Chapter 2 - THE TEN-THOUSAND-DOLLAR BET
Nico found us before I could leave.
He pushed open the office doors without knocking.
“Dad?”
His eyes moved to me.
Then to my bare feet.
Then to the heels in my hand.
His expression changed.
“Myra?”
I looked at him.
For a moment, I remembered the man I'd believed he was.
The flowers.
The dinners.
The way he'd held me when I cried about my father's surgeries.
Then I remembered his laughter.
Girls like Myra always pay their debts eventually.
I felt sick.
“What are you doing here?” Nico demanded.
Leo's voice was calm.
“Lower your voice.”
Nico blinked.
“Dad, this is between me and my girlfriend.”
“Not anymore.”
Nico looked at me.
“What did you tell him?”
I swallowed.
“The truth.”
His face tightened.
“What truth?”
I stared.
“The bet.”
Silence.
Nico's expression changed.
Then he laughed.
“Oh, come on.”
Leo didn't move.
Nico continued.
“It was a joke.”
I looked at him.
“A ten-thousand-dollar joke?”
He rolled his eyes.
“Myra, you're being dramatic.”
Leo stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Nico turned.
“Dad—”
“You lied to her about the hospital bills.”
Nico went pale.
“You told her she owed you.”
Silence.
“And you treated her trust like something you could win in a wager.”
Nico swallowed.
“It's not what it sounds like.”
Leo's expression hardened.
“Then explain it.”
Nico said nothing.
I looked at him.
For the first time, I saw how small he looked without his father's name protecting him.
I took a breath.
“We're finished.”
Nico stared.
“What?”
I lifted my chin.
“I'm breaking up with you.”
His face twisted.
“You can't just—”
“Yes,” I said.
May you like
“I can.”
And for the first time in eight months, I walked away without asking permission.
