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Nick

“Are you trying to kill him?”Natalie’s mom shouts at me like I’ve never heard from anyone before. This is a mother protecting her family, a wife protecting her husband from an attacker. From me, which makes no sense. “Leave us alone!”

“Mom,” Natalie says with horror changing her tone. “Why are you yelling at him?”

Shit.

I leave Jackson on the sidewalk as I run to get Natalie out from the middle of this mess. With my hands up in surrender on approach, I say, “I can explain, Mrs. St. James. Please, just let me?—”

Ignoring me completely, Martine homes in on her daughter. “Natalie, if it weren’t for them, your dad wouldn’t be here. He was fighting for us, for you, and look where he ended up.” She grabs Natalie and pulls her behind her, using her body as a wall between us. “Get away from us, or I’ll call the police.”

“You don’t understand.”

“I understand everything. It was a good deal that wasn’t good enough for you. I won’t let you come near my daughter again, or my son.” Her eyes glance behind me. “Jackson.” It’s one call of his name that has him right there when she needs him.

I plead with the only case I have left. “She doesn’t know, Mrs. St. James.”

Shaking her head, she says, “What are you saying?”

Natalie moves to her side but then comes to stand next to me. My gut twists that she’s defending me when she doesn’t have the facts. Her mom’s eyes narrow. “What are you doing, Natalie? You can’t be serious?”

Taking my hand, she nods. “I love him.”

Blinking in disbelief, her mother takes a few steps back and then looks at her son for an ally. “Tell her. Tell her what she’s choosing. Tell her who these people are and what they’ve done to your father.”

Looking at me and then to his mom, Jackson says, “Mom?—”

“Tell her!” When he fails her, she says, “Listen to me, Natalie. We sold the company to them because we trusted them to treat our companies and clients like family. But they only care about business. The contract stated they were to keep all staff and support other company interests.” She moves closer again, trying to convince her daughter that I’m the devil. She jabs her finger in the air in front of me. “But these people broke that agreement when they threatened to dissolve the assets of your company.”

My hand is dropped, and Natalie stands there unblinking. Jackson covers his mother’s shoulder and tries to pull her back. “Mom, I think we should give Nick a chance to explain.”

“He’ll put poison in her ear while her dad tries to recover. I can’t trust him, and neither should you.” Their mother is too wound up, too angry, too emotional over her husband understandably, and looking for someone to blame. I want to butt in, to tell my side of the story, to make them understand I would never go against my word, especially where Natalie’s concerned. But what can I say that will have her believing me over her own mother?

Natalie looks at me again and then steps closer, her hands so light, not taking any ownership like she usually does, as they touch my chest. “Tell them they’re confused, Nick. You’d never hurt me or my family.”

I stand in my own agony, not wanting to turn her against the family that she’s telling me I’d defend. I would. I will . . . but why do I have to sacrifice the thing I cherish more than anything else in this world? We’ve barely had enough time to launch into a new life together.

Against my better judgment, my gut tells me not to reveal more than they have already.

“I wouldn’t hurt or betray either.” Such admissions should come easier. The words on the surface are a good thing, but buried inside the syllables is a confession that I’d give her up to keep her at peace with her parents. I lower my head while taking her hands and holding them against my stomach. Her fingers are so delicate, her wrists small. Everything about her is so breakable, even the parts of her I can’t see on the outside, like her heart.

Is that what I’m doing? Breaking hearts because one of us will lose. It’s me or them, so I choose to hurt myself over this beautiful woman before me.

She turns back to her mother, the same plea still residing in her eyes. “I trust him implicitly. Nick would never hurt me.”

Her mom replies, “Ask him. Ask him who bought the company. Ask him who sat in our offices and promised to treat our business like it was a part of their family. Ask him, Natalie, if he went back on his word and cut loans from the portfolio that he said he would leave alone.”

My love, my reason to exist, spins in confusion until she’s facing me again. “Tell her she’s wrong. There’s been a misunderstanding.” When I don’t say anything, she fists my shirt. “Tell her, Nick. Tell her how much you love me,” she demands, raising her voice. “Tell her,”

“I can’t.”

Her lips part, but I don’t think she’s breathing. I take hold of her waist to keep her from leaving, but her body slowly slips through my hands. “What do you mean you can’t? You love me, remember?”

“I remember, and I do. I love you so much, baby, but?—”

“But what?”

Martine starts crying. “What are you doing, Natalie? You’re choosing him over your own family. Over your dad, who would do anything for you?”