Page 65 of Masked Hearts

“Enjoy your time? Sure, if you were the type to just sleep with a woman and have no feelings attached. But that’s not you, Nino.”

“You’re right, that’s you,” I fire back. “We didn’t sleep together.”

“You’re going to hurt her, or worse,you’regoing to get hurt. This isn’t forever.”

I sigh. I don’t want to admit that he’s right, but that is the reminder I needed. It reaffirms my decisions from last night. I can’t get caught up in all of this for something that’s temporary.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of having you here in Monaco first thing in the morning?” I change the subject and start walking out towards the balcony.

“We came to watch one of Natalia’s concerts, and Valerie wanted to invite you and Theá.”

“That could’ve been a text.” He stays silent. “So why are you here?”

“I wanted to finish our talk from the wedding. Not having you around at home is tough enough, and arguing with you every time we speak is even worse.”

I sigh and take a seat on one of the benches outside.

The early morning sunshine is just starting to heat the air, so there’s a slight chill to the breeze as it blows past.

He’s not wrong. If it weren’t for Theá keeping me entertained these last few days, I would’ve slipped into a mild form cabin fever.

I’m not used to being apart from my brothers for such long periods of time, and I’m definitely not used to not speaking to them, either. Even in the midst of everything that happened between Ambrose, Valerie, and I, I still spoke to him, albeit most of what was said was insults.

It’s exactly what Gabriel probably wanted. Isolation, separation, and an easy way to force me right into his plans.

“Okay…”

He sits down next to me and leans forward so his elbows rest on his knees. His head hangs low as he looks at the ground. He’s dressed in his usual sleek, black suit, but he’s grown out his beard again which usually means he’s stressed about something, since rubbing his stubble is his way of self-soothing.

“I’ve played and replayed what I was going to say to you the entire way here, and I still can’t find the right words to say.” He does just as I predicted and rubs a hand over the stubble.

“Don’t worry about saying the right thing, just speak to me honestly, like I’m a person,” I say, matching his frustration.

“I fucked up. Sending you off to Mauritius alone straight after everything happened was the worst thing I could’ve done. We didn’t speak and I just sent you there so I wouldn’t have to deal with you or what you represented.”

“And what did I represent?”

“Betrayal. Every time I looked at you, I could see how much I hurt you. I could see how much it was killing you, and there was nothing I could do about it. I’m so fucking sorry that I was too much of a little bitch to just speak to you man to man about everything that was going on.”

“I’ll admit, I wasn’t exactly in the mood to listen to anything you had to say. You already had everything I wanted, so when I found out about you and Valerie, it was like you took the last thing I wanted away from me. I mean fuck, you didn’t even invite me to your engagement party, Ambrose? A fucking video call would’ve been enough. When would you have noticed I was kidnapped if Gabriel didn’t send Nico as a messenger?”

He rubs the scruff of his beard again. “I’m sorry. Nothing I say can justify what I did. I genuinely felt so threatened by you.”

“By me?!” I interrupt, surprised by his sudden admission.

He chuckles. “Weird, I know, but yes. Like I said at the wedding, you have this ever-perfect thing going for you. Papá pushed me to be like you, and at one point, I even tried to be like you in hopes Valerie might give me the time of day.”

“That’s crazy. I envied you for so long because Papá only ever paid attention toyouand the same for Valerie. I mean fuck, it was unrequited love at its finest.”

He stays quiet for a while before sighing and saying, “So we’re just two idiots who wanted the other person’s life, and Valerie just got caught in the middle?”

“Seems like it,” I scoff.

“I really am sorry, Nino. I can’t apologise enough for how fucked up this has all gotten.” His eyes meet mine and I nod, feeling a burn at the back of my throat as tears threaten to climb up. “But I’ll get you out.”

“I know you will, or Mamá will kill you.” I break out into a grin.

I rise to my feet and extend my hand. Ambrose’s eyes light up a little before standing, disregarding my hand and pulling me in for a hug.

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