Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
They didn’t look at each other, didn’t speak to each other for the tense, short ride up. In the apartment, Amani perched on the sofa at the end closest to the door, while Vic stalked into the kitchen and poured two glasses of sparkling water. He left one on the coffee table near Amani, and cradled the other between his hands without drinking, his body language vibrating and tight as he paced to the window, staring out. Amani bit his tongue, waiting. He’d said ten minutes, and he’d meant ten minutes.
“Her name is Julie,” Vic suddenly said, clipped and abrupt. “The woman. And the little girl, Siorse? She’s my niece. She just calls me Dad because her real father’s not exactly welcome here.”
Her real father…? His niece… “Your older brother…?” he realized as it clicked together. “The boy in the photos.”
“Oliver,” Vic confirmed grimly. “He’s eleven years older than I am. He…” He closed his eyes, deep creases around them. “Fuck. This isn’t mine to tell, Amani.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I do. Just so you know I wouldn’t abandon you for nothing.” Vic opened his eyes, glaring out the window, then tossed back his sparkling water like he was tossing back a bracing shot of whiskey, his voice tight and hard-edged as he continued, “When he was the age I am now, Julie was this—she was an aspiring actress, still in high school, while my brother was…he was trying to be a screenwriter. He didn’t want the company. He had his own delusions of grandeur.” A disgusted snort. “He’d get into these Hollywood parties, meet women, try to impress them. And he…” Every word thick with emotion, with loathing. “He got Julie drunk and…she was only fucking seventeen, Amani.”
The cold implications in those words were ice against the marrow of Amani’s bones; he curled his hand against his chest. “Oh, Vic…”
“Yeah.” Vic’s smile was a cruel, humorless sickle. “And that’s how Siorse happened. The one saving grace is that Julie has no memory of that night. She was blacked out, but that doesn’t make it any less horrifying to wake up and realize what happened to her. She may not have to relive the experience, but she still knows.” He trailed to a whisper, mouth moving against the rim of his glass. “And then she realized she was pregnant with Siorse.”
Amani unfolded himself from the couch. He didn’t want that need inside him, to reach out to Vic, to comfort him, caress him until he went soft and emptied of his tension, but he couldn’t stay at a distance, either. He settled nearby, resting his shoulder against the steel framing, looking up at him. “So she kept the baby.”
“She wanted to.” Vic glanced down at him, but his eyes were shuttered, closed. “My parents were—still are—so completely disgusted with my brother. They disowned him, cut him out of the will, told him to never come home again. And for Julie…they gave her everything. They covered her medical care, hired private tutors to keep her up with her studies so she wouldn’t fail high school, paid for childcare, paid her university tuition, bought her a house. Siorse wants for nothing, and attends one of the best private schools in New York. Fuck, they treated her better than they treated me, but…she deserves it. Anything Julie or Siorse need…they have only to ask.” A sad chuckle choked out. “And you know, she’s so sweet she almost never asks. Not unless she really needs it.”
“You really love her, don’t you?”
“She’s not my blood, but she’s like family. And Siorse is family, and I’m the closest thing to a dad she’s got.” Vic shook his head sharply. “I know it’s ridiculous, me being so secretive about them, but I’m trying to protect them. Tabloids don’t follow me around the way they stalk someone like Ash, but all it would take is one hot tip about the woman and child I visit every so often to thrust them into the spotlight, and all that scrutiny and pain. All she wants is to live her life.” His fingers tightened against the glass so hard it squeaked. “It might drag my brother out into the light and leave him squirming like the cockroach he is, but the pain it would cause them wouldn’t be worth it.”
Every new layer of this story added horror upon horror, grief upon grief. Amani bit his lip. “He was never…?”
“My brother never had to deal with a thing, other than losing out on his inheritance. He’s still directing movies in Hollywood and making his fortune there. Fits right in with those Weinstein types. I’ve thought about reporting him so many times, but if she doesn’t want to press charges then there’s nothing I can do but try to make sure she has the life she wants. It’s not fair. And it’s not fair that Siorse never had a father who was decent to her.”