Page 97 of Driftwood Daffodil 3

“No.” But her sister did.

I thought back to his comment about how Nova reminded him of a girl he met a couple of years ago. She looked a lot like her sister. The same sister who was supposedly attacked a coupleof years ago. The supposedly part of that statement I wasn’t so sure about anymore.

Was Aldo that cocky? His favorite nephew was Atlas. They spent a lot of time together when he was in town. As far as I knew he wasn’t here two years ago. Then again, I didn’t think he was here when my mother was murder either. I couldn’t help but wonder what else I was missing?

Was Aldo behind anything else? Did my father know? Did Atlas?

I decided to test my uncle. “It’s too bad Atlas isn’t here. I think he would’ve liked Nova.”

“I’m sure he would enjoy her thoroughly.”

The slight smirk curling the corner of my uncle’s mouth made me wonder if the brother I knew was the real Atlas, or some façade I created in my mind. Other than my uncle, I had yet to meet one person who had something nice to say about Atlas. Did I put my brother so high up on a pedestal that I couldn’t see what everyone else did?

“Hey,” Atlee poked me, “you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Well, you’re not gonna be.”

“What?”

Atlee then tipped his chin down the table, to the empty seat next to Dominic Barone.

Where the hell did Carissa go? Scratch that, I knew exactly where she went. Carissa was a social butterfly. She lived for formal occasions like this. There were only two reasons she would go off on her own. To fuck someone, or fuck with someone.

Damnit.

“I’m sure it’s fine. She wouldn’t say anything to her?” Atlee looked at me.

I looked at him.

We both knew the answer to that question.

For fuck sakes.

Scrubbing a hand down my face, I huffed out a breath. When was this day going to fucking end?

“I better go and get her.”

When I slid my chair back to stand, Atlee asked, “want some help?”

“You have your own problems.” I tipped my chin at Alex who had rather stealthily snagged her father’s keys from his pocket.

“Give me those.” Atlee snatched them out of her hand and pointed at her. “No fires tonight.”

Alex responded with an exaggerated eye roll.

I pitied the man she wound up with. Don’t get me wrong, she was fourteen but anyone could tell that she would be a knockout like her sister. I swear there was something in the Fiore genes. I was as straight as they came, but there was something about the way Atlee said, “you might like it,” that made me think maybe I would.

Each proposition he made was answered with a punch, but he still made me consider it once or twice. Darry and I called it the Fiore effect. Alex had it just not in the same way as her siblings. Her charm was deceptive. Her golden hair and angelic blue eyed innocent look, was the biggest fucking lie in all of creation. That girl was closer to a demon than an angel.

I slapped my hand on Atlee’s shoulder, “good luck with that,” and turned to leave.

Thankfully, no one stopped me to ask where I was going. God forbid someone decided to use my search as a way to escape, which Darry had done on more than one occasion. He was not a fan of crowds. My uncle however, did shoot me a wink and waggle his eyebrows, indicating what he thought I was sneaking off to do.

Fucking prick.

Once I’d escaped the chaos of the dining room, I took a second to breathe before heading off to the bathroom where I expected to find Nova.

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