I didn’t mention Thorn to Titan since it always made her upset. Even when I didn’t bring him up, she was usually thinking about him. After our conversation died away, a fleeting look of sadness would come into her expression.

But now I had something to say. “I have an idea to get you and Thorn talking again.”

“You do?” She sat across from me at the dinner table, ignoring her food and enjoying her wine. She didn’t speak with much enthusiasm, as if she had little belief that I could contribute anything worthwhile.

“It’s not the best idea. I’ll say that up front.”

“I’m listening.”

“The one thing that brings people together is tragedy. So if he thought something bad happened to you…” I knew Thorn would drop everything he was doing if he thought she was in danger. He killed someone to protect her. That kind of loyalty existed far beneath the surface. It was something that couldn’t be erased, even after a decade of silence had passed.

She held her glass of wine in her hand but didn’t take a drink. “You think I should lie to him?” She couldn’t keep the tone of incredulity out of her voice. She detested the idea, the disgust written all over her face. “I’d never do that.”

“I didn’t say it was a good idea. But it’s all we have. I’ve tried talking to him a few times…he won’t budge.”

She took a long drink of her wine. “He’s pretty upset with me. Never takes my calls.”

I hated this. I hated it so much. I didn’t blame Thorn for his decision because he was the one who got screwed over, but I still thought they should work this out. Titan was forced to make a terrible decision, and she didn’t have much to work with.

“Thorn cares about me too much. I would never do that to him.”

I had to respect her decision.

“Anytime I’m down, he immediately asks… Never mind.”

I suspected I knew what she was going to say. “Then forget I said anything.”

She swirled her wine before she took a drink. “I keep waiting for it to get easier…but it never does.”

“We’ll figure it out, baby. He can’t stay mad forever.”

“He’s not a stubborn man…that’s what bothers me.”

I took a bite of my dinner, chewing slowly as I watched the forlorn expression on her face. She was happy with me, showed me that beautiful smile every day. But she could be complete if she had her best friend in her life.

“I have to tell you something.” She pushed her plate to the side, dismissing it.

“I’m listening.” When she took that tone, it didn’t necessarily mean something was wrong. Sometimes she was just getting right to the point, turning professional.

“I arranged for your father and Brett to talk this afternoon.”

I’d assumed she would mention Stratosphere or something else business-related, not that. “Brett agreed to meet him?”

“No.” She wore a slightly guilty expression. “I kinda ambushed him…”

I appreciated her concern, but she was taking it too far. “Baby, you need to back off. You relayed the message to both Brett and me. Now it’s our turn to decide how we’ll handle things.”

“Both of you refuse to see him.”

“And that’s our decision.”

“Well, it’s the wrong one.”

My eyes narrowed on her face. “Excuse me?”

“You’ve interfered in my relationship with Thorn countless times. Would I have approved of it at the time? No. But I’m glad you did it. It’s the same thing here.”

If she hadn’t thrown that in my face, I would be angry by her actions. But for fear of sounding hypocritical, I didn’t argue. “How did that go?”

“Your father said some powerful things. I think it got to Brett.”

“He’s a master manipulator…”

“But he wasn’t manipulating. He was being genuine. And I think that’s why it affected Brett so much.”

“Why do you think it affected him like that?”

Titan held my gaze, her will strong and unbreakable. Her fingers rested on her glass, but her slender shoulders were still perfectly straight. The harder she became, the more beautiful she appeared. Loving her had taught me what I liked in a woman. She was vastly intelligent, fiercely independent, and insanely strong. She wasn’t some helpless woman who needed a man for anything. The only person she needed was herself. “Because he listened.”

She schooled me at my own game, saying just a few words to get the impact to sink into my veins. I imagined how their conversation went, my father sitting across from Brett in a public restaurant. I hadn’t seen them in the same room since we were younger. It was almost impossible to believe. “Did Brett say anything?”

“He said he needed to think about it.”

I tried to hide my surprise but I couldn’t. Brett had been treated worse than I had. I would have expected him to punch my father in the face then storm out. The fact that he sat there, listened, and then said he would consider everything…left me in disbelief.

“Which brings me to my next point…” She pushed her glass away too, her slender arms stretching across the table. Her nails were candy-apple red, the color complementing her fair skin. She was another suit in a corporate world, but her feminine touches made her stand out. “I want you to speak to your father.”

