Page 10 of Wicked Rivals

He would never understand me or where I had come from, nor would he be capable of protecting me and my son.

Enzo and I needed protection more than anything else.

So far, relying on only myself for that protection had been and probably would remain my best option.

As we stood there, him undressing me with his eyes, I pretended his disgusting behavior wasn’t so obvious, that he might be capable of some level of protection and decency.

I knew, though, he would never be capable of that.

He was a weasel, not a good man with good intentions.

“Mr. Luka,” I said firmly, “I doubt Enzo is the only child in your class who lives in a single parent household. Tell me, though, do the other single parents get interrogated like this?”

“You're right.” His smile didn’t change. “Your son isn’t unique in that regard. Plenty of students here at Saint Christopher are being raised in a more… modern environment.”

The way he said it implied modern was less than ideal.

I took a step back and folded my arms.

“Still,” he added, “most of these children in single parent households do know who their fathers are at the very least.”

Everything inside me screamed to make this man shut up, but a public display of rage and discomfort on my part would do me no good. And it wouldn’t help Enzo.

But Mr. Luka just couldn’t stop himself.

“Most have at least one line of contact open with their father, or if not with him directly, then with others in that paternal line. Grandparents are still involved. Aunts and uncles. Family. Enzo seems to have no one?—”

“Because there is no one, Mr. Luka.”

The second I interrupted him, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back any longer. This conversation had already gone too far for too long, and it needed to stop. Now.

“My son’s father had no living family before his deployment to Iraq. Which, by the way, was his last tour. So no, my son isn’tfortunate enough to have even one open line of contact with his dead father who never got to hold his own son.

“And by the way you’re talking about it now makes it sound like you think that’s somehow Enzo's fault. Maybe you think he deserves to be punished for having only his mother to raise him. So I have to ask, Mr. Luka, is that what you’re trying to say to me this afternoon? Are you going to fail my son over this?”

He gaped at me, blinking furiously, then cleared his throat.

“No. That’s not what… I… I’m sorry. I… didn't realize.”

In any other situation, I might have jumped in to save him from stumbling all over himself.

Not this time.

It wasn’t the first time I’d been asked about Enzo’s father, and it wouldn’t be the last time someone forced me to tell the lie that had become as close to the truth as my son would ever know.

But Donnie Luka made my skin crawl, so he wasn’t getting a pass like others might get.

He continued after clearing his throat again and reaching into his light overcoat to tug on the collar of his shirt.

“I… I can only imagine how difficult it must be for you. Raising such a smart and willful boy on your own. All I mean to say is, a boy like Enzo would really benefit from having a strong male role model in his life as well.”

And after all that, the slimeball had the balls to settle his hand on my shoulder.

I quickly brushed him away and stepped back. My cheeks heated as I clenched my teeth together for a minute and tightened my hands into fists at my sides.

“Enzo and I get along fine as we are, thank you very much.”

I thought most men might have taken my reaction as enough to move on, but this jerk was one determined bastard.

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