"Dad," I called out as I walked into my apartment. I walked into the living room. He stood up to greet me. "Hey Alyssa," he said kissing me on the cheek. I gave him a hug. "Hey daddy. Kevin called and told me you were here. Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," he said waving me off.
"Daddy come on. You never pop up unannounced unless you want to talk about something. What's up," I said sitting down on the couch.
Kevin gave me a quick glance and excused himself from the living room.
"Why something gotta be up?"
I cocked my head the side. "Daddy who you think you foolin'? I know better," I grinned.
He laughed and grabbed my hand. "Can't I just stop by and spend time with my daughter? We haven't hung out in a while." He looked around the living room. "You got this place looking good."
"Daddy come on; you're deflecting."
He looked at me and sighed. "Well there is something that's been weighing on me for a while now and all of a sudden I felt the urge to come and tell you. I would have said something sooner had I known that I'd be going through all of this on account of your mother."
"Okay," I said slowly. "What's on your mind?"
"Alyssa," he started, "I love you with all of my heart and I want you to know that the moment I laid my eyes on you, no one could tell me that you weren't mine. That's why it pains me to say this." My dad grabbed my hand as his eyes welled up. "I'm not," he uttered slowly, "your biological father." He searched my face anxiously waiting for a response.
I took a deep breath and nodded my head. "I know."
He gave me a confused stare. "What do you mean you know? How?"
"Mommy told me the day you were admitted into the hospital. Wait," I paused, "after she told you, she didn't mention that she told me?"
My dad cocked his head to the side. "Alyssa. She didn't tell me at all."
I sat with a bewildered look on my face. I took a deep breath. "Are you telling me that all this time you knew that I wasn't your daughter?"
"Yes."
"Oh my God," I gasped in a whisper. I held my hand up to my face and looked away from him for a moment. A tear rolled down my cheek followed by another. I quickly wiped them away and turned around to face my dad.
"I think I can understand why you didn't tell me, but why haven't you told mom that you know? Why conceal that from her unless," I took a brief pause, "you're hiding something too?"
My dad opened his mouth then closed it. He was searching for the right words. "How much did your mom tell you?"
"Just that you two got into a big fight, she ran off, went to some bar, and had a one night stand with an old friend, three weeks later she's pregnant."
"She tell you his name?"
"Yeah. Dominick Moreno."
My dad nodded his head. "Well we had an agreement that changed the trajectory of my life forever...and I never wanted your mom to know about it, because despite everything I didn't want it to change the way she saw me."
I shook my head. "I don't understand. What was the agreement?"
"One evening in an art museum I ironically bumped into Nicky, that's what we called him then, after not seeing him for months. He told me that throughout five countries he struck a deal with several art galleries who wanted to display my work. Of course I was thrilled to hear that, because I was thee definition of a starving artist, right," he smiled, "ya know, with four kids and a wife to take care of." He shook his head. "Nonetheless, I was still upset with him for what he had done. So I refused the offer, because I didn't want him to think that it excused him from what he did. He immediately went into agreement, but proceeded to assure me that he didn't do this to absolve himself."
