“It’s about damn time the two of you showed up.” The acid-laced words slapped us in the face the second the doors opened, washing the confusion I felt from Ashur’s statement out in one swift blow.

God, I despised that man, father-in-law or not. He’d turned my life upside down. Because of him, my father had lost his job and had to move to a different state to find work. Because of him, I’d lost the one man who meant more to me than anything else on earth.

Yeah, I was officially marrying the very man in a few days, but it wasn’t the way I’d dreamed it would have been. Instead of laughter and happiness, it was all business and end gains.

“Lord, help me not to kill him,” I whispered, sending my wishful prayer up to heaven.

Ashur released a deep breath and responded, “You and me both.”

“I mean it, Ashur. If he crosses the line, I won’t hold back anymore.”

“Go right ahead. After all, you are the first lady.”

I shot him an annoyed glare, but he ignored me and moved into the room.

“Mummy,” Ashur said, ignoring his father’s curt words, and walked over to Anya Kumar, a beautiful Indian woman with soft golden skin and loving light brown eyes in the exact shade of her son’s. He enveloped her in his large arms. “I missed you.”

“You look tired, betta.” She ran a thumb down his cheek. “This job is making you age.”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry so much.”

“It is my job as your mummy.”

I smiled at the love the two of them shared. For such a hard man, who’d spend a decade serving in the military, he was complete mush for his mom.

I couldn’t blame him. I absolutely adored my future mother-in-law. She was everything and anything a girl could hope for in a mother-in-law: sweet, considerate, loving, and welcoming. It was the other half of the duo I dreaded seeing.

Ashur and Anya held each other for a moment longer and then Ashur stepped back and inclined his head to his father. “Papa.”

A scowl crossed Minesh Kumar’s face. “I left my business to attend your wedding.” Then his gaze turned to me. “The least either of you could do is be here when we arrived.”

I clenched my jaw. Yes, the President of the United States had nothing better to do than cater to his grumpy-ass father. And now my job as the first lady was to be at his beck and call.

Fuck that shit.

Minesh Kumar, technology billionaire and all-around elitist asshole viewed anyone who hadn’t grown up in his social circle as beneath him. And, as the daughter of an ICU nurse and a lowly computer programmer in his empire, I was an ant to step on. He thought of me as an opportunistic gold digger and hadn’t hidden his feelings.

He couldn’t care less about all my degrees or that I was a world-renowned attorney who’d made a success of herself. All he saw was my pedigree.

Then there was the fact I ran an internationally successful law practice with his daughter, Samina Kumar-Camden. Never mind, that was a bad example.

He’d disowned Sam long ago. She’d chosen her own path in life and not the one her father had set out for her to follow. She’d become a celebrity attorney, joined forces with me to start our firm, married a conservative judge, and then decided to throw her hat into politics and became the junior senator from Washington State.

Most fathers would be overjoyed to have a child make a success of their careers, in politics or not. This wasn’t the case for Minesh. He viewed it as a blow to his family name, more so now that both of his children had chosen a path in different realms than the one he envisioned them following.

I’d been Ashur’s fiancée for over eighteen months and the man could barely look at me, much less welcome me as a future daughter-in-law.

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. At least I had my parents. Anyone would have to be a moron not to like them.

Deciding to let Ashur deal with his father, I stepped around them and headed to the couch where my mom and dad stood.

“Daddy.” Amir Zain picked me up and twirled me in a hug. “I’m so glad you made it safely.”

“It is good to be here,” he said as he set me on my feet.

My dad was a big, burly man with salt-and-pepper hair. I barely came up to his shoulder and in his arms, it always felt like home. Not a single day since the moment I could remember had he made me think I was anything less than amazing.

“I want a hug too.” My mom stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me.

I kissed her cheek and soaked into her warmth and love.

It had been over three months since I’d last seen them. My parents had decided to do a world tour as a celebration of their mutual retirements.

They’d saved their whole life for their trip, and I couldn’t blame them for having pride in achieving their goal or for extending it when they had the opportunity.

“You look well rested, Mummy.”

Karina Zain was as gorgeous as always. Black hair that had only a sprinkling of gray and a figure that showed she took care of her health. “I swear you barely age.”

She gave an unladylike “yeah right” snort, which made me laugh.

My family was real as they came. There was no pretension with them. They’d rather have people tell them what they really thought than put on a face. Maybe that was the reason my mother seemed to have an unending tank of tolerance for Minesh and his antics. Hell, his own wife could only take so much of his company before leaving a room.

“My glow is thanks to your soon-to-be husband. He extended our trip with a week in Tahiti. He offered us his private yacht to visit all the islands.”

I turned a surprised glance at Ashur.

He shrugged. “Tara said it was your birthday. The ship was the least I could do.”

