It was a low ball playing my father against Penn, but Dad was on my side now. If Penn needed fatherly approval—he had it.
Penn clenched his hands. “Not ridiculous, Elle. Smart.” He smiled sadly. “I didn’t come here to argue with you.” His shoulders bunched as he pulled his other hand from his pocket. “Before I say goodbye, I need to do something.”
“You don’t get to say goodbye, Penn. Not after I waited for you in prison. Not after I fell in love—”
He planted a hand on my mouth, his eyes guarded and unreadable.
But I didn’t need to read them. I knew how much he was breaking under his ironclad fa?ade.
He howled just as much as I did.
Why is he doing this then?
He’d swiped away my foundations and made the world shake like an earthquake.
“This belongs to you.” He held up his hand, and the necklace that’d started this catastrophe dangled from his fingers.
When I didn’t move, he took my hand, turned it upright, and dribbled the chain into my palm.
With a harsh breath, he closed my fingers over it. “Stewie and Gio agree you should have it back. I should’ve given it to you years ago when I came to find you that night.” He kissed me so soft, I barely tasted his lips. “I’m so sorry, Elle.”
Dad coughed, but I ignored him, fighting my tears. My heart cracked open, dying, gasping. “Why are you doing this?”
Penn touched my cheekbone reverently. “Because for the first time in my life, I need to do the right thing. You helped me so much, Elle. Let me help you by not ruining your future.”
I sniffed back a sob, hating the necklace locked in my hand. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you forgive me.”
“Forgive you?” I cupped his cheek, mirroring his hold on me with the hand not holding the necklace. “The only thing to forgive is this. You’re hurting me, Penn. I don’t care about the newspapers or what the chief of police will do. All I care about is you.” Tears rolled unbidden. “Don’t do this.”
He bent and brushed his lips once again over mine, licking away a tear at the corner of my mouth. “I’m sorry for dragging you into my mess, Elle. But your father is right. I’ll never be free of my past, and you’ll forever belong to Belle Elle. There is no place for us.” He stepped backward, once again jamming his hands into his pockets. “I’m going away for a while. Let the scandal blow over.” He shrugged. “Let me go, Elle.”
Dad came to my side. “Look, Penn. Perhaps, I’ve been too hasty. Stay. Let’s talk—”
Penn shuddered, squeezing his eyes before opening them again, full of wavering agony. “I can’t.”
My tears morphed into a shout. “You can. Who put you in charge about what is best for me or what I want? I know what’s best, and I want you, Penn.”
“And you’ll always have me.” He back stepped toward the door. “I’ll never stop loving you, but we can’t be together. I won’t hurt you anymore. Goodbye, Elle.” Hiding his pain behind a sharp cough, he opened the door and disappeared.
The moment he was gone, I fell to my knees.
“Elle!” Dad squatted beside me in horror. “Are you okay?”
I let loose, tears becoming sobs when before I’d been so damn happy. “Am I okay? No, I’m not okay.”
Dad rubbed my back like he did when I was a child and I felt sick or had a nightmare. Before, his comfort would work. This time, it only made me miss another man more. “He can’t do this, Dad. I love him.”
Sage crawled into my lap, mewing sadly. I dropped the sapphire star onto the carpet and grabbed her, cuddling her close, using her as a tissue to wipe away my sadness. She let me. She purred in encouragement, letting me cry.
With tear-fogged vision, I noticed Dad pick up the necklace he’d bought me for my nineteenth birthday. He spun the star in his fingers, his forehead furrowing. Slowly, his spine straightened as he looked at the door where Penn had vanished and back to me in pieces on the floor.
“Right, that’s it.” Standing stiffly, he bent down and hauled me to my feet. “I’ve been a stupid old fool.”
I sniffed, hugging Sage closer.
Patting my cheek, wiping away my tears, he said, “That boy loves you.”
My heart squeezed all over again. A fresh wave of tears threatened.
“And you love him.”
I bit my lip, doing my best to stop the torrent. “I do.”
“I’m an idiot. He’s an idiot. We’re all stupid idiots.” Pushing me toward the door, he scooped Sage from my arms and gave me the sapphire star instead. “Go after him.”
I froze. “What?”
He laughed abruptly, rolling his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing after being dumped. “He’s only breaking up with you because he thinks it’s the right thing to do. I must admit I played my part in encouraging that. But that was before I saw how much he adores you. How much he put you first and himself second even though he’s obviously going to pieces without you. I liked him before, Elle, but he just showed a noble, honorable side that is so damn rare.”
He kissed my cheek as he opened the door. “Who cares about journalists and stories? We’re solid. Our business is thriving. And even it if wasn’t, it doesn’t matter.”
His eyes took on that whimsical glow he got whenever he thought of Mom. “I loved truly, and there wasn’t a day that went by that I wished I didn’t. Every morning, I was thankful. Every evening, I was grateful. No amount of money or good publicity can replace true love, Elle. And I’m a moron that I’ve fought for you to find that exact connection only to do whatever I could to break you apart when you found it.”
His face fell. “I hope you can forgive your old fool of a father.”
My tears dried.
Should I chase after him? What would I say?
But I had no choice.
Dad was right. I didn’t care about Belle Elle’s reputation. If we believed a few online articles could tear us down, then we didn’t belong at the head of the chain. And if we sacrificed our own happiness for material things, then we didn’t deserve to find love.
And I had found love.
I wouldn’t let it walk away.
“I won’t let him go.” The oath landed by my feet before I noticed I’d spoken.
Dad hugged me with Sage scrambling between us. “That’s my girl. Now go and knock some sense into that boy like he knocked sense into me. Tell him he’s part of this family, whether he likes it or not.”
With tear-slicked cheeks and racing heartbeat, I tore from my office.
Fleur asked where I was going.
Sage meowed.
Dad whooped.
And I flew on wings to claim Penn once and for all.
Chapter Forty-Five
Penn
I COULDN’T STAY in New York.
Not after this.
The moment I’d gone to Larry’s to collect the sapphire star Stewie had been keeping for Gio, he’d known things were about to get sad.
He hadn’t grilled me, but he had told me to call him when I got to whatever destination I would run to.
The reporters wanted to slander Elle and her company? Well, they couldn’t fucking use me because I wouldn’t be in town. By distancing myself, I was protecting Elle.