Page 45 of Your Fault

The muscles in his back were as tense as the strings of a guitar, and the air grew so thick, it was impossible to breathe.

“Get away from her, Nicholas,” my mother ordered him, trying and failing to keep calm.

I stepped to one side, and my mother glared at me furiously.

“Get dressed right now, and walk out that door.”

I didn’t know what to do. I was terrified by seeing her out of control like that for the first time in years.

“Noah’s not going anywhere,” Nick declared calmly. That was when William, who had just come upstairs, appeared.

“What the hell is going on here?” he shouted, looking first at my mother and then at us. “Who did this to you, Nicholas?” His father looked with horror at the bruises covering his torso.

“Your son is out of control, and I don’t want him anywhere near Noah,” my mother said. She turned to Nick and hissed, “You’re violent, you get in fights, you have lowlife friends, and I’m not going to allow you to get my daughter involved in all that shit! And that’s the last word!”

“Mom, stop!” I shouted, before I said something even worse. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was leaving, but you can’t just burst in here and…”

“I can, and I will, as often as I have to. You’re my daughter.Now grab your things, put on some clothes, and get in the damn car!”

“NO!” I shrieked, feeling like a spoiled brat but unwilling to let anyone tell me what I could and couldn’t do. I wasn’t a little girl anymore.

“You were kidnapped, Noah!” my mother shouted in response. “You were kidnapped, and I thought something like that had happened again. You nearly gave me a heart attack,” she confessed, her eyes full of tears.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” I repeated, and I really felt it, but I couldn’t lose my nerve, not anymore. “But soon, you won’t be able to know where I am at all times. You can’t get in this state every time you don’t know where I am.”

Looking at me coldly, she said, “Get dressed and let’s go home,” pronouncing each word slowly, not seeming interested in a reply.

I didn’t want to go—that was the last thing I wanted—but my mother was on the verge of hysteria. I needed to get her away from Nick, especially because I was on the verge of telling her I was moving in with him.

“Wait for me in the car. I’ll be right down,” I finally said. Nicholas cursed, standing there next to me. My mother pretended she didn’t hear him as she and William walked out into the hall. I heard them shut the door a second later.

“Don’t go, Noah. If you go, you’re telling her she’s right,” Nicholas said angrily.

“You saw her. If I don’t go, it’ll be worse.”

He sighed in resignation. “I can’t wait for you to move in here.”

I was scared of telling my mother what we had in mind.

“It won’t be long,” I said.

He squeezed me in his arms, and with my cheek on his chest, I couldn’t help but think that a part of me was lying to him.

18

Nick

As I watched her go, I felt all the wrath I’d been holding back spilling over like lava from a volcano. I was so tired of all this shit… Raffaella’s words kept echoing in my head.

Your son is out of control, and I don’t want him anywhere near Noah.

I went to the kitchen and tried to calm down.

You’re violent, you get in fights…

I cursed the moment I had decided to help Lion.

I’m not going to allow you to get my daughter involved in all that shit!

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