I tried not to laugh. “Not gonna happen.”

“We can do this one of two ways.” She held up two fingers. “One…” She lowered one digit. “I can arrange for you to meet him without your knowledge, and you can be bombarded when you least expect it.”

I knew it wasn’t a bluff.

“Two…we could sit down together and get through it.” She pulled her hands back toward her body. “How do you want to do this, Diesel?”

I felt like a competing executive across the boardroom. My balls were in her hands, and she knew it. “I’ve never wanted to fuck you more.”

She hesitated slightly, her eyes shifting in response to my bluntness. “Is that a yes?”

I’d rather be aware of the meeting than walk into it blindly. “You aren’t giving me much of a choice.” I pushed the chair back as I rose to my feet. My cock was hard in my sweatpants, and I tugged my bottoms off as my enormous cock revealed itself.

She didn’t take her eyes off me, but she licked her lips.

“I’m gonna fuck you so hard, baby.”

“I’m not seeing the downside to this.”

I shoved everything off the table, making plates and glasses shatter against the hardwood floor. I was pissed, so I didn’t care about respecting her property, and judging by the darkness in her eyes, she didn’t give a damn either. “When you’re sore tomorrow, you’ll think otherwise.”

---

After I hit the gym, my driver took me to Titan’s penthouse. I was surprised the paparazzi hadn’t photographed me going to her apartment all the time. Since neither one of us left the building after we came home from work, photographers probably didn’t catch anything.

I was getting into the back seat when Brett called me.

I knew what this was about. “Titan told me what happened.”

Brett didn’t change the subject. “She ambushed me, man. I thought we were just getting lunch and…boom.”

“It was pretty sleazy.”

“Sneaky is a better description. We met a few days before that, and I told her I wasn’t interested in reconciling with Vincent. That’s probably why she pulled the stunt.”

“She doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants.”

“I feel bad for you…”

Even if this situation annoyed me, I was still a very lucky man. “You don’t need to feel bad for me, man.” Her determination to bring us all together because she lost her own father was frustrating, but there were worse things. I still loved everything about her, even the things I hated. “What did he say to you?”

“He apologized.”

“That’s surprising.”

“He said a few other things…that he’s disappointed in himself. He let Mom down. He’s ashamed of his behavior…it goes on.”

“And you believe him?”

“I’m not sure. But I can’t see what else he gets out of this. It’s not like I have something he wants.”

“True…”

“We were never close before, so it’s hard for me to imagine having any kind of relationship with him.”

“Then don’t.”

“Yeah…I don’t know.”

The fact that my brother wasn’t outright rejecting the idea was surprising. “I’ll support whatever you decide.”

“I know. Has he spoken to you yet?”

“No, not yet. Titan said it’s coming.”

“Yeah…I’m sure it is.”

The car stopped in front of Titan’s building. “I should get going. We can get a beer tomorrow if you want to talk about it in more detail.”

“No. I want to think about it some more. I’ll call you.”

“Alright.”

“Bye.” He hung up.

I took the elevator to the top floor then walked inside Titan’s penthouse. The smell of dinner was in the air, and there was no evidence there had been a mess on the floor just last night. “What smells so good?”

She was sitting on the couch with her heels lying on the rug. Her eyes were glued to her laptop, obviously still working. But when I stepped into her home, she put her computer aside and greeted me at the door.

With a sexy kiss.

She spoke into my mouth as she kissed me. “Me.”

I smiled against her mouth before I kissed her again. My hand fisted her hair, and I pulled her harder into me, loving the feeling of her plump tits against me through her top. I sucked her bottom lip then gave her my tongue, my cock hardening in my gym shorts. Now I got great sex every morning, every night, and right before bed—with the only woman I’d ever loved.

My hands moved to her tits, and I squeezed them through her blouse. “Missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

I pulled away and rubbed my nose against hers. “I want you naked on the bed when I get out of the shower. On all fours. Ass in the air.”

Her hands snaked up my chest, and she stared at my mouth like she wanted another kiss. “As tempting as that sounds, we have company for dinner.”

My fingers dug into her hip, and I wrapped my hand tighter around her hair so I could grip her more firmly. “Who’s this company?”

The serious expression in her eyes told me the answer.

“I thought you would give me some notice.”

