Page 116 of Sacrifice (Corrupt Empire 2)

“I’ll take that as a no. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dante with a woman.”

“Oh, trust me, he had a revolving door of women when I lived with him, but I think he’s grown out of it now.”

James gave me a significant look. We couldn’t talk too much about Dante and James’ family in front of Gert. She didn’t know about the abuse.

“Tell us more about Tilly, Gert. Are we going to meet her soon?” I said, turning to my other friend.

She grinned and launched into full freaking out over a girl mode. An hour later, both James and I were exhausted listening to it. We all said our goodbyes and they promised they’d come to the stupid birthday party the company was throwing for me.

I walked out of the coffee shop with John next to me. He hadn’t bought the car today so the two of us trotted down the steps of the nearest tube station. Thankfully, the tube wasn’t particularly full and we both got a seat.

“Did you have a nice time with your friends?” John asked.

“Weren’t you listening?”

He smiled at me.

“The question still stands.”

“Yes, I did. I haven’t seen them much since everything happened.”

“No, I suppose it’s difficult now everything has changed for you.”

I turned to him fully, deciding maybe he could help me. I’d known him most of my life. He’d been employed by my family for a long time, doing various jobs for them. I hadn’t seen him much in the past few years because he stopped working directly for my dad.

“John, can I ask you something?”

“Hmm?”

“You heard what I said to them about Aiden.”

His expression grew wary.

“Yes.”

I hung my head a little.

“I don’t know what to do. I’m scared I’ve messed it all up.”

“You know this is a matter between the two of you.”

I fiddled with the pocket of my jacket.

“I know.”

He let out a long sigh.

“Avery, sometimes we say things we wish we hadn’t when emotions are running high. That doesn’t mean you’ve ruined anything. My only advice is to talk to him and tell him how you feel.”

“Yeah, like that’s easy to do with Aiden.”

He chuckled, patting my arm lightly.

“You’ve managed just fine so far with him. For as long as I’ve known Aiden, he’s been closed off. You came along and changed that. Do you think he would’ve been open to letting me help him if you hadn’t taught him it’s okay to let other people in?”

I shook my head. Aiden was different now from when we first met. He would never have told me anything about his parents or openly admitted his feelings.

“Well, there you go.”

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