Page 105 of Knox
“You’re kidding, right?” Cillian leans closer, and I can see how excited he is about this fake scenario. “I can buy the whole damn street so we can hire thousands of actors to control every single part of the narrative.”
Oh wow…
That’s worse than I thought.
“And better yet,” he adds, “I can arrange to pick you up in a helicopter with a giant picture of our faces kissing printed on the side, and then fly away with fireworks.”
I stare at him for a full ten seconds before bursting out laughing. “What the fuck, Cillian?!”
“Ah, don’t lie. You would love that.”
“Absolutely.” I keep laughing. “I would love to see that… but unfortunately, I’m not like Björn or Damián, so I don’t have any psycho exes or anything like that. All of my past relationships ended because of normal life circumstances.”
“Oh… You are lucky,” he says, and his tone is so sad it makes my heart ache.
I stop massaging his foot and look at him. “Cil… Do you have a crazy ex?”
“…Aurelio.”
“Is he dangerous? A psycho?”
“No,” Cillian says, waving his hand dismissively. “He’s not a psycho or dangerous. Just a gold-digging cheater who is a massive asshole.”
“What happened with him?” I ask, and Cillian hesitates, shifting uncomfortably on the couch.
He pulls his feet back toward him and curls up.
“Sorry, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
I turn my attention back to the TV, missing the weight of his legs across my lap and wishing I’d kept my mouth shut instead of bringing up something that made him so uncomfortable.
“Most people,” Cillian says, and I instantly look over at him. “…Most people look at rich guys like me and think we have everything. They figure because we have money, we must have zero problems. They think we’re all greedy monsters who abuse everyone and everything around us.”
Ugh… a painful sting hits me right in the chest.
I am one of those people.
Hell, I thought the same thing about Cillian when we first met.
Not that his initial behavior didn’t help fuel that fire… but that’s beside the point.
“And it’s so far from the truth,” Cillian continues, staring down at his hands. “I’m lonely, Knox… I lost my parents, and I grew up in a world where everyone judges me for what I do, and for what I don’t do…” He lets out a bitter scoff. “Fuck, I could donate twenty-six million dollars to charity, and people would still attack me for not giving more, or tear me apart because I double-parked outside a coffee shop like I own the world.”
“I’m sorry, Cil…” I say softly, because I genuinely have no idea what else to say.
I can’t tell him it’s not true or that everything is going to be fine. Because it is true, and shit is definitely not fine.
“And sure,” Cillian says, giving me a smile that doesn’t come anywhere near his eyes, “having money is awesome, and it’s a lot of fun. But it comes with a fucked-up price tag. The reality is that ninety percent of the people you meet just want to use you. They step on you, they take advantage of you, they push you around, and then they expect you to be totally fine with it because, hey, you’re rich.”
He turns his head away, staring at the floor.
“When I met Aurelio, I really thought I’d finally found someone real who was able to like me for who I am… Until I found out the truth.”
“What did he do?” I ask, feeling a sudden flare of rage ignite in my gut.
I’ll have to ask Alexios to find that fucking asshole.
“What didn’t he do?” Cillian chuckles, though there isn’t an ounce of humor in it. “He was taking his secret hookups out on my private yacht and pretending it was his. He was stealing from me, using my credit cards without permission, and dropping my name all over the city to open tabs, score VIP tickets, and cash in on personal favors.”