“I just did.”

I tugged on her hair gently, pulling her head back so she looked up at me at a better angle. “An hour?”

“If I’d told you this morning, you’d have thought about it all day.”

“And we’re doing this here?” It was our space, our world away from the reality outside the windows.

“Would you rather do it in public?”

Cameras would swarm us the entire time. There would be inaccurate headlines all over the place the next morning. It would stir up a conversation both of us wanted to bury. “No. I just—”

“It’s happening, so it doesn’t matter. He’ll be here in an hour.” She walked away from me, knowing I would release her once she stepped away. She gave me the power to control her, but she knew she could always overpower me whenever she wished.

“You’re making this up to me.”

She kept her back to me as she walked into the kitchen. “I know.”

---

I refused to let anyone intimidate me—especially a man I hated. In the face of this stressful situation, I could down a few glasses of scotch to soften my nerves, but that would be an admission of discomfort.

I never showed weakness in front of anyone—especially Titan.

I had a strong woman to share my life with. While I admired her wonderful features, her independence as well as her intelligence, I always had to stay ahead of her. I had to be the stronger of the two of us.

I had to deserve her.

So I skipped the scotch.

Titan set the table, placing the salad and entrees onto the hard wood. She knew my father would be there right on the dot, so she was prepared for it.

I watched TV on the couch, pretending it was any other night.

The elevator beeped when my father hit the button.

It was show time.

I turned off the TV and rose to my feet.

Titan walked to the elevator doors and pressed her finger against the button so the elevator would rise. She turned to me next, looking over my expression to see if I was okay.

I walked up to her, staring her down with the same power I always exerted.

“Thank you for doing this.”

I watched her lips move, watched the way her eyes lit up in sincerity.

“I know you’re only doing this for me…and I appreciate it.”

I was wound tight around her finger, paralyzed by her tantalizing kisses. She could get me to do almost anything, and I would obey just to make her happy. She knew she had power over me—but she also knew she was the only person who did. “This is it.” I’d have one dinner with him and listen to whatever he had to say. But once the night was over, that was it. I didn’t want to revisit this conversation again. “Do you understand me?” My hand moved to her neck, and I felt her pulse against my fingertips. Possessiveness was something I would always struggle with when it came to Titan. Even when no one else was in the room, I needed it to be clear that she was mine.

Disappointment flooded into her eyes. They weren’t as vibrant as they were a moment before. Her breathing stopped momentarily, obviously affected by what I said. But she knew she couldn’t push me any further. I accommodated her when I could, but I wouldn’t bend over backward for anyone. “Yes.”

I released her neck the instant the doors opened.

My father stood there in dark jeans and a black t-shirt. He wore a black jacket over his broad shoulders, looking casual but dressy at the same time. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw him dressed in something other than a suit. Not a single memory came to mind. He stepped inside and greeted Titan first. “Titan, it’s always lovely to see you.” He extended his hand.

She took it. “As it is to see you.”

My father remained professional with Titan even when he was in her home. I’d never seen him behave inappropriately toward attractive women, but I still appreciated that he didn’t do anything more than shake her hand. If he had, I wouldn’t have let the affection slide. I wasn’t threatened by him, but I didn’t want him to think he had any special kind of relationship with her. Sometimes I saw Thorn kiss Titan on the cheek, but that was different. Thorn had earned the right.

My father hadn’t.

He turned to me next, appearing just as calm as I was. He was on my turf, stepping into a situation he couldn’t prepare for. But that didn’t change his suavity, the way he held himself with perfect stature. He didn’t extend his hand to shake mine.

Because I wouldn’t take it.

“Thank you for your time, Diesel.” His hands rested in his pockets, just the way they would if he were wearing slacks. One of his fiercest qualities was his ability not to blink. He blinked far less than the average person, allowing him to hold tense eye contact for a long period of time. He did it now, staring at me almost ferociously. He looked at me like he hadn’t seen me in years rather than weeks.

Now that I was face-to-face with him, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to pretend everything was okay between us because it certainly wasn’t. He may have made an impression on Brett, but I wouldn’t be so easy. I gave a slight nod in greeting before I turned around and walked to the table.

It was strange seeing my father in Titan’s penthouse. This was the place I had dinner with her every night. I had just fucked her on the dinner table last night. It was a secret oasis for both of us, a place where we could hide from the bullshit of the world and just be together. Now one of my biggest enemies was in my holy space.

