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“Open the letter and see, baby.”

Goldyn swallowed hard and started fidgeting in place. “Right.”

Hands a little shakier now, she unfolded the paper and read the results in silence before her eyes flashed to mine. I couldn’t read anything except surprise in them, and I didn’t know if it was good surprise or bad surprise.

“Well?”

“He’s my father.”

My stomach churnedthe longer I stared at the stuffed mushrooms on my plate. I was sure they tasted perfectly fine, yet the thought of putting anything in my mouth right now made bile rise to my throat.

If it wasn’t for Romeo’s steadying presence at my side, I probably would have thrown up breakfast on the table by now. His heavy hand against my thigh had a grounding effect, allowing me to sit here without jumping out my skin.

Despite my jumbled nerves, Chance sat opposite me, looking calm and collected, his smile confident and bright.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I haven’t been able to get you off my mind for the past two weeks. And I want you to know that even if I’m not your biological father, there’s no reason?—”

“You’re my father,” I blurted,.

Chance’s whole demeanor changed in the blink of an eye. That calm, cool, collected façade he’d been rocking earlier was replaced by a stunned expression and tears collecting in his light brown eyes.

Shit.

I didn’t mean to make the man cry.

“When did you find out?” He asked, voice shaky as he stared at me.

“Just now, in the parking lot.”

Chance choked out a laugh and the sound did something funny to my chest. He sounded…relieved?

Hewantedme to be his daughter?

When I glanced over at Romeo, his head was cocked, watching our exchange with a contemplative expression.

“I’m your father?” Chance’s voice was disbelieving, full of awe and more relief. “I thought…I didn’t know…I just…wow.”

He stopped trying to articulate himself and raised his elbows on top of the tablecloth, propping his face against his hands.

“You don’t understand what this means to me.”

I didn’t understand what it meant tome, either.

But Chance’s visceral reaction stirred something in me. It never occurred to me that someone could know I was their daughter—their flesh and blood—and behappyabout it.

My mother really had set the bar in hell.

Because Chance wasn’t running. He looked…overjoyed. And the tears in his eyes were starting to make my nose burn.

“I’m so sorry, Goldyn.” The crack in his voice did nothing to help my shakiness.

Finding my voice, I asked, “Why are you apologizing?”

“Because Ifailedyou.”

His bottom lip trembled and sorrow fisted my heart.

“You didn’t know about me.”