Page 59 of Dr. Billionaire's Fake Marriage

My father smiles, trying to push back the tears. He leans to take my hands, and I let him. "I am so sorry too," he avows. "I thought I was shielding you from danger, but I had caused you more trouble. You went right to the family I never wanted you to meet."

I shake my head. “Troy is not evil like you think,” I say.

My father rubs his face. “You are in love with him?”

I say nothing. I can see from how he looks at me that he has his answer prepared. How hard is it to pretend that I am not in love with Troy Robinson? It is very hard.

I am in love with Troy, and there is no way I can hide it from the world. I certainly can't even hide it from the man I just met a few days ago.

"It all makes sense now," he says. "Troy met me at a restaurant, and what he offered just makes sense to me now."

“Yes, he told me he met with you yesterday.” I reply, but my father looks at me as if waiting to hear me offer more.

“He didn’t tell you what he offered me, did he?”

“He told me he was going to make things right,” I respond. “He didn’t say anything other than that.”

“I was wrong about him. He is nothing like his parents.”

"What did he offer you, Dad," I ask. He brings out a document of agreement. I glance through it and look up at my father as I read the contents.

Troy wants to give my father a fourteen percent share of the hospital, which makes my father a respected figure on the board. He'd also give him the title of the co-founder of the hospital.

"What do you think he wants from all these?" I ask my father as I place the document on the table.

My father places his hands on his hips and looks up at me. “You,” he answers. “He wants you.”

My father's words don't make any sense until he tells me the offered shares make it okay for Troy to marry me.

Troy is trying to make things right to ensure I am of the same status to make the relationship make sense to his mother and the other company shareholders.

I don't know how to feel about it, but I don't need Troy to go through all the trouble. "I have to go," I say, but my father begs me to wait for dinner.

“Eat dinner with me at the hotel,” he pleads. “I want to eat my first meal with my daughter.”

I oblige his plea, and we eat dinner together. He speaks most of his memories with Mother, but the awkward silence comes back when I ask him if he has another family.

"Yes," he responds. "I have one in Quantico."

“Can I see them?” I ask.

"Sure." Father brings out his smartphone, and scrolls through the gallery filled with pictures of his family. "That's Betty." He points at a tall red-head woman. "She is my wife," he says.

I know the two identical boys smiling into the camera are their children. They wear similar clothes, but one sports a baseball cap while the other has nothing.

From how identical they look, I can tell they are twins. "That's Adam." He points at the one with the baseball cap. "That's Aden," he says and points at the one without a cap.

“They are handsome,” I say. “I’d like to meet them someday.”

Father smiles. “Whenever you are ready, Camile,” he replies, “your family is just a phone call away.”

He motions for me to take Troy's document. “You should sign it," he says. "I am an old retired doctor; I don't have any use for the shares. You should hold the shares and be the youngest highest shareholder at the hospital." Father continues, "It will give you and your mother the life I promised her."

As instructed, I took the document from him. "I am going back to Quantico tomorrow. I will be in touch." I hug him goodbye at the parking lot and hop in my Uber ride.

I look behind me as the car drives further away from the hotel. As the cold evening wind blows on my face, It hits me that Troy was right after all: nothing beats having your parents around.

I throw the papers on the dining table when I find Troy. "You didn't think I am good enough for you and your family? You had to offer to put my father on the same pedestal as you so our relationship could make more sense to your mother?"

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