Page 87 of Pietro

"You have a leak," Finn says abruptly, changing topics. "But it has nothing to do with Giulia or Nora. I've been trying to figure out who's been hitting your shipments. Connor's been too smug about it, and the Murphys have been getting too much information."

Nico steps forward, his face hard. "And we're supposed to just believe you?"

"I don't give a damn what you believe," Finn retorts. "But Nora is innocent. She never betrayed you, Pietro. Not once."

I look at Nora, really look at her. The woman who organized my chaotic office, who stood unflinching when guns were pointed at her head, who moaned my name last night as I claimed every inch of her. Was it all a lie?

Her eyes meet mine, swimming with tears but still defiant. Still Nora.

Nora finally speaks, her voice raw. "Why didn't you just give me money? Why this elaborate scheme?"

The pain in her voice cuts through me.

Finn's voice cracks as he answers Nora. "I'm completely broke. Well, I'm not really proud about it. After I lost both you and your mother, I became an alcoholic."

The confession hangs in the air. I watch Nora's face as she processes this information, another blow on top of everything else.

"I now work two jobs to repay debts I have to people who loaned me over the years," Finn continues, his voice heavy with shame. "I'm one year into rehab."

Nora's shoulders slump further. Whatever fantasy she might have had about running away with her newfound father has just been crushed. I feel a strange mix of emotions—relief that she can't escape with him, anger at how this man has failed her, and an unexpected surge of protectiveness.

"Where is Connor now?" I ask. I need to know where my enemy is, especially if he's wounded and angry.

"He is going back to Boston, I shot him not knowing he was pointing the gun at you. I thought he was pointing at Nora for some reason. Anyway." Finn says. "He will communicate in two days with you, and you decide how you solve the war you have with each other."

Lorenzo steps closer, his diplomatic instincts kicking in. "This could be an opportunity, Pietro."

Nico scoffs. "An opportunity for what? To get ambushed?"

I raise my hand, silencing them both. My mind is racing, calculating possibilities, threats, advantages. Connor believes Nora is his daughter. The truth of her parentage changes nothing about how he feels—he raised her, she bears his name. He'll want her back, if only as a matter of pride.

And then there's Nora herself. I glance at her, sitting broken but still somehow defiant. In the span of a few hours, she's lost everything.

"Finn," I say, my voice hard. "I'll deal with Connor when he reaches out. Until then, Nora stays with me."

"Pietro—" Finn starts to protest.

"That's not negotiable," I cut him off. "You sent her to me. She's been working for me. She stays with me until this is resolved."

I don't examine too closely why I'm so insistent on this point. I tell myself it's strategic—keeping Nora gives me leverage with Connor. But the truth is more complicated, and I'm not ready to face it yet.

"She's my daughter," Finn says, a note of desperation in his voice.

"A fact you kept from her for twenty-three years," I remind him coldly. "You don't get to claim father's rights now."

I look at Nora, expecting her to protest, to demand her freedom. But she just sits there, staring at nothing, as if the fight has drained out of her completely.

"Two days," I tell Finn. "We'll be in touch."

I end the call before he can respond.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Nora

Nico’s voice. A sharp, angry buzz. Something about docks. Pietro’s response is a low rumble I feel in the metal chair, but the words dissolve before they reach me.

Sound without meaning. I stare at my hands. They don’t look like my hands. Twenty-three years.