“Family…?” Dad looked between Luca and me, but Luca had his back to us.
“Yes, we’re a blended family now,” Imre said, his voice upbeat. “We were all at the wedding last month… didn’t— didn’t Fia tell you?”
Zoltán stood tall behind them, unreadable—but his eyes never left me. I only gave myself a second to take him in before staring back down at my plate, nowhere near my dad.
But the silence made me wince into looking up at my dad’s narrowed, betrayed eyes. “I thought MotoBike had a race this weekend. So what are you doing here?”
“I joinedVeltar.”
Dad’s brows pinched together as he looked at me with a startled,painedexpression.
My team.
I should have told him.
“Go to your table, Imre,” Dad demanded and took a large sip of his wine, feigning ease.
His body was rigid, barely restrained. I knew what that posture meant — he was trying to contain his anger and decide just how to expel it.
Luca shot me a glance. This one asked if he should intervene. I shook my head.
“Dad, I didn’t know how to explain it—”
“You don’t need to apologise to me,” Imre said and crossed his arms. “It’s not your responsibility.”
“She was talking to me,” my dad said, closing his eyes before exhaling deeply. “Her Dad. The man who raised her for the last fifteen years.”
Oof.
“Enough,” I said, but it was weak, barely loud over the clanking of cutlery.
I still felt Zolt’s eyes trained on me. But he was the only one who paid me attention, because my dad and Imre were still throwing jabs, and Luca was watching Benedek, ready to strike.
If I thought any of this was going to go smoothly, I was deep in the land of delulu.
“I didn’t have much choice when your wife abducted—”
“Abducted?” Dad snarled and stood, the table jerking forward.
“She say enough,” Zolt bit out, voice deep. His eyes met mine for the first time in the low lights, and I swallowed.
He looked deep into my soul.
“You weren’t abducted, Fia,” Dad said, and he reached across his plate to me.
“Nope,” I snapped, stepping out from the table and waving a hand at him. “I’m not doing this. Don’t follow me.”
They continued, voices rising, and I heard Zolt’s deep voice cut through their noise, “She say don’t follow.Not a suggestion.”
I pulled my phone out of my bag and immediately called my mum. But with the time difference between Japan and England, she was still asleep.
I sat on the curb outside the restaurant, feet dangling into the car park, saying in Portuguese, “Hey Mum, it’s me. I know it’s early, I just… god, I need to come clean. Imre’s working at Veltar with me and I, er, I… Well, Everly and I went to his wedding last month. Dad just found out and… fuck, I’m sorry. I know I should have told you both, but I didn’t want Dad to be upset that we were back in touch and… and I just wanted someone to hear me say I’m sorry. Out loud. I’m…” I breathed in deeply and swiped my nose with the back of my hand. “I’m going to head back to the hotel now. Can you tell him I’m sorry? He looked at me like he didn’t know me, and I—I can’t do that right now.” I picked at my nails, my stomach rumbling because, of course, I’d prepped myself mentally for a mighty burger. “Love you, Mum. I’m sorry.”
I sat there looking out at the darkening night, the streetlights blurring behind my tears as I rotated my phone between my hands.
I hadn’t even told her the worst part. Because I couldn’t tell anyone.
Because saying it out loud might make it real.
