Page 104 of Ruthless Commander

His gaze narrowed at first, as though he stared at a stranger…until he froze.

“You shouldn’t have come.” Edon murmured. “You should’ve stayed away.”

“Mateo.”The way the old man spoke my husband’s name sent chills along my spine.

“No.” My husband shook his head.“No.”

“Please.” The old man murmured.

“Please…PLEASE?”Mateo roared.“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?”

“Mateo.”

“No…no!”My husband shook his head.

I’d never heard him angry like this, never seen him so…unhinged.

This wasn’t the Mateo I knew. This wasn’t even the Commander.

This was…

“Son.”The old man stepped closer.

Son?!

Son…

I was frozen, unable to look away.

“I—I don’t know you.” Mateo’s voice broke, and my heart shattered for him. “I don’t…know…you.”

“You do.” The old man stepped past me, never once meeting my gaze. All he saw was Mateo. “I’m your father.”

“No.” Mateo shook his head. “My father is dead.”

The old man shook his head, anguish filling his gaze. “I wanted to be…I wished I was. It was…another life.”

“No, it wasourlife.” Mateo stared right through the old man. “The life you chose to leave behind, as well as your children.”

“Your mother—”

Mateo shook his head, stopping the sentence. “No. That was you and her. You both left us.”

“Mate—”

“YOU BOTH LEFT US!”

I flinched at the roar, watching my husband transform before my eyes. It wasn’t the man I saw now. It was the boy, the frightened, abandoned boy…and my heart broke.

“You left us. You left us in that house. We had no idea what happened to you. You and Momma left for work, and you never came home. We were kids. We were kids with no food, no money, no family. Just us. Did you even care about that? Did you even care that Edon almost…he almost. He almostdied.”

“Of course I cared.” The old man shook his head. “More than you know.”

Mateo strode forward, grabbed the old man by his shirt and wrenched him close. My heart leaped at the sight of him towering over the frail old man. I fought the desperate need to step between them. It wasn’t for the old man, either. It was for him…my husband.

Agony filled his eyes as he snarled. “You aren’t my father. I havenofather.”

“Mateo.”