Eric was involved with the damn mafia. Hell, hewasthe mafia.
Was it too much for him to just be a normal guy?
"Come on." Sofia guided me toward the back entrance. "Let's get you a drink."
I followed numbly, my mind a mess. Inside, the club's music pulsed through the walls, muffled but insistent. Sofia led me past the employee areas, through corridors I'd walked a hundred times, but everything felt different now. Darker. Wrong.
She took me straight to the VIP section, the private area where I'd seen Eric sitting with Leo and Grayson like he belonged there. Because he did belong there. That was the part that made my chest ache.
Leo and Grayson were still at their table, deep in conversation that stopped the moment they saw us approaching.
"We're going to chat," Sofia stated. "Everything's fine."
Leo's blue eyes found mine, searching. "Should we postpone the alliance? Until whatever this is gets sorted?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat. My personal drama was apparently important enough to derail a major business deal. The thought made me feel small and powerful at the same time.
Sofia looked at me, one eyebrow raised.
I shook my head. "No. Don't postpone anything on my account."
Grayson nodded slowly, but his expression remained concerned. "You sure?"
"I'm sure."
Sofia gestured to the booth across from them. "Give us some space, yeah?"
The men exchanged glances but didn't argue. Leo stood, touching Sofia's shoulder briefly before heading toward the bar. Grayson followed, kissing Sofia on the cheek, though he cast one more look back at me.
Sofia slid into the booth, and I sat across from her, my whole body feeling like it might vibrate apart. She signaled a server,ordering two glasses of expensive wine without asking what I wanted.
"I want to help," she said after a moment. "But I don't know the right words right now."
I laughed dryly. "Neither do I."
The drinks arrived, and I grabbed mine immediately, taking a long swallow. The wine didn't help the knot in my chest, but at least it gave me something to focus on besides the wreckage of whatever I'd started to build with Eric.
"So, you just saw him again tonight? Meredith mentioned that Elena said he ruined a date for you," Sofia said casually. Women talked, I knew how it was.
"No. He came over after that date, he explained things, his brother's passing, that he left for the family business. But he said it was all construction. We slept together, spent time together, went on our own date," I shared, my throat tightening. I gulped down more wine to loosen it. "He was coming by again tonight after work. I thought this was a thing again, that we were… fuck, I dunno, building something?" I scoffed.
Sofia nodded, her expression perplexed. "And then you saw him here at the meeting with us."
"Yep. I feel betrayed," I said finally. The words came out broken. "He said all these things to make me think he wanted to stay. To be with me. But it was all bullshit, wasn't it? Just another lie."
Sofia took a measured sip of her drink. "The partnership we're building with the Hales. It's long-term. Operational. Eric would be based here in Ironstone, managing things on their end." She set her glass down carefully. "So that part, at least, wasn't a lie."
The information settled over me heavily. He'd be staying. But not just for me. For business. For the alliance. Because his family demanded it.
"Being with him would be dangerous," I said quietly. "This life. All of it."
Sofia didn't flinch. "Yes." She studied my face for a moment. "Did he know about Elena's ties to the family? When you brought that up?"
I thought back to the shock on Eric's face when I'd mentioned Elena being Meredith's sister. The way his eyes had widened, the genuine confusion in his voice. "He seemed really surprised. Like he had no idea."
"You think he really didn't know?"
"I'm sure he didn't," I said with certainty. "He was completely blindsided."
