Page 48 of Corrupt Princess

“Nico?” she asks, turning to me after placing the takeout cups and what I now see is a bag of pasties—not from Betties—on my coffee table.

“Y-yeah.”

“I’m Jade, Jocelyn’s niece. I’m also a bereavement counsellor.”

My heart thunders so hard in my chest, I’d be surprised if she couldn’t hear it from the other side of the room.

My lips part to argue, but she cuts me off as if she can read my mind.

“I know you don’t want me here, Nico, and I know that you’re going to fight this. But I also know that Jocelyn wouldn’t have called me in if it weren’t entirely necessary.”

“I’m not sure you should even be in the building,” I confess.

“I’ve been fully vetted, and I’m under a very, very strict NDA. You don’t need to worry. I’ve worked with the Cirillo Family before. You can trust me.”

“Can I though?” I don’t mean to say the words out loud, but if Jade is offended by them, then she doesn’t show it.

“Here,” she says, holding her phone out to me. “Call your boss if you’re sceptical. He knows I’m here. I spoke with him personally yesterday.”

“Fucking hell,” I mutter as I march over and drop onto my sofa.

She doesn’t say anything for the longest time, and with my eyes closed as I rest my head back, it’s almost possible to believe I just dreamed all that and she was a figment of my imagination.

But then she shatters that illusion when her voice fills the air around me.

“I understand that things have been rough recently, Nico.”

I scoff at her words.

“And I also know that talking to me is probably the very last thing that you want to be doing right now. But I can promise you, talking about this, about your dad and your loss, will help.”

My fists curl, my short fingernails digging into my palms until I’m almost certain I’ve drawn blood.

Lifting my head, my eyes find hers and she silently encourages me to say something.

I suck in a breath, remembering those words on Jocelyn’s note.

Be up, be ready, and be brave.

Easier said than done, Jocelyn.

Then I think of Brianna downstairs, possibly still in bed and suffering because of me, and before I know what’s happening, my mouth opens and words start pouring out.

* * *

Jade stays all morning. Mostly, she just listens as I talk about Dad and the giant black hole he’s left in my life, but every now and then she’ll ask a question that forces me to think hard, to feel more, and to rip the already painful wound open even deeper.

It’s fucking agony, talking about everything I’ve lost, the hatred and anger it’s left me with, and all the stupid fucking decisions I’ve made since that night—most of which revolve around one woman.

By the time she pushes to her feet to finally leave, I’m emotionally drained in a way I’m pretty sure I have never been before.

My heart aches, my muscles are all so tight I’m sure some of them are on the verge of snapping, and my head is spinning. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I’d just woken up with a killer hangover with the way the room is spinning.

“Jocelyn has booked me in for weekly sessions with you,” Jade informs me, much to my horror.

Although I can’t deny that despite my pain, there is a part of me that feels lighter from having spoken to her.

“Okay,” I say, as much to her shock as it is mine.

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