“Can I get you something to drink, Vincent?” Titan asked as she approached the table.

“I’ll have whatever you’re having.” He moved to the other side of the table and sat down, directly across from me.

I was immediately tense, like he would take a swipe at me even though he’d never laid a hand on me in my entire life.

Titan filled our glasses with red wine before she took a seat beside me.

The silence was so loud it actually hurt my ears.

The food was hot in front of us, and there was a basket of fresh bread on the table, but no one reached for their fork. My father sat across from me, his arms by his sides and his eyes on me. He gave me the same look he always gave me, examining me like I was an object rather than a person. Maintaining eye contact had never been an issue for him. It was probably where I learned it from.

Titan held her glass of wine in front of her, swirling it gently as she watched the two of us. “I know there are two sides to every conversation, but I think Vincent should go first. Is that okay, Diesel?”

All I did was nod. “I don’t have anything to say anyway.” I wasn’t being purposely hostile, but that was the truth. My father knew exactly how I felt about him. He’d threatened me one too many times.

My father flinched slightly, a reaction other than strength. “First of all, I want to apologize.”

It was an apology long overdue.

“You didn’t tolerate the way I treated Brett, and you stood up for that belief. It was difficult to turn against your own father, but it was the right thing to do. You defended someone who couldn’t defend himself…and I’m proud of you for that.”

I didn’t have any expectations for this conversation, but that was something I hadn’t anticipated. I hadn’t imagined he’d feel that way. It seemed like he would always view that final interaction as a betrayal.

“That’s the definition of a man, someone who protects the innocent. And you fit that definition perfectly.”

He’d always been eloquent with words, and it irritated me that he punctured me with his sincerity so quickly. I expected to be bored by this conversation, not to hang on his every word so deeply.

“My relationship with Brett wasn’t how it should have been. It all came down to my own issues, the fact that I was jealous your mother had loved someone else before me. Every time I looked at Brett, I was reminded that she loved another man. If her first husband hadn’t died, would she have loved me? I’m not threatened by anything, but that was something that definitely got under my skin. I could never see straight when it came to your mother. I loved her so much that it made me feel emotions I never felt before. As strange as it is to say, I’ve always been jealous of Brett. Every time I saw your mother love him, it felt like she still loved her first husband too. And that always troubled me. After she was gone…it was even more difficult to be around him. He was like a ghost haunting me, knowing your mother spent time with another man when she could have spent that time with me.”

All this time, I had just assumed my father didn’t care for Brett because he wasn’t his biological son. I didn’t realize it came down to jealousy, that he was haunted by the man who came before him. It didn’t change my anger, but at least it made him look like less of an ass.

“It’s not a justification for my behavior,” Vincent said quietly. “But Brett was never the problem. I was.”

I stared at him, still quiet.

Vincent took a drink of his wine before he continued. “We didn’t speak for a long time…ten years.” His chest rose slightly as he took a deep breath. “It may not seem like it, but I thought about you every day. I watched you grow your wealth, watched you start companies and flip others. I watched a younger version of myself dominate corporate America. I may not have said anything to you, but trust me, I was proud.”

I shouldn’t care if my father was proud of me, but I was. I’d always wanted his approval, ever since I was a boy.

“But my pride and my anger stopped me from doing the right thing. I turned my back on two of my sons, and your mother must have grown more disappointed in me every passing day. If I ever see her again, I know I’m going to get slapped so hard I’ll see stars.”

He’d be lucky to only get a slap.

“When you told that story about our relationship to the media…I was livid.” His body tensed, and he grew visibly angry. His shoulders hunched with tightness. His jawline was a little harder because he clenched his teeth. “I was livid that you shared my greatest mistake with the world. I was angry that the world didn’t understand my side of the story. I was hurt that you betrayed me in such a low manner… I lost my temper in a way I never had before.”

I refused to apologize for it. It wasn’t the smartest thing in the world, but if my father hadn’t cast me out for ten years, that never would have happened. Titan was my family, and I had to protect her.

“I didn’t know what to do with that anger…so I made a lot of stupid mistakes.”

And tried to ruin my life.

