Page 95 of Poisoned Promise
Dove’s eyes widen slightly and she shakes her head, then her brows knit together. “Why are you working with Caterina? How can you stand by and let this happen? Did I mean that little to you?”
“Don’t,” I snap. “You mean everything to me. You always did. I wasn’t lying when I said your death nearly broke me. First Nico and then you? I couldn’t exist for weeks because my entire world had been carved up. Caterina was all I had. She…” I hesitate and lower my voice. “She told me she heard there was a hit out on your family and sent people to help because she knew Nico would want her to. But when they got there, it was too late. A couple of days ago, she told me that she thought you had killed Nico over the failed drug deal. Is it true that you were the Nightingale?”
Dove rolls her eyes. “Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters! The Nightingale killed Nico… if you’re covering for someone?—.”
“Don’t,” Dove snaps tiredly. “The Nightingale or me, it doesn’t matter. Don’t try to dress it up because you can’t comprehend that your friend was a monster. People say there are signs with rapists but I never saw it, and I don’t blame you for not seeing it either.”
“So you didn’t kill him over the drug deal? You did it because…” Saying it out loud makes it real and the memory of Nico twists in my mind. “Because he tried to rape you?”
Dove nods and scoffs roughly. “Did she tell you about the drug deal?”
I nod. “Your father pulled out because he got greedy.”
“Bullshit. He pulled out after learning a few things about Caterina and deciding he didn’t want to do business with her anymore. He was going to bring that deal to you, Felix. Because I persuaded him that even though you were a newbie, you had a good heart and a good head. He was going to bring that deal to you because your reputation when you stood on your own two feet was climbing and he wanted to get in early.”
I want to ask her more but it’s not until then that I realize she successfully derailed my burning question about her pregnancy.
I dare not hope that it’s true.
After all, there’s no proof that the baby back then is the same baby she’s raised into a decent teenager with a penchant for stealing cars, but her avoidance gives me hope.
I step forward and Dove tiredly meets my gaze. “I’m telling the truth,” she says weakly. “If you don’t believe me… I’m not going to fight for that. I know the truth and I know my truth. That’s all that matters.”
“Dove.”
“What?”
It’s an overwhelming amount of information to divulge in such a short time, most of which has defused my anger and replaced it with confusion.
But that one burning question remains as I look her over and replay everything she said in the back of my mind.
Captain Healy wanted a deal with me.
Caterina never takes a lost deal lying down.
Nico dying two days prior definitely would have sent her into a spiral.
Reese and Toph betrayed me and yet it seems that betrayal started all the way back with Nico.
So that one burning question is the only real thing I have left.
“Is Alex my son?”
28
FELIX
Dove looks up at me with those gigantic, sad eyes of hers and nods.
Something in my world shifts. It’s like I’ve been spinning off-axis for my entire life and not known it until this very second.
Alex is my son.
Dove, pregnant with him and reeling from being attacked by Nico, fled to give him a safer, better life after fearing I had a hand in the slaughter of her family.
It’s a hell of a tough pill to swallow and far too many emotions to decipher collide in my chest at once, resulting in a squeeze of physical pain that drags a rough gasp past my lips.
