Page 10 of As the World Falls

“What the hell, Cecilia?” he barks out.

“Tobias, listen?—”

He holds up a finger, silencing me, and I do so because he has the right to be a little upset. “I get back to work and find out not only from security but also from my boss that my little sister was there today causing a scene and that he had to personally escort you off the property.”

“Okay, he didn’t personally escort me off. I left willingly…after he said he’d escort me out.”

“Cecilia…” he grumbles.

“I’m sorry,” I cry out. “What do you want from me? I’m having some kind of whacky emotional response from you showing up out of the blue all these years later, and you’re unrecognizable and have all this money now… it’s concerning, Tobias. I was worried about you and just wanted to check on things.”

“I came to you to show how good I’m doing, and you still don’t trust me?” He says it like it hurts him, and that guilty feeling claws itself up my throat.

“How can I?” I fire back. “Your boss never heard of me. What’s that all about?”

“He’s my boss, Cecilia. You’re my sister. You’re a part of two very different lives I want to keep separate. He doesn’t need to know about you.”

“Why? Because he’s not a good person? I want to know exactly what it is that you do.”

He sighs. “I already went over this with you.”

My heart thumps hard as I still struggle to believe him. “Answer me this, Tobias, and don’t lie to me,” I tell him, and he nods, waiting for my question. “Are you in the mafia?” I ask aftera moment. There’s a beat of silence before he chuckles, and I feel my face heat. I pick my book up off my bed and chuck it at him for laughing at me. “Don’t laugh. I’m being completely serious.”

“I’m sorry.” He continues to laugh. “I just can’t believe you’d ever think I could be in the mafia.”

“It’s a serious question. How else do you explain where you’re at in life?” The accusation comes out harsher than I intended, and Tobias clicks his tongue, his eyes dropping to the floor.

“You know, I thought you’d be proud of me.” His voice is painful, and it opens a wound in my chest.

“I am,” I promise. “I truly am. I’m just so worried about you.”

“You shouldn’t be. I’m doing the best I ever have, and I have James to thank for it.”

“Why?” I grimace. “Because he gave you a job?”

“Because he took a chance on me. Then, he eventually put all his trust in me. Do you not get that, Cecilia? A man as powerful as him is delegating his life’s work to me, giving me a share of the responsibilities. I don’t know what that means to you, but it means a hell of a lot to me.”

“I understand that. It’s just that…when you say how powerful he is, that scares me. I haven’t read the greatest things about him.”

“Don’t believe everything you read. You should know better than anyone that most things are a work of fiction.”

“You’re right,” I relent. “I’m sorry.”

“Just don’t go there again. It’s not the place for you,” he says warily, worrying me even more.

“So I keep hearing,” I mutter.

“Come on,” he says, gesturing to the door. “Let’s get some dinner.”

I grab my belongings and flip my pillows around as I look for my phone. “Hey, can I borrow your phone to call mine? I can’t find it.”

Tobias handed me his phone before heading to the bathroom before we left, and I opened it, calling my phone, which began ringing halfway under the headboard. I snatch it and shove it into my purse before looking at Tobias’s phone.

I stare at it for an unsettling amount of time before letting my anxiety get the best of me, and I connect his location to my phone. I click out of it just as the bathroom door opens, and Tobias barrels out, making me jump.

“You find it?” he asks casually.

“Yep,” I answer, quickly handing his phone back to him.

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