Page 58 of His Assistant

Sofia pops her head in then. Either she’d been listening, or her timing is impeccable. I’d bet she was listening.

“Are you telling me you can’t even trust the people closest to you?” she asks, her face pale. “Is my father in danger?”

Rafe sighs and looks at me to answer.

“I can’t guarantee anything,” I tell her honestly. “We’ll do whatever it takes to keep him safe. That’s the best I can offer.”

She shakes her head. “Please, Dominic. I have no idea what’s going on with him now, so I have to at least know he’s not going to get hurt.”

I stand and walk over to her, resting my hand on her arm. Rafe coughs uncomfortably, but I ignore him.

“You have my word that our security around him is as tight as it can possibly be. Without his cooperation, we’re doing the best we can do.”

She nods and looks down at her shoes.

“He’s going to come around, Sofia,” I remind her. “He has to.”

“I hope you’re right.”

I squeeze her arm gently, and she surprises me by stretching up to press a quick kiss to my cheek. Then she turns abruptly and heads back to her desk.

Rafe whistles lowly. “Seems like things between you two have gotten better.”

I smile wryly. “Seems like they have.”

23

SOFIA

“What’s going on, Sof?” Maya asks quietly as tears pour down my face.

I’m sure when she asked me to meet for lunch, she didn’t expect me to start blubbering at the table.

I shake my head. “It’s just my dad,” I tell her as I drop my hands. “He’s pissed at me about everything. He’s so angry with Dominic, and he’s angry at me, and he says as long as Dominic is in my life, he won’t be.”

She frowns. “There’s no way he means that,” she says kindly. “I know Marco, he wouldn’t just cut you out of his life. You or the baby.”

I pull out my phone and hand it to her. I’ve called him at least twenty times in the last two days, and he hasn’t answered a single one. My texts have gone unread too. My only solace is that he hasn’t blocked my number, but he’s clearly screening everything I send.

“What if I try?” she offers.

I sigh. “It’s worth a shot,” I say. “Honestly, I’m up for anything at this point.”

She smiles and pulls out her phone, scrolling until she finds his contact.

“Okay, Marco,” she says aloud. “Let’s see if you can resist the Maya charm.”

I can’t help but laugh. It feels nice after so many days feeling unbelievably sad.

She puts the phone on speaker, and we listen as the line rings. Just when I think he’s not going to answer, it picks up.

“Hey, Maya Papaya,” he answers in a cheerful voice.

The sound of it shatters my heart into a million pieces. Then I have to remind myself that he made this choice.

“Marco,” she says, holding out the “o” in her standard greeting for him. “I heard about the garage. I just wanted to check in.”

“I think I’m just going to call it a wash,” he says, which is obviously news to me. “I’m not sure if it’s worth saving.”