Page 68 of Fractured Loyalties
Two years later…
Nothing about this house is his anymore. Not even his office. The whole place has been gutted and remodeled, both figuratively and literally.
The office, where nothing remains of my father, is a place that is always open, now. We sunk our secrets at the bottom of the bay, and are leaving them there.
“Hey.” Nico enters with a paper cup and a folder. She’s swapped the slob look for tailored black pants and a blouse so sharp it could give a paper cut. “You look as if you want to jump,” she smiles, setting my coffee down.
I give her the best version of a smile I’m capable of. “Couldn’t be worse than last quarter’s returns.”
She slouches into the chair opposite and props her feet up on the desk. “You’re so full of shit. We’re up twelve percent. The Foundation is out-fundraising all the other trust funds in the tri-state area. You’re just bored.”
“Not bored,” I say, laughing nervously. I glance at my watch, even though there’s no meeting scheduled for hours. “I just have somewhere to be later.”
She giggles. “You’re thinking about her again, aren’t you? Your little precious Ivy.”
I keep my face neutral, but the twitch in my jaw gives me away. “If you call her ‘ Little Lamb’ again, I’ll throw you out the window.”
She laughs. “Relax, Romeo. She’s not going anywhere. Not after what you did.” She studies me for a second when I don’t say anything. “You know she’s going to say yes, right?”
My body goes cold. “To what?”
Nico rolls her eyes. “Don’t be thick. The ring you hid in your safe. You know, the one you had custom set with black diamonds. The one you’ve had for two months but haven’t mustered the courage to give her.Thatone.”
I stare at my coffee, a bitter laugh twisting out of me. “She deserves better.”
“Maybe. But she wants you, so you win again. Must be nice.” Nico’s voice softens and becomes almost gentle. “You’re not the only one who hated him, you know. I’m glad you killed him. I just wish I’d done it first.”
I frown at her, wishing someone could become dangerously obsessed with her in a good way, too. “You okay?”
She shrugs as my phone alarm goes off. “I’m getting there. You should go, though. Just don’t fuck it up. She’s the only good thing you’ve ever had.”
I stand, suddenly nervous. “You’ll hold the fort?”
She salutes goofily. “Go get your girl, Roman.”
IVY
My phone buzzes just as I step past the library’s limestone steps.I almost don’t answer when I see the caller ID, but it’s better to get it over with.
I tap to accept. “Mom, I don’t have time for another shopping trip… I have plans.”
“Meet me at the drive. I’m parked at the curb.” Irena’s voice is less commanding these days, more pleading. I like her better that way, smaller and quieter and less capable of ruining my life with a single sentence.
“Give me five,” I say, and hang up before she can offer advice about posture or hemline or the value of punctuality.
I take the long way around the science building, cut across a dead patch of lawn, and then duck through a knot of chain-smokers. None of them even glances up. I slide into the front seat of my mother’s car. There’s no hint of her old perfume, no chemical war crime of car freshener.
She’s changed even in that.
She’s waiting, hands on the wheel. She looks more human these days, her perfectly blonde hair now blended with gray. I realize she’s not a villain, and really… she never was.
She’s just imperfect like the rest of us.
“Hi,” I smile at her.
“Ivy.” She looks at me, and I can see the apology in her eyes before she even opens her mouth. “You look well.”
I shrug, adjusting my books. “You didn’t come here to check on my health, did you?”
