“Anais has been spiteful and nasty to me for years,” I admit, slapping my mug down on the side table. Lukewarm coffee splashes over the rim of the mug, trickling down the sides and onto the marble tabletop. “She has been spiteful and nasty toyoufor years, yet you put up with it. I’m having a hard time not finding this hypocritical.”
He has the decency to look ashamed. Dad stands and reaches for me, but I shake my head, take a step back, and fold my arms across my chest. “You’re right that Caleb has never purposely set out to hurt me, not that it changes the outcome. But Anais has deliberately spewed venom at me for years, doing it slyly when you weren’t looking, and you didn’t protect me from her!” It’s unfair to throw that at him when I stopped telling him about thethings she was saying, but I’m hopping mad he interfered even if it was coming from a place of love.
Gia was telling the truth. Caleb lied to me because he was attempting to push me away. Not sure why or how he changed his mind, but he clearly did.
“Even if you didn’t know she was being mean, you have continued to inflict her on all of us knowing none of us like her and we can barely tolerate her!” I’m really on a roll now as I release years of pent-up stress. “Mom, Auntie Sierra, and Auntie Natalia all feel the same way. We have put up with her annoying ass for years foryou.” The words leave my mouth in fast succession. “If you’re trying to protect me, protect me from her instead of interfering in something you had no right to interfere in!”
“I’m your father, and I have every right to step in and try to stop you from hurting. I won’t say sorry for that either.” Agony splays across his face. “But I was wrong to force his hand, and I apologize.” His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat. “I have failed you,” he softly adds. “I have failed to put my family first by allowing Anais to continue treating me, treating all of us, like shit.”
“Why did you?” I ask, losing some of the ire from my tone.
“She is the last link to the Salerno bloodline, and I promised her father I would always look out for her.”
“I think you’re oversimplifying it. I think your childhood trauma has made you hold on much more than a person with a normal upbringing would have. I understand that better than most.”
“I hate that you do.”
I shrug because we can’t change the past. “Maybe it’s why I held on to Caleb for far too long. Maybe the damage from my trauma is the reason I saw hope for us even when there was none.”
“I’m not a therapist, so I don’t know if you are right.” He reaches his hand for me, and I meet him halfway, placing my palm in his. “But I’m done keeping promises to dead men.” Gently reeling me into his arms, he kisses my brow. “Why didn’t you tell me? I thought she’d stopped after the last time I talked to her about it.”
“That never helped,” I truthfully admit even though it will probably hurt him to hear this. “She was always worse after you spoke to her. It’s why I stopped telling you. I knew you’d keep trying to get her to behave and she’d antagonize me in worse ways.” I shuck out of his embrace. “It seemed less stressful to just let it go.”
“My cousin has hurt this family for the last time. I’m going to visit and tell her I’m done. She’s cut off now. You won’t have to face her anymore. I promise.”
I’m sitting in the back of our family SUV as Dad’s driver drives me back to the city, contemplating everything that went down this morning. Mom and Dad are good again now he’s fessed up, and my little sister is no longer worried.
My initial anger has faded. Dad was only trying to safeguard my heart, and I couldn’t ever stay mad at him for that. I wish he hadn’t interfered, but it’s not like it’s going to change the outcome. It doesn’t matter what Caleb has to tell me. He can’t undo the damage. He still had sex with those girls, and I don’t think I can forgive him for it. It’s one thing to know he’s sleeping his way through every girl in Manhattan and quite another to have an actual visual image of him doing it imprinted in my brain.
My cell pings in the pocket of my skirt, and I take it out, biting the inside of my cheek when I see it’s Seb calling again. I have kept him at arm’s length for long enough. If I’m serious about making a go of things with him, I need to act like it. “Hi, Seb,” I say, smiling as I answer his call.
But the smile doesn’t last long when he tells me what happened at my apartment Thursday night and how some “lunatic” pulled a gun on him.
I am going to fucking murder Caleb.
After ending the call, I lean forward and stick my face in between the two front seats. “Change of plan. Please take me to Don Accardi’s penthouse.”
Chapter Fifteen
Caleb
Ihang up on security and review the state of my living area with mounting panic. “Shit!” It’s a complete mess, and I don’t want Lili seeing it like this. Racing to the kitchen, I grab a trash bag from under the sink and run around my kitchen and living room, scooping all the empty bottles and takeout cartons into it. I should have implemented Joshua’s suggestion and asked the cleaning company to come by every day. I make a mental note to call them later.
The bell chimes as I stash the bag in the hall closet, cringing at how messy the place still is. But there isn’t anything I can do about it now. I’m not leaving Elisa at the door to change her mind.
Striding down the hallway, I grin to myself. I knew she wouldn’t stay mad at me for long. She never does. Lili is just too sweet and kind. Ignoring the strange sensation whirling in my chest, I swing the door open sporting a wide smile. I stumble back as her small fist lands squarely in my nose, shocking the shit out of me. Pain radiates from my nose and across my cheeks. There was nothing feeble about that punch, and I’m feeling the consequences now. “Ow.” I dab at the tiny trickle of blood seeping from my nose. “Who taught you to throw a punch?”
“Alesso,” she says, storming past me into my apartment.
I don’t know whether to thank him or kill him.
“I know you’re angry I lied to you, but?—”
She twirls around, fixing me with a poisonous look I’ve never been on the receiving end of before with her. She looks fucking gorgeous in a flower-patterned, knee-length skirt and a fitted black top under a black leather jacket. Her hair is down, just how I like it, with wavy strands tumbling over her shoulders and down her back. Her stunning hazel eyes are ablaze with indignation, matching the pink flush on her high cheekbones and the pouty jut of her full lips.
Lili is exquisite.
Prettiest girl I have ever seen.
