WESLEY
The car moved smoothly down the road toward the Carson mansion, but my mind was anything but calm. I kept glancing at Natalia in the passenger seat every few seconds, unable to stop myself. She sat quietly with her hands resting on her lap and staring out the window. Every time I looked at her, a strange mix of joy and disbelief rose in my chest. All my life I had told myself I was not the kind of man who deserved to be a father. I had grown up watching my own father make mistakes that hurt everyone around him. I had spent years cleaning up messes that were not mine, first with my family and then with Robert. I had sold everything I owned just to break free from that man. I had nothing left to my name. And yet here I was, driving the woman I loved to tell her father that we were ha