My father sighed as he continued to hold my gaze. “I can apologize, but I don’t think that will make a difference with you. My behavior was inexcusable. Taking Megaland from you was the least of it. Sabotaging your personal relationship crossed a line. I know that, and I admit it.”

I had expected this conversation to be filled with endless excuses. I had expected him to justify his behavior with his own point of view. I didn’t expect to hear such a candid and remorseful explanation of everything he did.

He looked at me in silence, obviously finished. He waited for me to say something back.

Titan turned to me, staring at my profile as she waited for a response.

My mouth couldn’t form words.

My father narrowed his eyes on my face, not in a hostile way, but in one full of concern. “Talk to me, son.”

My chest immediately tightened when he called me that. I hadn’t heard him refer to me that way in over ten years. It was a childhood endearment, something he said every time I did something right. When I put away the dishes, he patted me on the back and said, “Good job, son.” It was something so trivial at the time, but hearing him say it now made me realize how much it meant to me. He didn’t call me Diesel or Hunt. He called me something personal and meaningful.

Words still didn’t leave my mouth. I stared at my father and watched him silently wait for words to form on my tongue. Titan waited too, the air around her restless. She wanted my father and me to forget everything that had happened and be a family again. Her heart was in the right place, but her dreams were unrealistic.

“I don’t have anything to say.”

My father couldn’t hide his look of disappointment. The emotion was quick, ending as abruptly as it started, but it happened.

Titan didn’t cover up her sigh, her admission of sorrow.

My father’s shoulders fell slightly, no longer straight and powerful like a concrete wall.

Titan grabbed my thigh under the table. “Diesel…”

“I told you I would listen to him,” I said quietly. “I did as you asked. My promise has been fulfilled.” I pushed her hand off my thigh, but the second I did it, I felt like an ass. I had a woman who was going to such lengths to help me, and it was stupid to push her away. I instantly regretted my behavior.

She stared at me with her fiery eyes. “The man you’ve been at war with is sitting across from you, and he’s apologized. You have an opportunity to say how you feel, Diesel. Don’t sit there and do nothing.”

I stayed quiet.

“Don’t be stubborn.”

My father stared at me with his penetrating gaze. He hadn’t looked at Titan once since the conversation began. His gaze was focused on me exclusively. He’d stared at me before when he’d cornered me in my office, but he hadn’t looked at me the way he did now. “Even if you have nothing nice to say to me, I want to know how you feel.”

“You want to know how I feel, huh?” I snapped. “I think you’re an asshole. That’s what I think.”

My father didn’t flinch, as if he’d been expecting the insult.

“You’ve come into my office so many times now and threatened me. Plain and simple. What kind of father threatens his son like that?”

He didn’t blink.

“And then you went to Titan and tried to buy her loyalty. You knew she meant something to me, but you wanted to burn that relationship too. You wanted to destroy everything around me until I had nothing left. You wanted me to be sad and alone just like you. A father should always want more for his son, not less.”

His eyes shifted back and forth as he looked into my gaze.

“And then you blackmailed me… You tried to take away the woman I love.” I shook my head. “You think an apology is going to make up for your cruelty? You think some prepared words can erase the past? You think you’ll ever give me an explanation good enough to justify your silence for the last ten years?” My voice rose higher and higher with every sentence, my rage swelling.

The powerful look he always gave me was gone, replaced by a face I hadn’t seen in a long time. He didn’t look like the guarded CEO who was always seeking the upper hand. Now he just looked like a man. “I understand your anger.”

“Well, I don’t understand yours. I can admit that going to the media about our story wasn’t the best idea, but I didn’t have much to work with at the time. Titan is everything to me, and I had to protect her. She thought I was responsible for sabotaging her life, and I had to prove to her it wasn’t me. I knew my actions would cause a war, but I didn’t have any other choice. And I would do it all again, because in the end, I got her. That means more to me than anything else in the world now.”

Titan didn’t say anything to that.

My father’s reaction didn’t change.

In apology, I moved my hand to her thigh.

I knew she’d forgiven me when she didn’t push it away.

“I understand,” my father replied. “But you still could have gone about it in a different way, just as I could have done things better. But pointing fingers now won’t change the decisions that have already become part of history.”

No, it wouldn’t.

“I’m not suggesting we forget the past, Diesel. I’m proposing a new beginning. We can get to know each other again, take things slow. Maybe a lasting relationship will blossom. Maybe you’ll never be able to look past my mistakes. But I’d certainly like to try.”

