Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
The entire situation is such a mess. I bite back on so many responses I could hurl at Dad. He wants to act all high and mighty, but he lied. It’s like he’s forgetting that. But I can’t help but think how impossible any relationship with Nico could be.
As if everything else wasn’t bad enough, Dad has forbidden us to be together.
Mom touches my hand and stands. “Let’s look at trips, Arria. We don’t have to think of it as a bad thing. It can be fun.”
I stand as well, nodding. Nico and Dad remain seated as if they have more they want to discuss. But I don’t want to leave the room. I’m afraid they’ll get into a fight if I step away.
CHAPTER 16
NICO
“I’m not blind,” Rocco barks, staring at me across the table. “I know what I saw between you and my daughter.”
Somehow, I hadn’t even stopped to think what her father’s response to us would be. I’ve been so concerned with the mob, so worried about putting her in danger. This layer of impossibility didn’t even occur to me. Talk about misguided… But it’s hit me now, and I have to accept it.
Arria and I will never work. She needs to let her savior go.
“You don’t need to confirm it,” he snaps. “I can see you want to tell me, but I guess Arria doesn’t want to. I bet she thinks it’s not real if you don’t bring it out into the open. But it is real. Whatever. I meant what I said. It ends now, understand?”
I take another sip of coffee, then nod. That’s enough for Rocco. I’ve just agreed to end things with his daughter, my niece. It’s for the best, anyway. Hell, not the best. It’s the only course of action that makes any goddamn sense. It’s the only path we have out of this.
“It’s clear something’s happening, anyway,” he says. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have overreacted and told us to leave.”
“You can’t call it an overreaction,” I growl. “You’re right. Dominic wouldn’t usually risk doing something drastic like going after a civilian woman. But that was before he thought I stole Lucy from him. He’s unhinged.”
“How are you going to stop him?” Rocco snaps. When I don’t answer right away, he says, “It seems to me that the only actual course of action is to go on like everything’s normal. It’s making sure he believes in you and Lucy. It’s making sure that he never, not even for a second, suspects anything’s happening between you and my daughter.”
“He made me do a lie detector tonight test, Rocco,” I say.
He closes his eyes. “Fuck.”
“I cheated the test. I made myself so full of adrenaline that he couldn’t confirm or deny anything. But you’re a good example of why a man doesn’t need to confirm or deny anything to show what the truth is.”
“You think he knows, then?”
“We didn’t leave things on good terms. Don’t you get it? That’s why you have to leave.”
“Don’t you get it?” he barks. “What I said is true. If I leave, it’s obvious. It’s suspicious. Less so if the ladies go on a trip together.”
“But that’s just a short-term solution. When they come back, then what?”
He sighs, shaking his head. “You might have to become the person you were, Nico.”
“You want me to become the Nightmare again?” I snarl. “You want me to sacrifice my practice, my pro bono work, bloody my hands again, and even then, it might not work? Even then, I might end up dead. Lucy will be in his hands, and maybe Dominic’s rage will get worse and worse. He’ll hate your daughter just because I…”
“No more of that,” Rocco growls. “Never again. I know what you’re hinting at it. I can see how much you care just by looking at you. But I mean it. It’s over. You need a plan. You need to make him back off. Even if it means agreeing to work for him again.”
“Why don’t you work for him again?” I snap. “She’s your daughter, and you’re acting like you don’t give a damn.”
“How dare you,” he whispers.
“You should run, Rocco. But you want to hang around so you can keep your job.”
“I want to avoid suspicion. Ultimately, that’s how we keep them safe. If we panic, we die. Can you be sure the Carusos won’t send somebody after Sandy and Arria?”
“So far, they’re not tailing your daughter. If they leave soon, they’ll be able to slip out of the city unnoticed. But they may visit you and get you to tell them where they’ve gone, even.”
“They’ll get nothing,” Rocco snaps.
“They could torture you.”
“They’ll. Get. Nothing. I’ll play the game, play my role—a hard-working father with nothing to hide. You play your role, too, Nico. A loving husband. A man who wouldn’t look twice at your niece, at a woman half your—”