Page 64

RHAIM

I left not long after Lia—the second after Nero called it a night—and caught a ride back to my apartment.

Pack light.

I reminded Lia. I figured she was already at her place.

Guilty.

she texted back, and I laughed.

Seriously.

Just a carry-on.

Camera? Lemme see you.

She turned it on and waved. Behind her, her bed had several pieces of luggage on it, in different stages of being packed. She was wearing stretchy exercise-y things, and her hair was loose around her shoulders, flowing behind her as she ran up to kiss the camera.

Sorry I didn’t get to see the show tonight.

That’s okay—I’m still not wearing any.

she said, before stepping back and gesturing to her hips, where the fabric that clung to her wasn’t broken up by any hint of a garment underneath.

You sure? We’re going to be traveling for at least twelve hours, little girl.

Yes—and I’ve never been fucked on a plane before.

she texted, before running an explanatory hand over her entire body, like she was presenting herself as a game show prize.

I’m going for MAXIMAL availability.

I laughed in the back seat of the car.

I can’t argue with that.

I thought not.

she texted—then returned to packing, now trying to condense everything that’d been in four bags somehow, magically, into one.

The driver let me off in front of my apartment, and I went up, waiting until I got into my place to call her, and put her on speakerphone, so I could see her while we talked.

She picked up on the first ring. “Two bags?”

I laughed. “One. Just one. We’ll need to be nimble, as we get lost. So make sure that you do pack some underwear.”

“And how about you, hmmm? How are you going to get your life down to just one suit?”

I made my way over to the coat closet that my luggage lived in the bottom of and pulled out my carry-on. “If this works out right, I’m never going to wear one again.”

I heard her give a slight gasp on the far end of the line.

“Don’t tell me you were in love with the suit and not me.”

“No—it’s just—that makes it feel so official.”

“Because it is.” What I was planning was totally dropping off the face of the earth, and out of society. “You gonna miss your car?”

“No,” she said, and laughed. “You’re worth more than a lambo to me.”

“Normal lambo, or one you’ve heavily depreciated by painting it pink?” I teased, and she snickered.

“Are you going to miss Gracie?”

“Yeah. And—I wish you’d gotten a chance to meet her,” I said, putting my bag on my own bed, and pulling out my things. “But the kids the next farm over love her. They already take care of her anyways—she’ll be okay.”

“I can’t believe this is really happening,” she said. “I told Marcus I’d send his ring back—I’ll leave it in an obvious spot, so someone else can do that for me.”

“Fuck him,” I said. “Bring it. We’ll go full Titanic somewhere, and throw it into the sea.”

“Orrrr…give it to some other couple who looks really cute? Like they deserve it?”

“If that’s what you want, sure. Anything you want, from here on out Lia.”

“Well that works out nicely,” she said, turning to face the camera again, tilting her head as she gave me a heart-melting smile. “Because the only thing I want is you.”

I swallowed, and I was glad she couldn’t see it. “Finish packing,” I said softly. “Isabelle’s. Two a.m.—I’ll send you the code to get into her building and into her place,” I said, and then hung up on her.

I sank down on my bed, with my elbows on my knees, and texted Lia the number to Isabelle’s complex.

But I didn’t get back up immediately.

Lia and I could dodge a lot of things. I’d never been on the run before, but I’d definitely given chase, so I knew how it worked, in circles like ours.

But she didn’t deserve a life where she could never make friends, never settle down, and always needed to be looking over her shoulder.

That wasn’t the kind of life you could lead, if you wanted to have a family.

I put on jeans, a t-shirt, and a barn coat, then took the elevator down to my truck.

I needed to have a talk with her father.

I used my drive over to Nero’s home to compose myself and come up with my plan—and when I got there, I laid on the doorbell.

I needed him to be up.

Rio answered, the in-house servants having quite rightly guessed that a madman was outside. “What do you want?” he asked, still ominous, even in boxers—possibly because of the piece he had strapped to his thigh.

