Chapter Sixteen
Roman couldn’t believe Alex heard his father! Liam had stepped out for just a minute to take a private phone call, and then Lucas had wanted to know progress, which had turned into him berating him for fucking failing.
Staring at Liam, he knew he was in for a world of pain. The man removed his jacket and started to roll up his sleeves.
“I’m not going to fight you,” Roman said.
“That’s assuming you will get any hits in.”
He didn’t want to fight her father. “It was all a mistake,” he said.
That didn’t stop Liam from advancing toward him. Hitting Alex’s father wasn’t going to fix anything.
“Mr. Smith, I suggest we go in and talk.”
“Do you think I will have anything to talk to you about after what I just heard?” Liam charged at Roman, but he didn’t put up his fists or block any of the hits.
He took each blow.
Liam wasn’t hitting lightly. He was angry, and Roman understood the rage. The hits sent him to the ground.
“Get the fuck up.”
He expected Liam to hit him while he was down, but the man actually had a fucking code.
“I didn’t know about the kids,” Roman said. “I wanted to adopt them because they are fucking amazing.”
“Get up! I already knew they were Greco brats. Alex shouldn’t have known.”
“And there was a file,” Lucas said. “I have no idea how she got this as this was locked up and secured in my office at home.”
Roman frowned and looked toward his father. “What?”
“This file, I keep a record of every single child that was placed in foster care or sent to an orphanage. I do keep an eye on them. I’m not heartless. Well, not completely. They could be soldiers one day.”
At that moment, he hated his father. There had been moments throughout his life that he hadn’t liked the man in front of him, but it had never been downright hatred, not like this. Alex had looked so fucking broken, so sad, and so lost. That had been on him, and he didn’t know what to do to bring her back to him.
He’d fucked up big time. He knew that.
Now all he had to do was figure out how to fucking fix this, but how did you fix lies?
“But if you said that it was at home, back in your office, how did it end up here?”
Liam hit him again. He lost his train of thought and glared at Liam. “For fuck’s sake, I love your daughter, okay?”
This time, Liam went to kick him, and Roman spun out of the way, getting to his feet, ready to defend himself.
“Do not fucking lie to me.”
“I’m not lying. I love your daughter. I love Alex, and I will do whatever it takes to protect her.” His nose was bleeding, and from the last blow, he felt like he might have a bit of a concussion. His vision was a little messed up, and he was seeing everything in little spots.
“Phillip. Fucking Phillip!” Roman said.
“What’s your brother got to do with this? Antonio asked.
“He’s the attacker. The amateur,” Roman said.
“Son, I think that is a reach.”