Page 110 of Hidden Empire

“So they’re friends,” he parrots, digesting the concept. “That’s fine, she could choose worse. At least he’s not a pestering cowboy, Armani has too many of those already.”

I pause, surprised he let that slip. Nico doesn’t do personal details.

Though we’ve had a working relationship for years now, maybe he’s finally accepting the fact that we’re sort of friends.

“I’m not here to protest their friendship,” I tell him firmly. “I’m here because of something she told him—and subsequently me—about her past.”

His shoulders straighten, the only sign of being unnerved he lets slip. “What did she say?”

“She’s scared of The Knights,” I answer, refusing to admit how much she’s shared. “Terrified of them actually, but Ivan assured her they don’t come here. He didn’t tell her that they don’t go anywhere at all anymore, because he isn’t sure why she wouldn’t already know that.”

His jaw ticks. “Oh?”

“It’s the oddest thing that she didn’t seem to know The Knights have all seemingly disappeared. I’d think that would be something her family would make her aware of.”

He hums, trying to appear disinterested.

“You wouldn’t happen to know about that, would you?”

“Apollo and I slaughtered them all,” he deadpans. “Why? Friends of yours?”

“Not even a little bit,” I grit out, fists clenched into balls.

“And so you’re asking because?”

My fists clench harder. “Why haven’t you told her? She’s clearly still scared of them. She cried about it.”

“There’s one left,” he returns. “She’ll know once we have the failed one too.”

“She cried,” I repeat, harsher this time.

“Yes, traumatized teenage girls tend to do that,” he snaps back, clearly angry about it. I don’t truly know how Nico’s emotional range works, but I know Jade is a soft spot in his typically ironclad armor.

“I know,” I emphasize.

Nico knows more than anyone else here, apart from my family, how much I know what he’s talking about. He knows about Anya.

He sighs, long and heavy.

“Jade is afraid of having things taken from her,” he reveals almost clinically, beginning to explain his reasoning. “When she first came to us, Apollo brought up a paternity test. He’s very analytical, and in a lot of ways, so is Jade. Dad snapped that he didn’t need a test to know his daughter, but she wanted one anyway.”

This is the most I’ve gotten out of Nico in a long time.

“She has a lot of fears, but mostly, she’s scared of getting something and having it ripped away right after. She couldn’t accept having a family unless she knew it was for real, on paper, and not some kind of sick joke to toy with her.”

I’m about to ask what he’s getting at when he finally comes around to his point.

“This is the same thing,” he mutters darkly. “I can’t offer her release from her fear until they’re all gone. If I tell her The Knights are dead, she’ll feel better, and she won’t be as on guard, and then something bad will happen. It’ll just hurt her worse.”

I hate that it sounds like he’s right.

Stubbornly, I ask, “Did Apollo come to this conclusion, or did you?”

“You know, you’re starting to make it seem like you have a vested interest in my sister’s well-being way outside of the realm that your brother and her are friends.”

“And if I did?”

Nico looks at me, blue eyes attempting to peer into my very soul.

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