The words stick in the air, a heaviness I still can’t shake.I kept it brief, telling my brothers about our father and how he made a move on Maya’s mom, and how, when she rejected him, he made her pay for it by making sure she lost everything.Her job.Her reputation.They had to leave the estate.Leave the state and start over.
Jett looks up, a pair of tongs in his hand.Everyone is silent.The only sound is the hiss of Jett’s BBQ grill.
We’re outside, gathered around the pool, watching him sweat while he cooks.I’ve been wanting to tell them, but couldn’t find the time or place.Now was the time.The women aren’t here, and it’s just the Knight boys.I don’t care where our father is.I don’t feel bad that he hasn’t been invited.I’m starting to prefer it this way.
Jett lets out a low growl, setting the tongs down with deliberate care.Dex gets up and stares at the pool, shaking his head.Matteo, Enzo, and Rio stand shoulder to shoulder near the railing, all three of them staring at the skyline like it might offer answers.
“Jeez.That old man has no limits.No boundaries.There’s nothing he won’t risk.”
“That night of you party, I thought maybe the two of you had a disagreement.I didn’t want to stick my nose in,” Enzo says quietly.
Jett exhales slowly.“I don’t blame her for wanting to get off that boat.”
I nod.“That’s why.”
Dex goes very still.“He assaulted her mom,” he says flatly.“I can’t fucking believe it.”
I can’t either.“Takes a while to wrap your head around it,” I say quietly.
“He’s a piece of work, isn’t he?”Rio mutters.“That’s… that’s not just cruelty.That’s—”
“Systematic,” Enzo finishes quietly.“Calculated.”
“After what happened to Mom … what he did to her.Cheating on her like that,” I say, grimacing as I remember the past.“All these years I explained things away.Told myself he was … complicated.Difficult.That he loved us in his own way.I should’ve woken up then I should have realized why you all kept your distance from him.”
“Welcome to the club, brother,” Dex says, raising his whiskey glass.
Rio arches an eyebrow.“Come over to the dark side.It’s not that bad.I promise.”
The dark side.
I stare out at the city again.“It’s not that simple.”Because it isn’t.Guilt burrows deep inside me.All these years I’ve been fiercely championing for my father, but now I can’t.Ever.
“I should’ve seen it earlier,” I say aloud.“After Mom died.After we found out about the other family.”I glance at my brothers.They’re not the Italian Knights, they’re just my brothers.“Sorry.Didn’t mean to offend.”
“No offence taken,” Rio replies.
“You were a kid,” Enzo says gently.“So was I.You wanted to believe in him because you’d already lost your mom.You were grateful he was still there.Don’t punish yourself for that.”
He understands.
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
Dex looks at me, eyes sharp.“You loved him, more than any of us.”
I don’t deny it.“I did.I didn’t know any better, but now I want to make it right.As much as I can.”
“How can you make it right?”Matteo asks.
“Maya’s mom struggled to find work, to hold things together.And the injustice of it, of what he did to her, then blaming her—”
Rio turns to face me fully now.“You have to make it up to her, dude.It’s the least you can do.”
Enzo nods.“What are you going to do?”
I hesitate.“I’m still thinking it through.But I’ve already decided.There are things our father took that don’t belong to him.”
I picture Maya’s face when I told her my first idea, and her immediate refusal, followed by her pride and the fear of obligation.
