Chapter 4
Nico stepped directly into the aisle between the tables, one hand still loosely in his jacket pocket, and the entire section of the restaurant seemed to quiet around him the way a room quiets when someone who has never needed to raise his voice decides to use it anyway.
"Darren," Nico said, pleasant as a greeting between old associates. "Sit down for a second."
Darren's smile faltered by exactly one degree, the kind of flicker only someone who'd spent eleven months studying his face could catch. "Nico. Didn't expect to see you here."
"I didn't expect to hear what I just heard, either." Nico's voice stayed level, almost gentle, which somehow made it worse. "You told this woman that when you leave, she'll be covered in bruises."
"That's not—" Darren's eyes flicked to me, fast, furious. "She's exaggerating. We were having a private conversation."
"I have very good hearing for a private conversation two feet away." Nico glanced at me. "Elena. Has he done this before? Not tonight. Before."
I felt Darren's whole body go rigid beside me, willing me silent with nothing but the heat of his stare. I thought about the lamp against the wall. I thought about eleven months of small, careful cruelties designed to look like love from the outside and feel like drowning from the inside.
"Yes," I said, and my voice came out steadier than I expected. "For almost a year."
May you like
Darren's jaw clenched. "You don't know what you're doing, Elena."
"I know exactly what I'm doing," I said. "I'm finally saying it out loud in a room where someone's actually listening."
