Marriage with my daughter's father: Darling please be gentle - Chapter 221

Chapter 221: Chapter 221: You come when I call

Roger didn’t respond right away. He stared ahead, jaw tight, brows drawn together.

“I know,” he said eventually. “I know it’s not healthy to leave things unfinished. But seeing her again… It’s not just about closure, Lily. It’s opening a door I closed for a reason. A door that nearly wrecked me.”

Lily placed a hand over his, fingers curling lightly.

“Then maybe this time, you open it on your terms,” she said softly. “Not to relive the past—but to free yourself from it.”

Roger turned to look at her, his gaze holding a thousand unspoken thoughts. And in her calm, unwavering presence, he found a moment of clarity he hadn’t known he needed.

“Okay. I’ll go and meet her,” Roger said after a long pause, his voice low but resolute. “I doubt she even knows about Dianna’s… suspicious demise.”

Lily’s expression shifted, her thoughts momentarily drifting back. She remembered the moment the news of Dianna’s death broke—flashing across the screen like something out of a twisted drama. The cold chill that settled in her chest hadn’t left since.

Her fingers tightened around the coffee cup as she sank into the silence.

“It was all over the media,” she murmured. “But the way it happened… it didn’t sit right. Not with me, not with anyone.”

Roger leaned back on the couch, his brow furrowed. “Kalix’s people still haven’t found the attacker?”

She shook her head slowly. “No. Whoever did it was clean—too clean. Not a trace left behind. Even with Sean and Niko involved, they’ve barely scraped the surface.”

A beat passed between them, heavy with unspoken concern.

Roger exhaled sharply. “Then maybe Rita doesn’t know anything. But if there’s even a chance she does—” he glanced sideways at Lily, “—I need to find out.”

Lily met his gaze, calm and steady. “Then do it. But not for her—for yourself. To make peace with whatever’s still clawing at you.”

His eyes softened. “You always know how to say exactly what I need to hear, don’t you?”

She gave him a small smile. “Only because I’ve been watching you longer than you think.”

There was a quiet intimacy in her words, one that wrapped around him warmer than any coffee ever could.

***

[An abondoned parking lot]

The chill in the air clung to Stanley’s jacket as he stepped into the dimly lit parking lot. Every sound echoed — the scuff of gravel under his boots, the low rumble of a distant car. He walked with calm purpose, but his senses were razor sharp.

He knew Logan had chosen this spot for a reason. Remote. Quiet. No eyes.

Logan emerged from the shadows, hands in his coat pockets, face partially hidden beneath his cap. He looked up slowly, eyes flicking over Stanley with careful calculation.

“You came,” Logan said, voice low but steady.

Stanley didn’t bother with pleasantries. “You said you had something to say about the attack. Talk.”

Logan sighed and stepped forward, though he kept a careful distance — a silent acknowledgment of the razor-thin trust between them.

“I know everyone believes the attack was meant to rattle Kalix Andreas,” he began, his voice low and steady. “But that’s only part of it. The truth is… they wanted you hurt too.”

Stanley’s jaw tightened, the muscle along his cheek ticking as his gaze sharpened. The cool mask he wore began to crack at the edges, revealing a flicker of the storm beneath.

“You’re saying,” he drawled, voice deceptively calm, “the people tailing Kalix weren’t just after him. They were after me too?”

Logan nodded once. “You were always seen as more than just Kalix’s second. You’re his shadow, his shield. Take you out, and they expose him.”

The confirmation shouldn’t have surprised Stanley — deep down, he had suspected it all along. But hearing Logan say it aloud grounded the threat in grim reality. This wasn’t paranoia. It was precision. Calculated.

Still, trust was a currency they hadn’t earned yet.

Stanley studied Logan carefully, his eyes flickering with measured suspicion. “And you just happened to come across this information? Now? When things are already boiling over?”

Logan didn’t flinch. “You’re right to doubt me. Hell, I’d doubt me too. But I saw something that night, and I’ve been digging since. I didn’t know how to come forward without getting myself killed.”

There was a beat of silence. Heavy. Measuring.

Stanley shifted his weight but didn’t move closer. “Let’s say I believe you—for now. You’re still untested. Still a question mark.”

Logan’s lips curled into a bitter smile. “Then consider this the first step in answering that question.”

Stanley didn’t smile back. His features remained unreadable, composed in that unnerving way that meant his mind was five steps ahead.

“We’re still in the process of figuring you out, Logan,” he said coolly. “So for now… I’ll play along. I’ll pretend I trust you.”

He took a slow step forward, closing some of the distance.

“But if this is some game… if you’re feeding us bits to distract us from what’s really going on—”

“You’ll end it,” Logan finished for him. “I know.”