“I need to talk to Nero.”

Rio shook his head. “He’s asleep.”

“It’s an emergency,” I said, then pressed. “Would I be here if it wasn’t?”

Rio’s expression pinched, but then he stepped back, and put in the code, so the door would open.

“Thanks,” I muttered, and then jogged up the stairs to where I knew Nero’s bedroom was. I knocked gently first—but then I went inside anyways. “Nero?” I said, finding the man himself sleeping, before he slowly cocked one eye.

“Rhaim? Who the hell let you in? It’s late—and I’m drunk,” he said, pushing himself upright in bed.

The clothes that he slept in made him look thin—because he was.

The man was dying—and here I was, going to make an asshole out of myself.

“Good, I guess,” I said, sitting down on the end of his bed. “I’m in love. With your daughter,” I said. “Lia,” I added—like he might not know her name.

If he pulled a pistol out of his nightstand, I was going to have to let him shoot me with it, praying for a low caliber and shitty aim.

It was the only way that she and I could truly be free.

For a moment, the old Nero came back, possessing this one here like a crackling spark. “How long?” he asked, in a clipped tone.

Ever since she was draped over my lap at a sex club, “Since we started working together.”

“Ah. Yes. When you were supposed to just be keeping her busy. Not trying to figure out how you could get into her pants.”

“For what it’s worth, she started it.”

“That’s worth precisely nothing,” Nero snapped—and Rio knocked outside.

“Boss?” he asked, without opening the door.

“I’m handling it!” Nero shouted, then turned toward me. “I trusted you with her, bestiola! Because she’s the most important thing I have!”

“And you did the right thing—because she’s the most important thing I have, too,” I said, as emphatically as I could, willing him to understand. “And I will never, ever, let anyone hurt her, Nero. Not even herself. Not ever again.”

He inhaled and exhaled slowly. “And—what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Is my daughter just some convenient rebound? After the pain of losing Isabelle and your son?”

I bolted to standing, like I’d been a compressed spring. “What— the fuck . How come everyone knew I was going to have a son but me?” I rushed up on Nero. “How the fuck did you know? Did Enzo tell you?”

“No,” he snapped. “I paid him to run an NIPT.”

“What the fuck is that?” I said, chest heaving, curling my hands into and out of fists.

“The blood test they can do before the ultrasounds.”

“Why?”

“Because!” Nero shouted, rising up before sinking back. “Because you’re the closest thing I’ve ever had to a son. And if my son was going to have a son, then—I’m the kind of man who wants to know things early. So I can prepare.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I whispered, not sure whether I was going to cry or punch him.

But the appropriate thing was to refocus.

“I’m here because I love you, dammit,” I said, at much louder volume.

“So stop making this hard on me and say yes. Because Lia already has, and this shit here is perfunctory!”

I knew there were angry tears shimmering in my eyes, as I saw Nero take out his bony hand, and offer it over to me. “All right. She’s yours. But if you hurt her, ever, if you make her cry, ever, if you cheat on her, ever, I will crawl out of my grave to kill you, do you understand me?”

“I do,” I whispered, going to my knees, taking his hand to my lips so I could kiss his ring, and then taking a moment to stay there, head bowed, forehead pressed against his knuckles—and Nero brought his other hand out to ruffle through my hair.

“You’ve always been a good kid, Rhaim. Violent as fuck, and smart as fuck, but loyal,” he said, as I began to look up. “And if you treat her half as well as you’ve treated me—and put up with me, occasionally—she’ll die happy.”

“And…you?” I asked, with the last of the air in my chest.

“Yeah,” he said, nodding firmly. “This works for me. I’ll die happy too.”

I rose up in a daze and checked my phone. It was ten after two.

I had plenty of time to go meet Lia.

“Well?” Nero demanded of me. “Go tell her!” he said, shooing me away.