Redeeming (Red Lips & White Lies Book 2)

You can’t get lost in the rain when you are the fucking storm.

Remember that when you’re scared.

—Caitlin’s Secret Thoughts

I told Callen I didn’t want to see anyone, and for hours, I didn’t.

For hours, it was just the three of us.

My new, perfect family.

Safe and sound and whole.

Every time someone came in to check on me—which was a lot—we were tucked into this bed. I think the staff gave up on telling him Callen shouldn’t be there because he never moved. And I think Kenzie secretly loved it. Even if she lectured him at one point.

We spent hours with Callen’s arms wrapped around Anastasia and me as she nursed on and off all afternoon between sleeping. The morning might have been hell, but the afternoon was heaven. It was everything I needed. It gave me perspective.

So when my mom and dad knocked on the door in the early evening, I let them in.

Callen didn’t move.

He didn’t even offer to move.

He made sure I was comfortable and safe and pressed a kiss to my head.

“My baby had a baby,” Mom whispers as Dad stands silently behind her, but I don’t miss the way he wipes at his eyes as Mom reaches out for Anastasia. “Can I hold her?”

“Sure,” I smile, and the baby’s eyes pop open as she’s taken from my chest. She cries until Mom shushes her gently, swaying. “Oh, Caitlin. She’s beautiful.”

Dad tugs the blanket away from her face and swallows down his emotions. “She looks just like you, principessa.”

But he can’t look at me.

He looks at Anastasia, my mother—hell, he even looks at Callen—but he can’t look at me.

“Daddy . . . None of this was your fault. You know that, right? Our argument didn’t cause any of this,” I try to tell him, but I can tell he doesn’t believe me by the firm shake of his head. “Even the all-powerful Sam Beneventi couldn’t cause this, Dad. I promise.”

“Caitlin . . . I’m sorry. I wasted so much time.” His eyes stay glued to my daughter, but his words hang heavy in the air. Dad doesn’t apologize.

“I think I’m sorry too,” I admit, and Callen tightens his hold on me. “I’m sorry you thought I was in danger and that you handled it the only way you thought you could to keep me safe. I won’t act like it didn’t hurt. That decision had such repercussions, and I still wish you would have talked to me instead of handling me like a child. But I think I understand it differently now. I’ve known my daughter for only a few hours, and I can’t imagine there isn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t do to keep her safe. Even if it means doing something I know she’ll hate me for.”

Dad’s agony-filled eyes finally focus on me.

“You don’t know what pure love is until you have a child. You think you do when you meet the right person, but the way that love changes the first second you see your baby’s eyes . . . It’s the purest love and purest fear you’ll ever feel. You’re going to walk around for the rest of your life with a piece of your heart beating outside of your own body. I love you, Caitlin, and I am truly sorry I hurt you. I wish I could say I won’t do it again, but to keep you safe, I’d do anything. Sacrifice anything,” he admits more softly than I’ve ever heard him speak.

“Can you at least promise me you’ll talk to me if it happens again? I won’t ask you to share the workings of your business, Dad, but this is my family, and you’ve got to let Callen and me make the decisions about our lives.”

Callen stays silent next to me, but his support is there in every squeeze of his arm around me.

“I can try, principessa.”

“Sit down, Sam, and hold your granddaughter.” Mom moves in front of him, and Dad sits and holds out his arms, and my heart is so full. This is how it’s supposed to be. How it was always supposed to be. “Support her head.”

His smile is ridiculous as he takes her from my mother. “I know how to hold a baby, Snow.” He looks down at Anastasia and melts. The big, bad Mafia boss absolutely melts. “Hello, principessa. Welcome to the family.” He runs the tip of his pinky down her nose. “That was quite the entrance you made today. You’re certainly your mother’s daughter.”

Callen kisses my temple. “She certainly is.”