“So no,” I said. “You don’t get to act like some tragic unfinished story. You’re just the mistake she survived long enough to outgrow. She chose me, and I protect what matters to me. So if you touch her again, if you block her path, if you so much as look at her like she still belongs in your hands, they’ll be dragging pieces of you out of Elliott Bay for weeks. It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”
His face had gone red by the time he turned away.
I watched him walk back toward the hospital doors without haste, without dignity, carrying his anger like it could still make him dangerous. Some men only understand endings when they are forced to face them. I had just made certain he would force one.
CHAPTER 19
EMILY
Getting my parents away from Sophie long enough to sneak Pietro in turned out to be harder than I thought. And despite the joy of seeing her so bright and hopeful, and the cautious encouragement from the doctor, by the time I went back home that afternoon I realized something I couldn’t ignore anymore.
Seattle no longer felt like home.
After the confrontation with Adam, after the way my parents still refused to see the truth of what had happened and insisted on framing my choices as an overreaction, I understood with cold certainty that I had completely outgrown the version of me who once lived here.
Emily Gallagher no longer existed.
I was Emily Hart.
I asked Pietro for help getting my parents out of the way, mostly as a joke because what exactly was he supposed to do? Bribe them? Threaten them? Manufacture a plumbing emergency?
The answer was: quite a lot.
Because that evening, on what was supposed to be my last night in town before flying back, my mother received an emailinforming her she had won a dinner for two at one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city, the one with three Michelin stars, a waiting list half a year long, and prices that required emotional preparation.
She didn’t remember entering a contest.
That did not, however, stop her from accepting immediately.
“Do you realize this kind of trick is going to ruin you financially?” I joked as Pietro stepped out of the lift onto Sophie’s floor.
“Not really, no,” he said. “Hoka owns it.”
I slipped slightly on the linoleum.
He barely even glanced at me. Just offered me a hand as though men casually revealing that their uncles owned Michelin-starred restaurants was a normal daily occurrence.
We reached Sophie’s door, and I stopped with my hand half-lifted toward the knob.
Pietro looked at me then.
“You’re nervous,” he said.
It wasn’t a question.
I laughed under my breath. “Apparently.”
“Why?” he asked gently. “It’s your sister, not your parents.”
That only made me laugh more.
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s worse.” I looked at the door and then back at him. “Sophie’s special to me.”
His expression softened at once, some of the teasing leaving it.
“Then I should be concerned,” he mused.
“Very.”
