“And you’re here so I don’t blow whatever fairy tale you’re selling her?”
“Warning her off me, will leave her exposed to my father, and worse, to Erik.”
His face falters, a subtle inhale, like the name strikes something inside him. “What?” I ask, my eyes narrowing.
“Erik,” he repeats, his eyes shifting to avoid me. “He’s my son.”
I stare open-mouthed, the chatter in the room fading as my eyes burn into him. That can’t be right. That would mean their affair was…
“You’re lying,” I hiss. Because if that were true, if Erik is my half-brother, that means Isaac was…
“I loved her,” he almost whispers. “No matter what he tells you. What lies you’ve been conditioned to believe. She was a good woman. Strong. Independent and a fantastic mother. Andhe made her small. Made her conform until she was broken. The day she decided to leave him, was like a light coming back on. She’d saved money, she’d found a place to live, and she was going to take you both.”
“Lies,” I snap.
“And he wouldn’t let her. As far as he was concerned, she was his and there was no way in hell he’d let her take his little foot-soldiers. His weapons in the making.”
My jaw clenches in anger.
“He knew she was seeing someone. He’d suspected for years. But as long as she stayed, he didn’t care. So when she told him she was out, he went to town.”
I stare down at the table, my eyes tracing the words carved into it. I remember the fights. The anger. The way she’d drive him insane with jealousy. And the way she cried. The way her eyes were always swollen from tears.
I take a breath and straighten my shoulders.
“Does he know?” I ask. “About Erik?”
“Maybe. That could be how he’s found out about me and her.”
I think back to a few months ago, before my father hired Leoni. “He had blood tests done,” I mutter, more to myself. “Erik was ill, he went private for treatment and blood tests were routine.”
Mick nods. “Then he knows.”
“That’s when he stepped up his plan,” I add. “Hired Leoni.”
“Took out Isaac?”
The question hangs between us, but I know better than to confirm what he already knows.
“Do you love her?” he eventually asks. I stare blankly, and he sighs. “We do things for love that we wouldn’t normally,” he continues. “I watched Elena suffer for years. I watched Nico raise my boy. I have so many regrets I can’t take back. If you love her, set her free. Walk away before your plan touches her.We both know once this life taints her, she’s as good as dead anyway.”
I rise slowly, deliberately, letting the silence stretch. Then I lean in, close enough that my mouth brushes his ear.
“You almost killed your wife with your own hands,” I say carefully. “So don’t give me advice on how to treat a woman.”
I straighten, adjusting the cufflinks on my sleeves, precise, unhurried, like this conversation is already finished.
“Now,” I add quietly, “leave Leoni alone. No urgent calls. No visiting.” I pause, just long enough for the silence to become uncomfortable. “And she cannot know about Erik. Or it’s not my father you’ll need to worry about.”
I slide into the car and lean my head back against the leather, letting out a slow breath that doesn’t come close to steadying me.
Anthony pulls away from the curb. “How did it go?”
“He got the message.”
“Did he give us anything else?”
I hesitate. Just long enough to know my words will change everything and nothing, all at once. “He’s Erik’s father.”