Stanley’s silence confirmed it.

Then he turned, his coat sweeping behind him as he stepped away into the dark.

Logan didn’t follow. He just stood there, watching, the tension between them lingering like the fog settling around their feet.

Stanley walked briskly toward the waiting car parked just down the alley. Its dark-tinted windows gleamed under the dim streetlights, blending into the city’s shadows. As soon as he slid into the passenger seat, the vehicle pulled smoothly into motion, gliding away like a ghost in the night.

But from the recesses of a nearby alley, a figure lingered. Cloaked in darkness, they watched the car vanish from sight. Their presence was silent, calculated — a phantom lurking just beyond reach. Once the car was gone, the figure turned and retraced Stanley’s path, slipping into the same shadows he had just left behind.

***

[Inside the car]

The hum of the engine filled the quiet space, broken only by the soft click of the turning indicator as Lilac made a turn.

Her hands gripped the steering wheel, knuckles pale against the leather. She glanced sideways at Stanley, her gaze barely lingering before returning to the road.

“What did he say?” she asked finally, her voice soft but edged with tension — a thread of unease woven into her words.

Stanley sat silently for a moment, jaw clenched as he stared straight ahead. Then, with a tired sigh, he leaned back into the seat and let the words spill.

“He confirmed it,” he muttered. “The attack wasn’t just meant for Kalix. They were targeting me too.”

Lilac’s brows furrowed, her fingers tightening subtly on the steering wheel. “Didn’t we already know that?” she asked, her tone matter-of-fact, her shoulder lifting in a small, indifferent shrug.

Stanley turned his head, watching her in quiet contemplation. “We did,” he admitted. “But the whole point of meeting him tonight was to see if he’d play us—lie, deflect, spin something convenient.”

He leaned back in his seat with a sigh, dragging a hand down his face. “Instead, he gave us the truth. Or at least the part we already had.”

Lilac let that sit in silence for a beat before replying, “Sometimes confirming what we know is more valuable than hearing something new.”

Stanley nodded slowly but his mind was still running, fast and hard. He didn’t like how clean it all felt.

“He’s still dangerous,” he muttered. “Too calm. Too willing to cooperate now, like he knows something we don’t.”

“Then don’t trust him,” Lilac said simply, eyes fixed on the road. “But don’t ignore him either.”

Stanley tilted his head, the corner of his mouth quirking with reluctant admiration. “You’ve been spending too much time with Kalix. That sounds exactly like something he’d say.”

Lilac gave a soft chuckle, but it faded quickly as the weight of the conversation settled back in.

“He’s our only real lead,” Stanley said, quieter now. “The only one directly connected to my father and the people he worked for. But the fact that Logan hasn’t been useful until now? That’s what bothers me.”

“Because it’s convenient,” Lilac guessed.

“Exactly,” Stanley said. “Too convenient. He’s either scared and finally trying to help… or he’s buying time while something bigger brews.”

Lilac glanced at him again. “Then we watch him closely.”

Stanley didn’t answer right away but eventually gave a short nod, eyes hardening. “We watch him. And if he slips—even once—we act.”

Outside, the night grew darker, the streets quieter. But inside that car, a decision had been made. Trust would not be given. It would be tested.

***

Meanwhile, back inside the abandoned parking lot, the faint flicker of a lighter cut through the gloom as Logan lit a cigar. He took a long, slow drag, the ember flaring before he exhaled a stream of smoke into the stagnant air.

“You shouldn’t be here, Mia,” he said without turning, his voice low and edged with quiet disapproval. His eyes shifted to the reflection of her in a cracked side mirror nearby.

“I was simply doing my job—watching over you,” Mia replied, her tone as flat and steady as always.

“You come when I call you,” Logan said, finally turning his head to face her. “Not when you think you need to.”

His expression darkened as she stood her ground, unfazed by his authority. She didn’t flinch, didn’t lower her gaze. She met his stare—calm, composed, and infuriatingly unyielding.

The audacity of her—he should’ve been angry.

But he wasn’t.

Not really.

Because beneath the irritation, there was something else. Admiration. A reluctant smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. That was the thing about Mia—she never backed down. Fierce. Loyal. Unshakable.

Exactly the kind of person he needed in a world where everyone else played both sides.

“You’ve changed,” he murmured, more to himself than to her.

Mia arched a brow. “So have you.”

His smile vanished.

For a moment, the silence between them was heavier than the smoke curling in the air.

Then Logan looked away, taking another slow drag. “Next time, wait for my call.”

“And if next time you’re too far gone to make one?” she asked quietly.

His jaw tightened. But he didn’t answer.