“Any idea who it is?” Luca asks. Dad’s jaw twitches.
“No. For now, we just need to watch our backs and see if they reveal themselves. O’Brien agreed to keep us informed on his end, any communication between us will go through Marco.”
What the fuck?
“Why me?” I ask, and his sharp stare slices through me. He can’t know, can he? I’m pretty sure Finn has some idea of what went down between me and his sister, and has for years if the looks I’ve caught him giving me are anything to go by. What I don’t know is why he hasn’t tried to rip me apart limb from limb yet. I broke his sister’s heart, and I know how close they’ve always been, so it’s never made any sense to me.
“No idea,” he says, sarcasm evident in his tone before Enzo—fucking Enzo—jumps in.
“So, are we all just ignoring the fact that Marco has turned into me and is stalking his own girl now?”
Luca—who was in the middle of taking a sip of whiskey—chokes on his drink before swinging his gaze to me.
“What the fuck is he talking about? What girl?”
“Luca, I need you to go home and ask Izzy to look into these missing shipments for us. Lord knows she’s a hell of a lot better with this shit than our own tech guy,” Dad says as Luca and I continue to stare at each other.
“What? Dad w—”
“Now,” Dad barks, interrupting him. Luca rolls his eyes before giving me a look that saysthis isn’t overand strolls from the room, leaving the three of us behind.
“Enzo, get out.”
“I kinda wanna stick around to see this,” Enzo says with smug grin directed at me.
“Really? I figured you’d want to get home to your pregnant wife,” Dad deadpans.
Enzo’s entire demeanor switches in a second. Gone is the cocky asshole, replaced with my brother having a soft look in his eyes as he no doubt thinks about Robyn. He walks out without a second glance or even a goodbye, leaving me to my father.
Great.
“Sit,” he orders, and I take a seat in front of him and wait him out.
“You know, when you started seeing Sloane all those years ago, I thought you were out of your goddamn mind. Then I realized how she changed you. I noticed the little differences in you and how much happier you were. I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but I do know that you’ve been a shell of yourself since then. My question is, are you sure she’s worth feeling the pain that you’ve been in for the last ten years all over again?”
I sit in shock as I stare at my dad. I had no fucking idea that he knew about me and Sloane. I was sure that if he knew, he would have said something then. He would have put a stop to it. From the way he’s talking, it sounds as though he’s known all along. What the hell?
“How long have you known?”
He rolls his eyes. “You should know by now that there’s not much that gets past me, son,” he says, and I absently nod my head.
“I’ll ask you again, Marco, are you sure this girl is worth it?”
Anger bubbles up inside me at his tone. “She’s not just some girl,” I say curtly. “She’s the love of my damn life. She’s everything.”
I raise a brow, daring him to challenge me on it. Only he doesn’t. He leans back in his chair with a smug grin and nods his head.
“Good. It’s about fucking time you got your head out your ass and realized you needed to do something about it. Now get the hell out of here, I look forward to meeting my newest daughter-in-law when you finally get your shit together.”
Chapter Seven
Marco
Past - March 2014
I’ve never dated properly. I’ve never met a girl I wanted more with, never met someone I ever felt could mean more to me that way. Until Sloane. She’s unlike any other girl I’ve ever met.
I have no idea what I’m doing. All I know is that she was sitting on my lap the other night, my mouth attached to hers as she grinded on me, and all I could think about was how she deserved better than that. Which was how I ended up blurting out about us having dinner. Now I’m standing in my kitchen, adding the finishing touches to our meal as I wait for her to arrive.