six

Valentina

"What are you doing here anyway? How did you get in?" I ask.

"Sly's security system leaves something to be desired." He releases my hand, steps away, and I feel the loss of him like I felt the cold coming in through the open door just moments ago. It's like he takes the warmth with him, this man. "How's Dad?" he asks, both expression and tone neutral. Nicholas never liked my father, but I don't think he hated him like he hated—hates—Sullivan Ricci.

I glance down and turn my mom's ring, which is set on the ring finger of my right hand. It's a modest gold band from my dad to my mom on their wedding day. Dad gave it to me on my seventeenth birthday. That was how old she was when they got married.

"I'll see him soon," I say, hoping he doesn't hear what I'm not saying.

Nicholas's eyebrows rise. "You haven't seen him since he went in?"

I set my jaw. Nicholas Hendrick doesn't know everything. "I guess that's disappointing to you, too."

"It is. I'm surprised you'd abandon a father who loved you so much, V. If I recall, that man would walk over hot coals for his baby girl, and you turn your back just like that when shit hits the fan?"

"It's a little more involved than that."

"Well, you're right about that. Just remember, the courts only see a small fragment of the truth."

"What does that mean?"

"I imagine now is the time he'd need his daughter most."

I walk away, turning my back on him. "Don't lecture me. It's complicated."

"It's not remotely complicated. He's your father, and I'm sure he needs you."

I spin to face him. "Why do you care? What's it to you? Last time I saw you, you made very clear how you feel about me and us."

"Now, now." One corner of his mouth lifts into that infuriating grin of his. He closes the space between us. "I told you how I felt about you, Mio caro, considering your choices. Your lies." When I go to move away, he takes hold of my arms to stop me.

"I never lied⁠—"

"Omission is a lie⁠—"

"My choices are none of your business." I try to shrug him off, but he just tightens his hold.

"But you keep making bad ones." I hear the front door open, and keys jangle onto the table there.

"Tina?" Cielo calls out.

I tug but Nicholas holds tight, his jaw tensing, face hardening at the sound of Cielo's voice.

"Tina, you here? We gotta go," Cielo says from inside.

"Let me go," I hiss to Nicholas.

"He can't save you from me," Nicholas warns.

"Tina, we're late."

"In here!" I call out, struggling against Nicholas's grip.

He's so close now, I can feel the stubble along his jaw against my cheek, and I swear he inhales a deep breath before whispering, "Fiancé know about your visit to the courthouse?"

When he draws back, I am sure he can read the panic in my face.

"Didn't think so. That was a good choice. Try to make more of them."

"Fuck you."

"And don't worry, I'll keep your secret. Just like I did last time you and I met." He drops his gaze purposefully to my breasts, then winks and draws back just as Cielo flips the light switch and I break free—or Nicholas releases me. I'm not sure which. I stumble backward.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Cielo stalks up to his half-brother, and just like when they were younger, he shoves him, except it's different from when they were younger, too. Cielo's almost as big as Nicholas now.

Almost.

Still, moving Nicholas is no easy task, and Nicholas chuckles.

"Hey, kid," he says, infuriatingly ruffling Cielo's hair like he always used to do. He's still got a few inches on Cielo.

"Call the police, Tina," Cielo says without looking at me. "How the hell did you get in here?"

I put my hand on Cielo's arm. I don't want to call the police. They will haul Nicholas away, I am sure of it.

"Just came to congratulate Dad," Nicholas says.

I manage to pull Cielo back a little. "Come on. Let's go, Cielo. We need to get changed. Ignore him."

"I mean, doesn't he get the whole company now that Russo has taken accountability for pretty much all of it? It's how the bylaws are written, isn't it?"

"What the fuck would you know about the bylaws?"

"So Sly will finally stop building the low-income housing now, huh? Cut his losses and all."

"What?" I ask Nicholas, keeping my hands firmly on Cielo's forearm.

