Chapter 170 Men's Discussion

Chapter 170 Men's Discussion
Dante POV

I left the restaurant and stepped out into the cool night air. My collared shirt was uncomfortable because it was stiff like cardboard.

My slacks weren’t my favorite either and it was nothing compared to my jeans. I only put on this ridiculous outfit to make a decent impression on her parents, which didn’t happen.

Bella father had crossed the parking lot, and now he was headed to a bar across the street. I knew, he wouldn’t leave his wife far behind, wanting to be.easily accessible at all times.but he didn’t want to sit in there with me a moment longer but too bad I wasn’t better company.

I followed him and walked into the bar. It was quiet because not too many people were drinking on a Monday. He sat at the bar, an empty glass in front of him.

Only a few drops were left behind, evidence of the scotch he just downed. He got the attention of the bartender and asked for another. I took the seat beside him and he must have detected me before I joined him because he didn’t react to my company. “I’ll have the same.”

The bartender slid the drink toward me but I didn’t pick it up, choosing to watch him in my periphery. The time I.spent with him taught me a lot about him. I’d dug up every piece of information I could, but I never uncovered the depth of his feelings for his family.

I respected him for the way he loved his daughter and how he wore his heart on his sleeve whenever he was around her.

He wasn’t afraid to show.weakness, absolutely unashamed to love with all his heart and that was a sign of a truly powerful man, of someone so invincible that perceived weaknesses.didn’t make him weak at all. “Tell me what to do.”

He stared straight ahead. “Tell me what you want from me. I’ll do it.”

He rested his fingertips against his lips. “Disappear.”

I didn’t feel the pain from his insult, even though he meant the word with every fiber of his being. “If I disappear, Isabella will suffer.”

“Yes but she won’t suffer forever.”

“And she’ll never find a man who will make her forget about me. You don’t see it, but what we have is real. I can hear her when she doesn’t speak and I can feel her pain as if it’s my own. Loving her is like having my heart exist
outside my body, she’s taken everything from me, and I’ve willingly given her everything she’s asked for. Please give me a chance to love, protect, and honor your daughter. I’m not the kind of man to ask for acceptance or approval. If.someone doesn’t like me, I don’t give a damn. You’re the last man I thought I.would ever work so hard to prove myself to but here I am, practically on my knees, doing whatever it takes to make this work because I will take
whatever insult you throw my way so I can have Isabella. If you want to beat me to within an inch of my life, fine. If you want to shoot me, go ahead. Whatever you want, I’ll do it.”

“My hatred for you goes behind the flesh, Moretti.”

“Then hurt me in some other way, I don’t care.”

“The best way to accomplish that is to take my daughter away from you….and I’m very tempted.”

“That wouldn’t hurt me,” I whispered. “That would kill me.”

He finally turned my way, his green eyes boring into mine.

“Don’t question my love for her. You have every right to hate me and I would judge you if you didn’t but my love for her is genuine. I don’t want her for any other reason. Women are plentiful to me, whether I pay for them or find them in a bar but Isabella gives me something no other woman ever has. She gives me something I can’t live without and I would do right by her, always be faithful to her, and make her a very rich woman.”

He stared into his full glass again. “I’m not blind to the fact that my daughter is beautiful, smart, and full of so much life that she’s a beacon that can be seen miles away. You aren’t the only man who would fall madly in
love with her. She could have anyone she wanted and it just baffles me that she wants you.”

“I’m not that bad, Conti.”

“Not that bad?” he asked with a scoff. “You’re my worst fucking nightmare.”

“I’m not my father.”

“But you want to be,” he spat.

“Not anymore. I’m Cassian now.”

“You told me the terrible things you did to my daughter.”

“And I left out all the good things I’ve done for her.”

He turned on his stool facing me with his elbow on the bar, with a challenging gaze, he asked, “Then tell me, what have you done for her?”

After every terrible thing I did to her, I made up for it by being the man she could always rely on. I was always there for her, even if she couldn’t see me. “She acts like she doesn’t need someone to take care of her, and for the
most part, that’s true but I know she wants a man who can handle her and that’s me. I always watch her, even when she thinks I’m not looking. She tried to push me away and get rid of me because she despised me, so she went out, drank too much, and walked home alone in the dark.”

Conti nostrils flared slightly, and his eyes filled with disappointment. “Some guys pulled over to the side of the road, did some catcalling, and when she told them to fuck off, they got out of the car to grab her but I was there, watching her. I stepped out of the shadows and scared the boys away with a simple look then I picked her up and carried her the rest of the way home. She’s a smart woman who doesn’t usually put herself in stupid situations like that, but she was so upset with me she wasn’t thinking clearly but I was there for her. I’m always there for her.”

Conti kept his fingers around his glass but didn’t take a drink. “She said she didn’t want to see me anymore, and I respected her decision but I knew she didn’t feel safe in that apartment anymore, not when I wasn’t there. So I parked my truck at the curb during the night so I could keep an eye on her place. She eventually called me because she was scared,
kept hearing noises in the apartment. When I told her I was outside, she was finally able to get some sleep.”

Conti still didn’t say anything. “She’s not the kind of woman who ever needs anything, but she’s not afraid to need things from me, that’s because she trusts me and wants me to take
care of her. I need you to let me do that.”