Fuck me. He was right and he damn well knew it when he nodded once. Sometimes, I wanted to shake Della until sense was brought to her, but that was selfish of me. Her loyalty wasn’t a bad thing. “She’d want to see her get help instead,” I agreed, shaking my head.
Dallas hummed in agreement.
Cursing, I looked at my watch. “What’s Flamell going to do about it then?”
There was a brief pause. “What you can’t.”
I stared at the back of his head until understanding sunk in. “He’s going to go after the girls to get them to talk. There’d be no way for Pratt to get off with a slap on the wrist with actual witnesses testifying against him on top of the other evidence.”
Again, Dallas nodded.
Sitting back, I watched the scenery pass slowly by us. Rush hour was always a pain in the ass, but it wasn’t too different from any other time of day when you were in the city. It was suffocating, loud. I’d considered moving more times than I could count, but never did. I didn’t want to be too far away from Della.
I spoke up again. “Everybody seems to know what Della is to me. Isn’t always a good thing considering Pratt is trying to use it against me. Here I thought I was discreet.”
“Do you want people to know?”
“Eventually,” I murmured.
“If you don’t mind me saying—” I chuckled over his cautiousness, it never stopped him from sharing his two cents. “I don’t think people care as much as Pratt, or you, think they would.”
“And why is that?”
A shoulder lifted as he glanced at me in the mirror again. “You two are the kind of people that others inspire to be like. They want fairytales, not ghost stories.”
“Who says we’re a fairytale?”
“You’ve loved her for a long time.”
“Not like—”
“Exactly, boss. You’ve loved her in a thousand different ways. That kind of love is the well-rounded story people want. You don’t only see her as some young girl who looks up to you. You see her for what she grew into. You’re supportive and protective and willing to do anything for her, just like her parents would have wanted.”
“I doubt Anthony would have been okay with what I’m doing with his daughter, Dallas,” I mused dryly.
He laughed softly. “Probably not. But, not to be disrespectful, he isn’t around to tell you not to. He made his bed and doesn’t have a say in how you and Della make yours.”
I let that sink in for a moment. “You think it really wouldn’t matter to people?”
“I think hope goes a long way.”
“Hope?”
A head bob. “That Adele Saint James can get her happily ever after with someone she’s always had by her side. The general public knows she isn’t like her family. They’re rooting for her.”
I found that hard to believe. Not that they’d root for her, but that they’d do the same for us. But maybe I was a cynic and wanted to think I didn’t deserve the same ending because I was struggling to accept the story changed. The endgame seemed pointless to fight though because our narrative never drifted. The one where I’ve loved Della her entire life.
I was just going to love her ten times harder for the rest of mine.
“Sir?” he said cautiously. When I didn’t answer, he chose to continue. “You’ve always been there for her, but when everything comes to light, she’ll need you.”
“I know, Dallas.”
“All of you.”
All of you.
Blowing out a quiet breath, I found myself nodding to the window. “She already has all of me.”
I was met by silence.
And that fucking smile.
Seeing the lean blonde sprawled across the bed on her stomach had the tightness in my chest disappearing in a millisecond. All it took was one look at those long, tan legs and I was done. Walking around the side, I sat on the edge and moved the hair away from her face which was buried into her pillow, one arm wrapped around it while the other was somewhere under the blanket she was twisted in.
She stirred when I brushed my fingers along her cheek, letting out a little breathy moan that sounded like my name. After a few seconds, she turned her head and fluttered her tired eyes open until they found mine. “Theo?” Sitting up, she moved hair out of her face and looked at the clock on her nightstand. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“You must have needed it.” Her bottom lip drew into her mouth. With a shrug, she swiped her eyelids with her fisted hands, and that was when I realized they were puffy. “You’ve been crying.”
“I—”
“And don’t try lying about it.” Situating myself so I sat beside her with my back against her headboard, I crossed one ankle over the other and watched her. “Dallas told me.”
She frowned. “He’s such a tattletale.”
I chuckled. “He’s doing his job.”
“So, you’re finally admitting it?”
I quirked my brow.
“You’ve insisted for years that I should use him to get around the city, even though you made it seem like he was hired by Sophie.” She rolled her eyes and slid backward to mimic my position, crossing her arms over her chest. I hadn’t told her Sophie hired him I just hadn’t denied it when she’d asked me as much. “I always suspected he was watching after me a little too much for him to be Sophie’s employee.”
“Why would you say that?” It wasn’t like Sophie had anything against Della. She was too headstrong about how she wanted her niece to live, but she loved her.
“She’s Sophie,” came the response I wasn’t surprised about. “She usually doesn’t do anything without it being in her best interest.”
I could have tried arguing, but I didn’t. “I hired Dallas years ago. Wanted to make sure you were looked after when I wasn’t around.”
“Is that how you see me?”
I was silent, confused as I watched her face twist in horror.
“As your responsibility? Because that kind of sucks to think about, Theo. I don’t want to be treated like some ward—”
“Stop.” Shifting, I moved the blanket away from her and readjusted myself, so my body was fully turned toward hers. “I was more than willing to have this conversation over dinner, but now works too.”
I refused to let her say anything before I got out what I had to say first. It was clear she wanted to interject, but after our conversation that morning, I wasn’t about to let her imagination run wild over what was going on here.
“When I told you that I didn’t want to go back to what we were, I meant it. It’s impossible to be who we were when you were just little Della and I was only your dad’s friend. You were never my responsibility even if I wanted to believe you were. When you got older, when you started walking and talking with a newfound sass that made people laugh and turn their heads, I wished you were only that. Honest to God, Della, I wish sometimes I looked at you like I did then. As this adorable little girl who looked at the world with such innocence and hope. That meant that I didn’t fail you and your family by letting corruption sink in.