Too late,I want to say.
But although I might be stubborn to a fault at times, I’m not stupid. So I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then I nod. “Okay.”
Chapter Six
NICO
“So, how is it living with your ex?”
Knight throws back the rest of his orange juice in one gulp and sets the empty glass on the kitchen island. Then he leans forward, resting his elbows on the glossy white marble. “It’s got to be strange, having her here,” he adds, “isn’t it?”
I take a sip of my coffee while I consider his question.
“Yeah, it feels weird,” I reply. “Partly because I’m used to living alone. And having my ex girlfriend from high school?—”
“Your first love,” Knight interrupts with a smirk. “The one that ruined you for any other woman.”
“Fuck off.” I reach across the counter and shove him hard. But he anticipates it and doesn’t even move. “She didn’t ruin me. I’ve been with plenty of women since then.”
He arches his eyebrows at me. “Anyseriousrelationships?”
He knows damn well there hasn’t been anything serious.
“I’ve been busy,” I retort. “You know, traveling around the world, protecting our country. And working my ass off to get Fox & Falcon off the ground. It has nothing to do with a woman I ended things with nearly twenty years ago.”
Knight spins his empty glass on the counter. As he continues to look at me, his smirk fades. “Okay,” he says. “So she was just an ex. High school relationships flare out fast, anyway.” His expression shifts to one of concern. “Still. Having her here, especially after what she did…”
Denial sparks inside me. Sofia wasn’t just an ex. She was the girl—now woman—I dated for two years. I was in love with her. I thought we’d get married and spend our lives together. But those were just the foolish fantasies of a boy who hadn’t yet learned how someone he loved could betray him.
But although Knight knows the basics of my history with Sofia, I’d rather not get into the bitter details of it right now. Not when I’m already feeling so off balance from having her here.
“I couldn’t let her go back to her apartment,” I reply. “It’s not even close to safe. She lives on the ground floor, for fuck’s sake. With windows an amateur burglar could get through in seconds. The parking lots are way too dark. And there are countless spots someone could hide around the property. Not even knowing who attacked her… She’d be a sitting duck.”
Knight nods. “Makes sense. But you could station a man outside her apartment. You didn’t have to bring her here.”
I thought about it—rather than bringing Sofia here, setting up a rotation of guards at her apartment. But it didn’t feel right.
It didn’t feel like enough.
I take another sip of coffee, grimacing at the now-lukewarm liquid. “I could have. But after last night… Shit, Knight. She almost died. If I hadn’t gone back, if I’d waited… That fucker would have killed her. And it would have been my fault.”
Knight frowns. “It wouldn’t have been your fault. You didn’t send someone there to attack her. Not in the alley and not in the hospital.”
“No, but I should have known better. I’m supposed to be a security expert. I knew better. But I just left her there.”
“You were surprised to see her,” he retorts. “And didn’t you say she didn’t want your help? That you suggested having a friend come to stay with her and she refused?”
“She had—has—a concussion. She wasn’t the one who should have been thinking logically. I was.”
My mind jumps back to last night; to Sofia’s angry eyes and the defiant jut of her chin as she told me not to tell her what to do. Not to worry about her.
But even after everything, how could I not? When the first woman I ever loved was in danger?
“She was pissed at me,” I admit. “And I wasn’t exactly thrilled to see her, either. But that’s not an excuse to ignore procedure. If she’d been a client?—”
“But she’s not a client. Is she?”
“No, she’s not.” Being a client would mean charging Sofia for services I’m pretty sure she can’t afford. I didn’t dive into her finances, but given her one-bedroom apartment in Hoboken and ownership of a small PI agency, I can’t imagine she’d be able to pay the rates we charge our corporate clients.
