I turn my back to her and lift Kael off my shoulders, shielding his excited little figure from his mother. Too busy laughing to notice, he still hasn’t seen her—which is perfect.
“My boy, how about you go check out Uncle Drako’s soccer jerseys at our place?” I suggest, silently praying he’ll say yes.
Nina is very clearly itching for a fight, and I don’t want to leave without understanding why. I also don’t want Kael anywhere near whatever is about to happen.
I mentally celebrate the fact that Rosa is at work—or else she’d probably be the one opening the door, brandishing a broom, again.
“They’re there?” Kael asks, excited.
“No, but he has lots of pictures,” I say.
My son smiles and nods enthusiastically. I ruffle his hair, and Drako and Apollo each take one of Kael’s hands, leading him toward our house.
As they go, Drako silently mouthsYou’re screwedat me, and Atlas slides his index finger across his throat in a warning. Of course they wouldn’t let me off easy.
I wait until the three of them have passed the gate, then take a deep breath before turning back.
“I don’t know what I did,” I say, stepping through the door Nina left open and closing it behind me, “but I’m guessing it won’t help if I say I’m sorry, right?”
MyLittle Faeis already pacing the middle of the living room, restless. And because I apparently have no fear of death, I lose a few seconds admiring the way her skirt sways, occasionally offering glimpses of soft thighs.
“You had no right!” she accuses, snapping my attention back to her face. “I told you I was going to come back and settle the bill! I told you!”
She’s furious—reallyfurious—and my mind wavers, dangerously tempted to admire every sign of her unleashed temper. But I force myself to rein it in, because if the problem is that I paid the restaurant bill, then no, I’m not sorry.
“I’m sorry,” I say anyway, which only seems to make her angrier. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just—”
“Just what?” she cuts in. “Just thought it would be a good idea to get there before me and do something I’ve been planning to do for a year? Or did you think Kael was the only one saving money?”
A yearplanning to pay for a simple dinner.
That sentence cracks my resolve not to argue, because she’s right—I did exactly what she’s accusing me of. I rushed to pay before she could, because I knew she wouldn’t accept the money if I tried to hand it to her.
And even though I haven’t been around long, I’ve been around long enough to understand how much those euros I left at the restaurant would have meant to her. Nina works herself to the bone.
She doesn’t miss a single shift and takes extra ones whenever she can. And still, she only earns enough for Kael to have a slice of his favorite cake once a month.
Since I arrived, I’ve wanted to bring up the subject of money—but I knew it would require tact.
I grew up with nothing. I know exactly what that feels like. I don’t want my son to go through anything even remotely like it. I just don’t know yet how to make his mother agree with me.
But maybe it’s time I find out.
“I just wanted to help, Nina,” I say. “I know you won’t take my money, but it’s Kael’s as much as it’s mine. It doesn’t seem fair that you should keep sacrificing so our son can have things when I’m here. I know you spent a long time alone, but you’re not anymore. I’m here.”
“And when you leave?” she fires back, slapping her hand against her thigh. “What do I do then? When you’re gone and I have to tell Kael that everything he got used to disappeared with you—how do I explain that?”
The question forces me to pause.
It’s not the first time Nina has thrown those words at me, but never this aggressively. I’d hoped that after months, she might be at least a little inclined to believe that it won’t happen.
“I’m not leaving,” I say, calm and steady. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“And I’m supposed to believe that?” she snaps. “I’m supposed to accept that and live in some sugar-coated fairytale? I don’t think so, Nero.”
“Nina—”
“No!” she shouts, her expression shifting beyond anger. And even before the words leave her mouth, I know whatever she’s about to say will destroy me. I don’t move—if anything, I square myself more directly in her line of sight. “I had to deal with a doctor telling me that all I needed to get my life back to normal was to take two pills—and when I refused, I was cornered by your mother at the clinic door.”
