Protective Instinct by Joy York

Author:Joy York [York, Joy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-18T21:02:27+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

Fontana wasn’t at all what Bash had expected. Based solely on the rumors, he had pictured him as an intimidating brute who was rough around the edges, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. He was refined, polished, well-educated, and exuded confidence, but there was also a down-to-earth quality about him. Bash could tell Fontana was good at reading people and adjusted his style to fit his audience. Surprisingly, it didn’t appear disingenuous or manipulative. He also didn’t seem to be a man who would waste his time if it weren’t important. There was no doubt the man had an agenda. Bash just hadn’t been able to figure it out yet.

“How exactly does a self-service lounge work? You pour your own drink?” Fontana asked, seeming to materialize out of thin air.

Caught off guard, Bash sat up straighter, adjusting himself in his seat. “I didn’t see you come in.” He cleared his throat to give himself time to put on his game face. “There is a cooler behind the bar with a pad of paper to write down your room number and what you took.”

“The honor system. I like it,” Fontana grinned, then strode over to the bar. After writing on the notepad, he came back with a Blue Moon and sat back down.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing with my mother’s picture?” Bash asked, impatience in his voice.

“So, you concede that it is your mother?” Fontana reached into his back pocket and pulled out another photo, and handed it to Bash.

He stared at the picture for a long moment before meeting Fontana’s eyes. His throat closed so tightly he struggled to force out words. The scene in the photo took his breath away. His mother, stunning in an elegant white wedding gown, stood at the top of the Empire State Building, veil billowing in the breeze alongside a young, smiling Maximillian Fontana, dressed in a black tuxedo. He was looking at his mother as if she were every celestial body in the heavens wrapped into one woman.

“What does this mean? W…Were you married to her?” he asked, feeling his world shift.

A sadness crept over Fontana’s face as he cleared his throat. “It never got that far. These pictures were taken around the city in iconic locations on the morning of our wedding day. We wanted to memorialize the d…day,” his voice broke.

Bash couldn’t comprehend what his eyes were showing him. Seeing his mom so young and carefree, looking adoringly at Fontana, shook him to his core. How was it possible?

His mom had been the light in his life growing up. Although she had been a private person, she had always made their life fun and silly, and completely stable. But she was also extremely guarded. Limiting their associations to only a select few people. Sometimes, Bash felt her overprotectiveness would strangle him, and he couldn’t wait until he went to college to gain some freedom. He never expressed that to her because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

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