I finally broke eye contact, not wanting to look at him anymore. Anytime I thought about my father, I thought about how much I hated him. Now I had to deal with deeper emotions and the fact that he wasn’t as evil as he seemed.

“I’ve apologized, Diesel. I’ll never exhibit that kind of behavior again, even if you never forgive me. You’re a grown man who doesn’t need the guidance of anyone except yourself, so you don’t need a father anymore. But I’d like to be something…even if it’s just your friend. You have a brother you never speak to, and even if you can’t work this out with me, I’d like you to reconnect with him. You’re brothers.”

I’d never had a problem with Jax. We became divided in the war. Wanting to avoid each other because all we could talk about was our father, we never spoke. But that distance turned to years of silence. Now we didn’t know each other at all anymore. It was a shame to have lost so much time. “Yeah, I’d like to see him.”

My father gave a slight nod. “He’d like that too.”

Titan placed her hand over mine as it rested on her thigh. “Diesel…”

I ignored her.

She squeezed my hand. “He’s done the most he can possibly do to start over. Meet him halfway.”

I automatically wanted to snap at her, but I made sure that didn’t happen. “It’s been ten years, Titan. My father wanted nothing to do with me for ten years. This attempted reconciliation might never have happened if it weren’t for you, so does it truly mean anything?”

“It would have.” My father inserted himself into the conversation with his powerful voice. “Because I initiated it when we were in your office. I told you I was hurt that you’d been taken away from me. You’re the most important thing in my life. My rage clouded my actions, but my emotions rang true. Titan has made things easier because she’s compassionate and understanding. She’s helped me reach this point in a much easier way than if I did it alone. As a man, I’ve never been good with emotions. That was something your mother always helped me with. But I assure you, we’d somehow be having this conversation…even if it took another year for me to make it happen. However, I’m sorry that it took so long. I should have done this the second you walked out the door.”

I remembered that afternoon because I was surprised by what he said. At first, I had thought he was talking about Mom, but that didn’t make much sense at the time. But when he revealed he was referring to me, that he was so upset I had turned on him, it still had caught me by surprise.

“I know this is hard, Diesel,” my father whispered. “Truly, I do. Sometimes, when too much time has passed, it’s impossible to find a connection again. We could both go on with our lives and forget about each other, but I suspect we’d be filled with more anger and pain than we already have right now. Maybe it would be the best thing for both of us if we moved forward…one step at a time.”

He was a master manipulator, and he was using his talents now. “If you hadn’t attacked me for the past few months, maybe. But you did everything you could to take down your own son. I don’t think I can just sweep that under the rug.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

My eyes bored into his.

“I’m just asking you to leave the door open, Diesel,” he said. “You don’t need to trust me, to forgive me overnight. You don’t need to call me your father. All I want is a chance to make this right. You may hate me, despise me for the things I’ve done. But as your father, I will always love you—no matter how much you hate me.”

I couldn’t remember the last time he said those words to me. It must have been when I was younger. I thought those words would go right through me without leaving any mark, but they penetrated my heart and stayed in place, like a bullet that didn’t exit the body. I tilted my head toward the table and broke eye contact, unable to hold his gaze a second longer.

Silence passed between us. It was heavy with patience, heavy with hope. Titan kept her hand on mine, her small fingers gliding gently over my skin. She didn’t pressure me to forgive him, holding her voice this time.

My father kept staring at me. “Son?”

I closed my eyes for a brief moment as I kept my head tilted toward the table. His words surrounded me, suffocated me. I slowly angled my head back up to look at him.

“Please leave the door open.”

A part of me wanted to ask him to leave and never come back. A part of me wanted to warn him to steer clear of me. I never wanted to see him again, never wanted to hear his voice again. But another part of me couldn’t shut the door. Another part of me felt a flame of hope in my heart. A soft side of me didn’t slam the door in his face. It kept my hand steady. “It’s open…”

The stern expression on his face immediately died away, replaced by a look I’d never seen before. It was soft, vulnerable, and contained a slight hint of emotion.

“But that’s all I can do.”

My father straightened his shoulders as he stared at me. He didn’t smile, but his expression seemed to soften. There was joy in his eyes, a reflection of ethereal light in the corners. “That’s all I ask.”