As Nico looks at me, the years fade away. He’s no longer a thirty-six-year-old man, but the fifteen-year-old boy I met in journalism class—young and insecure and still figuring out who he was.
And that Nico looks scared.
He swallows hard. “I don’t. Which means I need to talk to him. I need to hear the truth.”
“Why would he?—”
“He will.”
But I’m not convinced. Why would Elio Parisi admit what he did to his son? He’d have no reason to.
“Soph.” Nico moves to the cushion beside me. His gaze burns into mine. “I know I haven’t given you reason to trust me. But this…Shit. He’s going to tell me everything. I’ll make sure of it.”
Chapter Ten
NICO
I know it’s normal, at some point in your life, to discover your parents aren’t perfect.
It’s a realization that dawned on me as I got older, not in my teens, but my twenties and thirties.
I started to see my father’s controlling nature for what it was.
I stopped making excuses for all the times he was too busy for me.
When he scolded me for enlisting in the Army instead of coming back to the city and working with him at his company, insisting that I was wasting my talents, it was the first time I was truly angry with him.
So I’ve known for a while now that he isn’t without his flaws.
But this.
Howcouldhe?
My hands tighten on the steering wheel. My jaw clenches to the point of pain. Without meaning to, I hit the gas, sending the car shooting forward.
Anger—no, not anger, that’s not strong enough of a word, more like rage—surges through me again.
Tension bands around my head and throbs behind my eyes.
Fire expands inside me, spiraling out from my chest and through my body.
How could he?
How could he do that to her?
How could he do that to me?
A quick glance at the speedometer shows the speed at close to seventy-five. Which is far too fast for the Parkway, even for such a late hour. Maybe if I was driving on 87 headed upstate, it would be okay. But here? Not the best idea if I want to make it home without being pulled over or getting into an accident.
Getting a ticket would be one thing. I certainly have the money to pay for it. But an accident could land me in the hospital, and then who would protect Sofia?
Well. My friends could. Anyone at Fox & Falcon could. But I don’t want them to.
Iwant to protect Sofia, dammit.
I want to make it up to her.
Shit. I want to do something, anything, to redeem myself for the massive fuckup I made.
