Page 49 of Love Her

“Or…what?” Lia asked back, once it was clear that a response was required.

“Well—you know. The rumors,” the morning host said, before mugging for the camera.

I turned off the treadmill immediately, as Lia blinked.

“I’m sorry, are you implying that everyone with an Italian last name has mafia connections? Next you’ll be warning your viewers about the dangers of Chef Boyardee,” she said, leaning back into her chair. “And—isn’t this what America always does to immigrants? You hate us when we arrive, love us when we work for you, and hate us again the second we succeed. Next question?”

Katerina looked trapped. “After a commercial break!” she announced—and I sprinted for the elevators.

Thank God the keycard that let me make it up to Nero’s penthouse was in my pocket—I emerged onto his floor, and found him, also watching his daughter, on a TV that was usually hidden behind a painting.

“What the fuck?” I asked, the second I stepped out of the door, startling him.

“Rhaim?” he said, looking back. “Come watch Lia!”

“Yeah—I know—” I said, stalking up to his couch. “Who is this asshole?”

“No fucking idea—but Lia’s doing well,” Nero said—with absolute pride.

I also noticed he was drinking, based on which bottle was beside him, at seven-seventeen in the morning. “It’s early for gin.”

“Not when you’re taking it with painkillers—now shut the fuck up, I’m listening to my daughter,” he said, waving away my concern, as the TV show returned.

“And we’re back!” Katerina began with a recap. “We’re here with Lia Ferreo, daughter of Nero Ferreo, CEO of Corvo Enterprises, discussing her recent engagement to a certain older man, Senator Marcus St. Clair!”

Lia speared the poor woman with one expertly groomed eyebrow. “Is he really a sugar daddy if we’re both equivalently wealthy?” she asked, folding her hands together and holding her knee, before staring directly at the camera. “What’s so wrong about two consenting adults wanting to be happy?” she said—and for a heart-blinding moment it felt like she was talkingtome.

“Look at that, Rhaim,” Nero said, as the hostess desperately segued to her next segment. “Face that launched a thousand ships.”

“Oh yeah, this is great, she can campaign for his seat once he’s dead.” Theafter I kill himwas left implied.

Nero scoffed. “No. She’s not meant for politics.” He reached for the remote, turned off the television, and set down his empty glass. “Somedays she reminds me of her mother so much it hurts,” he said, staring at the empty screen.

I took a moment to watch him. “How so?” My circles and Lia’s mother’s hadn’t overlapped. While I was working for Neroat the time—hell, I’d even gone to their wedding—there was never any cause for me to go over to their house, and Nero kept her nose clean.

From business, at least…but apparently not from other things.

“Beautiful. Headstrong. Hilarious. But—” he began, and then shook his head.

I took a seat down on his couch away from him, the backs of my sweaty thighs sticking to its leather. “But?” I pressed.

“Crazy,” Nero said, tapping the edge of his glass with one finger.

“As crazy as her father? Who is drinking before eight?”

“I’m dying. I’m allowed.”

“Okay—as crazy as the man who I went out with on more than one occasion to do exceedingly dumb shit that I’m amazed we survived?”

“No—crazy in a sad way. Her brain, beastiola—it’s broken. And I’ve got a sheaf of doctor’s notes to prove it,” he said, finally turning toward me. “I love her, but she’s a liability. And she’d kill me if she knew I was talking to you about it, so you don’t say a word—what I tell you know—it stays on the inside.”

I grit my teeth—but not for the reasons he thought.

“Her mother was the same way. I came home one day, and she’d destroyed half our things. I didn’t know what to do with her. I couldn’t bring myself to send her to the nut house, but she wouldn’t tell me what was wrong—and a week later, she was dead.” He reached for his bottle and poured himself another glass. “I largely live a life without regrets, and you know most of the shitty things I’ve done. But that one…keeps me up at night sometimes. I never should’ve listened to her. I should’ve forced her to go. Just put her someplace else for a bit, for safekeeping.”

“Lia’s just as much your child as she is her mother’s, Nero.”

He gave me a look, tilting his glass my direction. “And you think that helps her?”

---