Page 25 of Broken Princess

He hesitates another moment, as if he isn't sure.

“No," he finally answers. "Let her sleep."

For a second, I think of arguing. Of telling him that despite the fact that he's been a completely shitty father, she still loves him, and that she would give him a chance if he asked for one.

After everything that's happened, though, knowing he might still be too much of a dumbass to take it is only going to piss me off, and the last thing she needs is me getting into a fist fight with her father right now.

Or a gun fight.

"Suit yourself."

He nods. "Let me know when you get in."

"I will," I say, glad when he leaves since I'm already running low on patience.

Not that I have an abundance of it to begin with.

I lock the door and walk back into the room just in time to see Amelia sitting up, looking adorably bleary-eyed. "Was that Dad?"

"Yeah, just missed him," I answer, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

She frowns. "He's okay, then? Where is he now?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He's just going to try to track down some leads on Milo," I answer. "In the meantime, I'm taking you back home."

She keeps frowning, and I don't need to be psychic to understand the hurt in her gaze. "He didn't say goodbye?"

"He wanted to," I lie, without thinking about it. "I told him you needed to sleep."

She stares at me for a few seconds, like she isn't sure she believes me, but I try not to let any trace of doubt show on my face.

"Right," she finally murmurs. She rakes a hand through her hair and sits up the rest of the way. "If Milo is still out there, he's going to come after us again, isn't he?"

"Maybe," I confess, unable to resist the urge to put my hand over hers. To my surprise, she doesn't fight it. "But you don't need to worry about any of that. I'm not letting him anywhere near you again. And I'll kill anyone who tries."

I've never meant any words more than I mean those in my entire life.

CHAPTER 13

AMELIA

Inever imagined I would wish for a commercial flight over chartered jet, but the fact that the latter means I'm going to be alone with Lorenzo for the entire flight has changed that.

Fortunately, I end up sleeping for most of it. I'm pretty sure I wound up drooling on his shoulder at some point, but even though I know I must look rough, when I open my eyes and find him staring down at me, there's an unexpected amount of adoration in his gaze.

I have no idea what to make of that.

To my relief, he hasn't tried to push things after our conversation. I tell myself that's a good thing. After all, I ran all the way across the country just to get away from his attempts at trying to force things between us, mostly because I don't trust myself not to give in again, but I've come to realize he's right about one thing.

There is a part of me that likes how pushy he is.

There's a part of me that likes thinking he's willing to fight for me — for us — even if I know it's only an illusion.

After all, nothing has really changed. He knows I'm having his baby now, but I'm not even sure if that's going to make much of a difference.

I glance down at my phone as the plane lands and realize I have a dozen missed texts from Anthony, who I contacted to assure I was okay as soon as I had calmed down enough from everything. He's still alternating between being apologetic about telling my secret to Lorenzo and expressing how relieved he is that I'm okay, even though I've assured him I'm not angry a hundred times at least.

The truth is, if he hadn't told Lorenzo, I don't know what would've happened.

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