Page 62 of Fractured Loyalties
And he knows it.
Twenty-Five
ROMAN
“I needto know how it happened.” I turn to Nico, my little sister by only eleven months, meeting the eyes that so mirror mine. “You’ve been hacking shit since we were kids. Tell me how it happened.”
Nico’s voice is flat and deadpan as she flips her black hair over her shoulder. She’s unamused.
“Don’t see what good it’ll do. You were fucking our stepsister and someone was recording it. There’s really no point in worrying about how it leaked.”
“It’s got to be someone in the house,” I say, ignoring her jab. “Edward? Maybe. But he’d never risk that. Irena—she’s cold, but not stupid…”
“You’re forgetting Robert.”
I turn from the glass. “No. I’m not. I just don’t get the point of his ruining his only legacy. He threw us both under the bus.”
Nico takes a long pull from the glass of wine that she’s not old enough to drink. “Hmm.”
I shake my head, ignoring the twitch under my left eye. “I don’t know. I have to fix this… I just… don’t know how.” The exasperation makes my stomach knot up.
She laughs, a wet, hacking sound that says she’s already done with my bullshit. “You’re giving up? The great Roman Woods?”
I glare at her. “I’m not giving up. I’m regrouping.”
She narrows her eyes. “Is that what this is? Because it looks a lot like a breakdown.”
I could snap her neck. Icould. But … she’s my sister. The one we were all supposed to forget about and exile into the abyss.
Just like I am now.
“Fuck,” I mumble, plopping down on the couch beside her. “Fuck.”
Nico sets her glass on the table. “You know what I think? I think you want to blame everyone else and avoid what I’ve tried to tell you. Because if you disregard the truth, then maybe you’re actually as fucked up as everyone says.”
I look up. Her eyes are dark, but there’s a lot of pain buried there. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re a narcissist,” she says, voice like a knife. “You think every bad thing that happens is a move in your personal chess game. But maybe the world just hates you, Roman. Maybe it’s not a conspiracy you can control.”
The words dig, but I don’t flinch. I’ve heard worse, from better.
“Why are you here, then?” I snap back at her. “If I’m so fucking cruel?”
She shrugs, frowning. “You’re my blood. You're always welcome to show up, eat my food, and sleep on my floor. If I left you to the wolves, it’d just prove I’m as bad as he is.”
Fucking hell. She’s right.
A car alarm blares down on the street, the sound bouncing off the water-stained walls. I stand up and go to the window again, but there’s nothing out there. Just the city, soaked in rain and sickness.
“I need to get back to Ivy,” I say, turning back to her. “I have to…” I don’t even know what comes next. Save her? Warn her? Burn her to the ground so she’ll never belong to anyone but me?
Nico’s voice is softer now. “She’s just a kid, Roman. Let it go. She’ll be out of there before you know it, or maybe he’ll turn her into his third wife.”
I slam my fist into the wall, my knuckles splitting open, and for a second, I feel alive. “She’s not a kid. She’smine.” The words hang there, sick and heavy.
Nico gets up from the couch as I shake out my now-bleeding knuckles. She grabs a towel and approaches me without fear. She takes my bleeding hand and presses it between her palms, firm and unflinching.
“She’s not going anywhere. Robert’s not letting anyone near the house for a while. You need to focus. If you want to fuck…be withIvy, as weird as that is, then you need to prove to her it wasn’t you that posted the video.” Nico cleans my hand up carefully.