A tinge of embarrassment colored his cheeks.

My goodness, the president was blushing.

The man kept surprising me.

I walked over to Ashur and whispered, “I promise not to tell a soul you’re a sucker for our moms.”

“You do that.” He grazed his jaw across my forehead, sending goosebumps across my skin.

I pulled back, not wanting to linger, and I sat down with my parents on an antique yellow fabric couch.

After a few minutes of conversation, my mom took my hand in hers and said, “Ashur isn’t the only one who looks tired. Are you okay? Samina called to check on us today and said you had to close your office.”

“Mummy, I’m fine. My practice is still open. The junior partners are taking the lead now. Besides, the DC office was only a temporary location, so I could finish out a few cases before I assumed my duties as Ashur’s wife.”

She studied me for a second and then spoke in a hushed voice against my ear. “No more assignments, Tara. It’s too dangerous.”

“What?” I couldn’t hide the surprise on my face.

She gave me her “I’m not as oblivious as you like to think” look she’d bestow on me when I was a kid and tried to sneak into the house after curfew.

All these years, I’d thought my parents had no idea about my life. Trust my mom to figure things out.

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to, but if it makes you feel better, I’m all done until I’m in civilian life again.”

I was saved from my mother’s response by an interruption from Ashur’s father.

“Why does Samina talk to you,” Minesh asked, giving my mother a disgusted look, “but doesn’t have the decency to call her own parents?”

“I’m sure Samina has contacted Anya. It isn’t like her to be distant.” My mother tried to defend Sam.

God where the hell was Sam? She had left Shawna’s shop twenty minutes before I had, saying she wanted to pick up the kids so they could play interference between the grownups and the overgrown ass who’d provided half her DNA.

The only soft spot in Minesh Kumar’s demeanor was Sam’s kids. They were a handful but had a way of drawing even the stodgiest person into their antics. Samina may dislike her father but she’d never keep her children away from her mother. And therefore, because of Anya, Minesh was allowed time with the hellions.

“Don’t make excuses for her. What could I expect from the likes of you?” Minesh Kumar came to stand in front of Mom and me.

I held my breath, trying to stifle a flippant response, but failed.

No one spoke to my mother this way.

I stood, refusing to let the asshole tower over me. I saw Ashur move from my peripheral vision and shook my head. It was my place to handle this.

“Don’t ever disrespect my mother again. I’ve let you think less of me and talk down to my family and me for too long. I accepted it for the sake of Dad’s job, and we know how well that turned out. Then it was for Ashur, but it ends now.” I cocked a hand on my hip and stepped forward, making Minesh retreat. “Don’t ever treat anyone I love like they’re trash again. And let me make another thing clear in case your ego keeps you from seeing clearly. Samina has a relationship with me and my parents, where she doesn’t have one with you. Did you actually expect the daughter you disowned and threw out of your house and refused to see to even consider contacting you? The only reason you’re in this building is because of your wife.”

The grooves on Minesh’s face grew deeper and more pronounced. He turned to Ashur, pointing his finger at him. “Are you going to allow her to speak to me like this?”

“She hasn’t said anything any of us haven’t thought at least a hundred times in the last year.” Ashur moved in my direction as a cold gleam entered his eyes.

Oh shit. That was the expression he got when he was about to take someone down with a few choice words. It was the look he’d gotten when his predecessor had questioned Ashur’s military service during a presidential debate.

I’d better defuse Ash before the world learned what he really thought of his father.

When he was next to me, I took his hand in mine and whispered, “Thanks for having my back.”

“We’re a team.” He ran a thumb along the skin on the outside of my hand. “Plus, I like watching you take charge, Commander.”

Really? Was he calling me that in the middle of an argument with his father?

“Where is your loyalty, boy? I am still your father.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but Ashur squeezed my fingers. “You had your say. Now it’s my turn. I know how to handle him.”

“Fine.” I released an exasperated sigh. “Handle it your way. Just don’t get any blood on the antique rugs.”

“I’ll do my best not to.” He turned to Minesh but continued to hold my hand. “Papa, it is time to decide if you want to be part of our lives or not. Tara isn’t going anywhere. She will be the mother of your grandchildren. If you ever want to see them, you better watch your tongue and actions. I learned how to be ruthless at your knee—don’t think I won’t use it against you.”

The room grew completely silent with only the sound of the air conditioner blowing.

Holy fuck, Ashur had just threatened his father. Was I in a parallel universe?

“I see where I stand in this family.” Minesh broke the quiet standoff between father and son.

“You do. Now—” Ashur tucked my arm in the crook of his elbow. “I believe it is time for dinner. Papa, you can join us or you can leave. The choice is yours.”

With those words, Ashur led me out of a stunned room.