Page 118 of The Boss

“Umm, do you know what they’re going to do to my dad when he gets here? Or my mom, she's probably with him?” Sophie asks us both.

“I’m not sure, but I’m guessing they’ll want to talk to him and ask him about his involvement in the messages I was getting,” I say.

“You were getting messages?” she asks.

“Yeah, someone from an unknown number was sending me text messages for months, some threatening, some non-threatening. We didn’t have a lead until Gino was looking over the footage when you dropped the flowers off,” I tell her.

She gapes at me. “Is this my fault?” She asks.

“Oh no, it’s not. You did what you thought you should,” I tell her honestly.

“It feels like it is,” she swallows.

Ryan walks in and crouches down next to her. I can barely hear what they’re saying, but I don’t move.

“Dad’s going to put up some sort of fight. Your mom will probably be dropped off at home and find out you’re not there. Dad will be pissed, but he needs to answer for all this bullshit. If you don’t want to go home with him, you don’t have to. You can stay with me,” Ryan tells her.

She doesn’t say anything.

“Just think about it, okay, and no matter what Dad says, you don’t engage with him or talk to him,” he says.

He kisses the top of her head and leaves.

She turns and looks at me.

“Did my brother just offer to kidnap me from my parents?” she asks me.

I snort in response, as I hear Ryan yell, “I heard that.”

“You’re an adult, right?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she replies.

“Then you can make your own choices, and you don’t have to go home with him. But it’s up to you, not Ryan or you dad.”

“Thanks,” she says, giving me a small smile.

Marco walks in and stops in the doorway. His broad frame takes up most of the doorway, and his light brown hair is slightly disheveled from running his hand through it.

“Hey Juliet, is Gino here?” he says.

“Yeah, he’s upstairs,” I say.

Then he walks out of the room.

“Who’s that?” Sophie asks.

“Marco,” I reply.

“He’s cute.”

I don’t reply because I don’t know how to tell her he’s almost fifteen years older than her.

After a few minutes, we hear the front door slam.

“Sophia,” I hear a man’s voice yell.

“Shit,” I hear Sophie say.