Page 73 of Their Deviant Love
“What exactly are your plans, Connor?” he asks after a moment of silence.
“In regard to what, exactly?”
“Life? Are you planning on continuing with the organization? Are you giving up on Harvard for it?”
“I don’t think Harvard is an option for me anymore,” I admit.
“What if I said it was?”
“How?” I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“I submitted the last of the schoolwork you and Aurora did. It was left behind at Lorenzo’s. The school is issuing you each a diploma. You’ve already taken your SATs. All you have to do is accept their offer,” Mr. Valentino says.
“Yeah, it’s not that easy. You and I both know I can’t just walk away without putting a target on not only my back but also Aurora’s. I’m not doing anything that would put her at risk,” I tell him.
“What if I said I have a way for you to get out? Without any fallback.”
“Why would you help me?” I ask him.
“Because my wife wants our daughter home.Iwant my daughter home, and she’s not coming home without you. So, Connor, if I told you there’s a way out, would you take it?”
I consider his offer, even though he hasn’t actually offered me anything. Just asked if I’d take the way out. If I’d come back to The States and go to college.
“Yes, to getting out of the organization. As for Harvard, I would have to talk to Aurora about that one. She’s… a little sensitive about the topic of college. Or she might want to stay here, in New York, and NYU courses are… well, they exist.”
As much as I want to go to Harvard, I don’t ever want Aurora to doubt herself. She’s expressed more than once that she doesn’t see how she’d fit into my world if I were there.
“I graduated from NYU,” Mr. Valentino says with a tilt of his head. I already knew that. “You’d give up an offer to Harvard for her?”
“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t give up for her,” I tell him.
“I believe you.”
“Let’s get back out there before she does something that we’ll both have to clean up.” He stands, and I follow him out of the office.
When I sit back down next to Aurora, she looks me over. “You okay?”
“I’m good,” I tell her. “You?”
“Better now.” She takes hold of my hand and doesn’t let go for the rest of the night.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Connor was quiet the entire way home from my parents. I might be living in dreamland, but I thought the dinner went really well. And I can’t wait to do it again. I have no idea what his problem is. Maybe he’s not feeling well. Or my father said something to him during their private conversation.
“Did you not like dinner?” I ask, finally breaking the silence as we walk into his bedroom.
“You could have warned me we weren’t actually expected there, Aurora,” Connor says.
“You wouldn’t have come,” I tell him.
“No, I would never turn up to your father’s house without an invitation. Do you have any idea how awkward that was for me?”
“Can’t be any less awkward than when your father chained me up in a dark basement,” I spit. And the moment the words are out of my mouth, I regret them. The broken, defeated look on Connor’s face hurts my soul. “I didn’t mean that.”
“Yeah, you did,” he says.
“No, I didn’t.” I shake my head. “What did my father say to you? Whatever he said, it doesn’t matter. I’m not going anywhere, Connor. We are okay. We will be okay as long as we’re together.” I sit on the bed and bring my knees up to my chest.
