My hand is shoving the door open as I move to break up whatever it is they’re fussing about, barely getting two words out before I stop dead in my tracks.

“Hey, I’m gonna— What the fuck?”

Nate and Vera break apart, Nate’s hair a wild mess and Vera’s no better, her braids, which she’d had clipped back from her face, now falling loosely around her shoulders. They’re both wide eyed and swollen mouthed, and even in the dimness of the room, it’s obvious that I just caught the tail end of the tipping point of their will-they-won’t-they.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I groan. “You chose to cave to this now?”

Vera gapes at me. “I—”

Nate looks much the same. “We—”

“Fucking hell.” I close my eyes, breathing deeply just to let it out. Of course they’re finally realizing they’re perfect for each other on the same night my love life is falling apart. “Congratulations. Don’t stop on my account. God knows you waited long enough.”

“It isn’t—” Vera clears her throat. “It’s not what you—”

“Oh, shut up,” I sigh. “If my life wasn’t a fucking mess right now, I’d be planning your wedding.”

Nate immediately looks concerned. “Wait, what?”

“Nothing.” I shake my head. “Not something I want to get into at this moment. I just came to tell you guys I called an Uber. I’m heading out.”

Vera frowns. “Do we need to talk about something?”

“No,” I tell her wearily. “I honestly can’t right now.” I gesture between them. “I expect a full report on this tomorrow when I’m more sober.”

“I mean,” Nate says with a grin. “We all knew she couldn’t resist me.”

He yelps when Vera pinches his side. “If you ever want to kiss me again, you’ll shut up right now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he laughs.

My heart aches watching them. It’s strange, being happy for someone when you’re so miserable yourself. My phone pings, signaling my Uber has arrived.

“My ride’s here,” I manage tightly. “I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow.”

I close the door behind me, taking another deep, steadying breath as I will myself to look normal so that my parents won’t realize anything is amiss when I leave. I don’t text Ezra again, not even when the urge to do so becomes unbearable. He doesn’t text me either.

And what’s worse…I have a feeling that he might never do so again.

OceanofPDF.com

Twenty-Eight

Four days after walking away from Dani, and mostly, I’m just numb. There isn’t a moment that passes that I don’t want to go to her, to beg her to see reason, to shake some sense into her if I have to—but I know it won’t do any good. I know that someone like Dani can’t be forced into making a decision. She has to come to the conclusion on her own.

I just hope that conclusion involves me, somehow.

I meant it when I said that she was worth staying for, but I never anticipated that she would actively push me away. In hindsight, maybe I should have seen it coming. She’s so convinced that anyone she gets close to will hurt her, will lie to her or leave her behind, that she runs from any opportunity that might give them the chance.

But I don’t have time to dwell on that right now.

Lorenzo’s office is the last place I want to be, but given that he’s apparently “too busy” today to stop by mine and sign the documents I need from him, he left me with no other choice. I ride the sleek elevator up to his floor in doleful silence, trying to ignore the heavy weight of my silent phone in my pocket. There is so much more I wanted to say to her last night, but it was the truth when I said I can’t chase her if she doesn’t want to be chased. That bullshit platitude about setting something free if you love it flits through my mind, and I snort out a laugh.

Dani’s more likely to run for the hills without looking back.

The elevator doors open to spill out onto Lorenzo’s floor, and I steel myself for what will surely be an unpleasant visit as I traipse through the hall toward his office. It rests at the corner of the building, and I take a deep breath when I reach it, knocking on his door and readying myself to play nice.

When he doesn’t answer, I knock again, pressing my ear to the door and catching two raised male voices on the other side.

“—said that no one would find out,” one of them says.

Lorenzo, I recognize. Not surprising. The other one, however, is.

“And they won’t,” the voice of Alexander answers tersely. “Not if you keep your mouth shut. There’s no proof that anyone would be able to piece together. I’ve buried the records so deep in Bianca’s financials that not even the world’s greatest accountant could piece it together.”

I press closer to the door. What are they talking about?

“If Bianca finds out what we did,” Lorenzo stresses, “she will ruin us both.”

“She won’t,” Alexander hisses. “Not if you—”

They both go quiet, and I manage to pull away and compose myself as if I hadn’t just been listening at the door when it swings open.

Alexander’s icy blue eyes meet mine. “What are you doing out here?”

“My job?” I keep my tone casual as I hold up the packet of documents. “I need Lorenzo’s signature on these. Apparently, he was too busy to come to me.”

Alexander lingers in the doorway for a moment, studying my features as if trying to determine whether it’s possible I heard anything. I school them to remain completely neutral.

“You wanna let him sign them so I can get back to work?”

“Fine,” Alexander concedes. “Hurry up.”

Lorenzo looks out of sorts when I step into the room, his already-lined face wearier, a flush creeping up his neck. “You said you would be later,” he accuses.

“Didn’t realize I’d be interrupting,” I answer coolly.

Lorenzo sneers as he snatches the documents from me, leaning over his desk as he begins to sign each one. I turn to Alexander, eyeing him. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“None of your business,” he says flatly.

“A lot of things about my case seem to be none of my business,” I chuckle. “But that’s nothing new, I guess.”

“You are such an unruly child,” Lorenzo snorts, straightening and handing the documents back to me. “I would never let a son of mine speak to me this way.”

“It’s a good thing I’m not Alexander’s son then, isn’t it.”

Lorenzo scoffs. “It is good for him, I think. Nothing but a disappointment, your whole life. So ungrateful when he raised you as his own. And your whore mother—”

I crowd him, fisting his tie roughly in the blink of an eye. “Don’t you say another fucking word about my mother.”

“He isn’t saying anything that isn’t true.” Alexander laughs cruelly from behind me.

I turn on him, curling my lip. “You’re just pissed that she finally found the good sense to try to get away from you. She realized what a piece of shit you are.”

“Careful, boy.” Alexander’s expression darkens. “You don’t want to say anything that you might regret.”

I hear his warning, and I know exactly what it means. I know that it’s not me who will regret my outburst, and the thought turns my stomach. I can’t say why today is different, why I can’t brush off the casual threat, but my heart is hammering now. But my skin feels too tight and my blood feels too hot, and my vision blurs until I can hardly see anymore.

It’s Lorenzo’s callous insults. It’s Alexander’s blasé tone in regard to holding me under his thumb. It’s Dani’s voice in my head, telling me that even if I had good reasons to follow him, I still do it. Even knowing how evil he is. It’s all of it.