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"Too fucking bad."
Chapter 22
Nico
Sybil's eyes instantly fill with defiant fury. "What does that mean?"
"It meanstoo fucking bad,"I repeat, voice a snarl.
I can't help it. She's pushing everything away. She's trying to run from me—fromus—again, and this time, she's making it perfectly clear that she wants to take our baby along.
Over my fucking dead body. She might see my world as violence and terror. That's one side of it, but I know the other side. The entire world is filled with danger, and no matter what hell I come from, I can protect her and our child better than anything or anyone else.
"I'm sorry, were younotjust brawling outside with a bunch of murderers who tried to shoot you and your father? Do you even register how fucked up your life is? God, you don't even know what the real world should be like. You said it yourself—you can't just quit the mafia. You're stuck in this life, and I won't let that happen to my baby."
Her baby.Not ours.My sore fists clench at that.
And Idon'twant this for our kid. That's the fucking point. I want to end the bloodshed and find a way to make the Attolini family move on with things. I want to create my own life—my own real family, away from the world I grew up in. And I can't do that without her.
But the words that come out are just as heated as hers because I'm furious that she's rubbing my nose in something I can't change. It's a sore spot for me.
"You don't get to be mad at me for the part of my life I have no control over," I growl. "You think your world is better? Maybe it is, but I wouldn't fucking know becausethisis the world I was raised in, Sybil. It's not changing. And you whining about families like mine won't make them disappear. You can't just run away again. It didn't work for you last time, and it will not work this time. Like it or not, this is the safest place for you."
She clenches her jaw and points at the shattered glass beside us. "Safe? You were almost shot! You come back bloody all the damn time, and I don't even want to know why because it would make me sick to know what you do, Nico.I can't handle it.I need to keep my baby safe."
"Ourbaby," I seethe, stepping forward and hating that she flinches when she steps back with her injured ankle. "Don't you dare try to cut me out and stop lying to yourself. This isn't about my family. You're not trying to get out of this because you don't feel safe with me—you're running because you're fucking scared."
"Damn straight, I'm scared. That's what I've been saying—"
"Not of the mafia. Of me. Ofus." I can't stop myself from curling my fingers around her waist to prevent her from taking another step back. I don't want her stepping on glass, and I need her to face this head-on. "You're scared because you know you're mine, and I'm yours."
Her eyes flash. "No. It was just a contract, Nico."
"Fuck that. If it was nothing special to you, you would have taken the money, and you wouldn't have slept with me before officially signing anything. If it was just a contract—"
"That's all it was supposed to be!" Sybil shouts, throwing her hands up. "And the very fact that you made me sign anything in the first place shows just how transactional it really was. Yes, we fucked, but it didn't mean anything real. It was only the contract."
"I'll null it," I grit. "Then you'll have to stop bitching and face how real everything between us is."
"You know what? You do that. That way, I won't be legally bound anymore. I can get out of here before the Attolinis and Gattos kill anyone I love. So, void the contract and go knock someone else up, Nico. I'll fend for myself because there's no way I'll let the baby grow up like you did—in this violent nightmare world with a vengeful father who can't see straight through his thirst for blood."
Fuck. That hurt.
I don't let her see how deeply those words cut me. I am not my father, and I refuse to become him. Yes, he terrified me as a boy, and yes, I now understand his pain and his dark side. It doesn't mean we're alike. I don't want my child to experience the same things I did.
I'm not my fucking father. I'm going to do things differently. She just doesn't trust me.
Fuming, chest throbbing, I turn away from Sybil and glare at the broken window. The police lights have faded from the street below, and it looks like no shit has hit the fan yet in their brief investigation. Which is good. It means I should check on the others and see if they're already interrogating the Gattos.
I don't want to. I want to stay here and prove Sybil is mine all over again by pulling her into bed with me until we can forget the tension practically throbbing between us. But the hurt in my chest is keeping me from doing that.
She huffs. "Nico. Say something."
As if on cue, my phone rings. I ignore her glare and answer, stalking away. This contact would only be calling me for one of two reasons. "What?"
"Lorenze has surfaced."
Damn it. I look over my shoulder. Sybil glares out the window with her arms folded a cool breeze from outside stirring her dark curls.
