cares deeply for me.
I do wish I could blame someone else—Nina, my dad—but it really all comes down to me. I was careless and I fucked up royally.
I let out a heavy breath.
“I really didn’t mean to hurt your feelings back then, Nina…”
“Hurt my feelings?” She stares at me wondrously. “You broke my fucking heart! Do you have any idea how much I gave you that night, beyond my virginity?”
Of course, I did. Her love, her body and pretty much her soul; she got stuck raising my baby alone. The seed I’d planted in her went on to determine the course of all sorts of aspects of her life.
“You turned that moment into a slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am—even after I told you how I felt for you. You fucked me for no other reason than your pride or whatever the fuck that sudden jealousy was!”
Her voice has gone shaky and her eyes have watered.
It kills me to see how much she’s fighting herself not to cry, her raw pain on display.
“I just don’t know what came over me. The thought of some other guy being with you completely fried my brain in a way I rarely experience. But Nina, you must know how much you mean to me—I’ve told you so many times…”
“Oh, Christ, here we go again. They’re just words, Brent. There’s this old saying—maybe you’ve heard of it—something about actions speaking louder than words? You’ve told me all about appreciating me before and you still left. Getting the sound of crickets when you reach out to someone sure as hell doesn’t make one feel like they mean a lot.”
I am crushed again as I imagine how abandoned and lonely she must have felt, how broken I left her. All I want to do is make everything better for her—whatever it takes.
Nina brings out such extreme emotions in me and it frightens me—I don’t like the lack of control I feel around her and everything that has to do with her. I lost control when it seemed someone else would have her, and I lost my mind when I found out about Bianca. Still, our paths keep crossing, despite time and distance and so many other things between us, and feeling like someone else is pulling our strings freaks me out, but at the same time, I’m grateful to whatever this force is because it kept bringing us together, and now, it has glued us together.
My dad’s got an earful coming.
I have a sense of duty when it comes to my father, of course—a commitment to our legacy. But my sense of duty toward my child trumps both.
“I’m glad you told me before doing anything because the old man was bluffing. Even if he tried, there’s not a whole lot he can take from me. The work I put in built a hell of a solid foundation for me, and my name isn’t only tied up in my dad’s companies and investments. I busted my ass to make my own money, and I have shit-tons of it locked away—far out of his reach. He can’t touch me, Nina—not in that way, so you had no need to worry about me falling from grace.”
I realize she might have left out another part of why she considered my dad’s offer. Maybe she agreed it was better for me to be left with my billions and debutantes for my own sake.
Then something dawns on me.
“But at some point, you were considering staying with me, even if I was suddenly broke?”
She looks at me in disbelief.
“Of course! Brent, don’t you get it? I…” She stops and turns away, but I know what she was going to say and I need to hear it.
“Say it, Nina, please.”
She slowly looks back at me, tears making her eyes shimmer.
“I still love you,” she says sadly—like she wishes it wasn’t true.
I can’t help but place a peck on her lips then, surprising her into a gasp.
“I love you too, Nina,” I say, and saying those words cause a massive flood of relief to wash over me.
All tension eases away, and I can’t believe how light I suddenly feel.
All this time, that’s all I needed to do?
Nina’s tears fall and her face starts crumpling, but I can see she is still fighting off
I do wish I could blame someone else—Nina, my dad—but it really all comes down to me. I was careless and I fucked up royally.
I let out a heavy breath.
“I really didn’t mean to hurt your feelings back then, Nina…”
“Hurt my feelings?” She stares at me wondrously. “You broke my fucking heart! Do you have any idea how much I gave you that night, beyond my virginity?”
Of course, I did. Her love, her body and pretty much her soul; she got stuck raising my baby alone. The seed I’d planted in her went on to determine the course of all sorts of aspects of her life.
“You turned that moment into a slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am—even after I told you how I felt for you. You fucked me for no other reason than your pride or whatever the fuck that sudden jealousy was!”
Her voice has gone shaky and her eyes have watered.
It kills me to see how much she’s fighting herself not to cry, her raw pain on display.
“I just don’t know what came over me. The thought of some other guy being with you completely fried my brain in a way I rarely experience. But Nina, you must know how much you mean to me—I’ve told you so many times…”
“Oh, Christ, here we go again. They’re just words, Brent. There’s this old saying—maybe you’ve heard of it—something about actions speaking louder than words? You’ve told me all about appreciating me before and you still left. Getting the sound of crickets when you reach out to someone sure as hell doesn’t make one feel like they mean a lot.”
I am crushed again as I imagine how abandoned and lonely she must have felt, how broken I left her. All I want to do is make everything better for her—whatever it takes.
Nina brings out such extreme emotions in me and it frightens me—I don’t like the lack of control I feel around her and everything that has to do with her. I lost control when it seemed someone else would have her, and I lost my mind when I found out about Bianca. Still, our paths keep crossing, despite time and distance and so many other things between us, and feeling like someone else is pulling our strings freaks me out, but at the same time, I’m grateful to whatever this force is because it kept bringing us together, and now, it has glued us together.
My dad’s got an earful coming.
I have a sense of duty when it comes to my father, of course—a commitment to our legacy. But my sense of duty toward my child trumps both.
“I’m glad you told me before doing anything because the old man was bluffing. Even if he tried, there’s not a whole lot he can take from me. The work I put in built a hell of a solid foundation for me, and my name isn’t only tied up in my dad’s companies and investments. I busted my ass to make my own money, and I have shit-tons of it locked away—far out of his reach. He can’t touch me, Nina—not in that way, so you had no need to worry about me falling from grace.”
I realize she might have left out another part of why she considered my dad’s offer. Maybe she agreed it was better for me to be left with my billions and debutantes for my own sake.
Then something dawns on me.
“But at some point, you were considering staying with me, even if I was suddenly broke?”
She looks at me in disbelief.
“Of course! Brent, don’t you get it? I…” She stops and turns away, but I know what she was going to say and I need to hear it.
“Say it, Nina, please.”
She slowly looks back at me, tears making her eyes shimmer.
“I still love you,” she says sadly—like she wishes it wasn’t true.
I can’t help but place a peck on her lips then, surprising her into a gasp.
“I love you too, Nina,” I say, and saying those words cause a massive flood of relief to wash over me.
All tension eases away, and I can’t believe how light I suddenly feel.
All this time, that’s all I needed to do?
Nina’s tears fall and her face starts crumpling, but I can see she is still fighting off
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