Nicholas looks at me, cocks his head in mock confusion. "Oh, shit. You didn't tell her?"

"Get the fuck out of here, Nicholas, you piece of shit," Cielo says.

Nicholas snorts. "It's no way to start a happy marriage keeping secrets, kid." He checks his watch. I notice it's a Rolex. For all his money is evil bullshit, Nicholas Hendrick is no stranger to luxury. "Anyway, pass on my greetings, will you? If you're not too busy discussing wedding cakes and whatnot. I need to go." He looks at me. "I'm meeting someone at my hotel."

I don't know why that stings. Nicholas Hendrick and I aren't a thing. We never were, not really. But still, there it is, that pang, that sharp cutting edge of the imaginary knife he presses into my chest.

"Don't ever show your face here again, you fucking bottom-feeding bastard!" Cielo says, tugging himself free of me as Nicholas takes two steps away.

"Cielo!" I call out, but it's too late. I see how Nicholas stops, how his back tenses. It's the absolute worst thing to say to him. A glimpse of Cielo's face, the sneer on it, confirms that he knows it. What's more, he revels in Nicholas's reaction.

Nicholas turns. His face is utter and complete fury.

"What's the matter? Thought you were all about the truth, Nicholas. You're a bastard. Your mother was a whore. We all know what she did."

"Jesus! Cielo, what the hell is wrong with you?" I've barely gotten the words out when Nicholas is on him, arm swinging at Cielo's face, knocking him backward into the glass wall.

"Call the police!" Cielo yells.

"Nicholas, stop!" I scream, grabbing Nicholas's arm as he prepares to swing again. I wrap my arms around his neck to stop him, to put myself between them. "Stop, Nicholas, stop!"

Cielo laughs when Nicholas pauses, looks down at me, one arm wrapped around me, holding on to me for a moment. His body is warm, his scent familiar. It awakens an ache inside me.

"Get out of the way, V. I don't want you getting hurt," he says, coming back to himself and trying to dislodge me.

I cling to him, though, as he advances on Cielo, who touches his thumb to his bloody lip.

"What's the matter, hit a nerve? Bastard?" Cielo asks, taking his phone out, dialing 911 himself when I don't do it.

"You goddamn—" Nicholas starts, managing to get me off him.

I stumble backward but charge at Nicholas again. "Nicholas, no! You'll kill him!" I knock into him hard, not sure how else to get his attention. He catches me when I bounce backward off his chest, which is like a freaking wall, but that does it.

As Cielo starts to speak to the 911 operator, I make Nicholas look at me. I set my hands on his face and make him see me. "Don't, Nicholas. Don't. It's not worth it. Just go home. You don't belong here. Go home."

His eyes search my face, and there it is, the pain I know he feels at the very recent loss of his mother, Cielo's taunts so cruel. It's when I feel a tear slide down my own cheek that he stops, though, his fury shifting into something else, attention coming fully to me, eyes focusing on that tear. Slowly, he brings his thumb to my face and wipes it away, and there is a moment of rare gentleness from Nicholas Hendrick that I have had fleeting glimpses of, that I miss so much. It's these moments that take my breath away.

But it's just that, a moment, like a slip in time gone so fast, I almost wonder if I imagined it.

Nicholas roughly sets me aside and steps toward Cielo, who disconnects the call. "Cops are on their way," Cielo says.

"Nicholas, go. Get out of here," I say.

"Yeah, Nicholas, go. Get out of here." Cielo tugs me to his side and wraps a possessive arm around me.

Nicholas's gaze falls on that arm, hand possessive around my waist.

"You're a worthless piece of shit following in your father's footsteps. I thought maybe once a long fucking time ago you wouldn't want it, considering. But I was wrong. And you," Nicholas turns to me, a cruelty in his eyes I've never before seen, not even the last time I saw him. "You're just like them, aren't you, Mio caro? You're the one who's not worth it. I should know better," he spits before turning his back and stalking out of the house.