Chapter 11 - THE APOLOGY MONEY COULDN'T BUY
Nico stood in front of me looking like a man who had finally run out of excuses.
For three years, he'd had money.
Power.
Connections.
Men who obeyed his every command.
Now he had none of the things that could fix what he'd broken.
I looked at him.
“You could have told me.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“You could have trusted me.”
“Yes.”
“You could have said one honest sentence instead of making me feel worthless.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
I stepped closer.
“Do you understand what those words did to me?”
His voice broke.
“Yes.”
“No, Nico.”
I shook my head.
“You don't.”
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then I continued.
“I spent three years loving you in every quiet way I knew.”
He lowered his head.
“I know.”
“I waited for you.”
“Yes.”
“I worried whenever you disappeared.”
“I know.”
“And I thought that if I loved you enough, eventually you'd stop making me feel like a guest in my own life.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
“But you never did.”
Nico covered his mouth.
For the first time, I watched the most feared man in New York cry without trying to hide it.
“I'm sorry,” he whispered.
I closed my eyes.
The words hurt because part of me had wanted them for years.
But they weren't enough.
“I believe you're sorry.”
He looked up.
“Then—”
“That doesn't mean I'm coming back.”
His expression collapsed.
I continued.
“I need a life that belongs to me.”
Nico nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Then he reached into his coat.
I stiffened.
He stopped immediately.
“It's a document.”
I said nothing.
He handed it to me.
A signed statement transferring the apartment lease he'd secretly maintained in my name.
Not as a gift.
As a correction to something he'd controlled without my knowledge.
I stared at it.
“Nico…”
He shook his head.
“I should never have made your housing depend on me.”
I looked toward the papers.
Then back at him.
“You don't get to buy forgiveness.”
“I know.”
He swallowed.
“I'm trying to stop using money to avoid becoming better.”
For a long moment, I studied him.
Then I handed back the document.
“I'll have my attorney review it.”
He nodded.
“Of course.”
That was new too.
The old Nico would've insisted I trust him.
This one stepped back.
Then my phone rang.
Detective Bennett.
I answered.
Her voice was urgent.
“Hannah, we found Victor Bellini.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
“At a private property in Connecticut.”
“Was he arrested?”
“Investigators are securing the location.”
I exhaled.
Then she continued.
“There's something else.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“We found a woman living there under another name.”
I froze.
“Who?”
“Lucia Moretti.”
Nico stopped breathing.
His mother.
Alive.
After twenty-seven years.
May you like
Then the detective added:
“And she has a recording proving who really ordered Daniel Bennett's disappearance.”
