hate it when you cry.”

“I’m not crying, Dad,” I said in a muffled voice. We both knew I was lying. When I pulled away and showed him my red eyes, he smiled and wiped the tears away for me.

“Max came to see me two weeks ago and asked for my permission for your hand in marriage.”

“What?”

He smiled widely. “I told him he didn’t need my permission. But he has my blessing.”

I let out a choked noise, and I wasn’t sure if it was a laugh or a cry. “Dad, I have to go.”

“Yes, you do, love. You have to go. Just remember, I love you very much.”

I leaned down and kissed his cheek. “I love you, too.”

I ran out of the restaurant, feeling a million times lighter than I had in weeks. I was going to fight for Maxwell Kade. And I would never let him go again.

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