Page 67 of Beautiful Trauma
With a mirthless laugh, Mila said, “I’m sure I didn’t help with any of those.”
“You had a purpose in deceiving me that was forced on you because of your father. Other women didn’t.”
“Here’s another basic question for you.”
She swallowed a bite of chicken. “Okay.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“I manage the Lumiere gallery in Philadelphia.” A shadow passed over her face. “It’s how I was duped into coming to Dublin.”
“It was?”
“Brian pretended to be selling a very lucrative collection.”
When Mila pushed her plate away with a frown, I muttered, “Bastard.”
“While I have to agree, I also have to admit it was a very clever ruse.”
“Did you always want to work with art?”
Wrinkling her nose, she replied, “Actually, I never did.”
I swiped my mouth with a napkin. “Let me guess. Like a lot of underworld families, your father told you what you were going to do.’
At her nod, I eyed her curiously. “If you’d had a choice, what would you’ve wanted to do?”
With a shrug, she replied, “I don’t know.”
“Sure you do.”
She scowled at me. “Let me guess. You can tell I’m lying.”
“Yep.”
Mila huffed out a frustrated breath. “Fine. If you must know, I always wanted to be an astronomer.”
I blinked at her in disbelief. “An astronomer?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Is there something wrong with that?”
I laughed. “Not at all. It just took me by surprise, that's all.”
“I didn’t peg you as being sexist.”
Holding my hands up, I protested, “I’m not. My sister is a professional as well as all of my sisters-in-law. If I have daughters, I want them to go as far in school as they want to.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
“Out of all the sciences, why astronomy?” When she side-eyed me, I said, “I’m just asking since my sister-in-law, Isla, is a Molecular Biologist.”
“Because it was something I shared with my mother.”
“Really?”
A dreamy expression came over Mila’s face. “Growing up, she had this huge telescope that my father bought her. Like it wasn’t your average telescope. It was planetarium worthy.” With a smirk, she replied, “God only knows what it cost my father.”
Looking at the stars was something just the two of us shared since I was the only one of my siblings interested. We’d stand out on our balcony, and she’d show me stars and planets and solar flares.”
