I couldn’t look at him as I spoke. “Sapphire came to me because she was on the run from a psychopath. He killed her brother, and he expected her to pay her brother’s debt. The state took away the house she lost, so she had no way to pay him off. So he said he wanted her instead. She bought a plane ticket to Milan and auditioned for my show. She asked to be paid under the table, and I agreed.”
He hung on every word.
“We worked together for a while, and she never told me about the asshole that was chasing her. The longer I worked with her, the more I felt inspired by her beauty. That’s when my obsession started. I don’t sleep with my models, and that’s a policy I’ve never broken…but I couldn’t stop imagining her in all these different scenarios…” I didn’t feel strange telling my father this, not when he was going to break my face at the end of the conversation anyway. “Long story short, she was captured by the Skull Kings and brought to the Underground. I happened to be there for business, and her stalker was also there. We got into a bidding war…and I paid a hundred million to get her out of there. I took her to my place, and I told her she belonged to me exclusively. She was my prisoner, my muse. When you first met her, I told her to stay in my bedroom. But she snuck out and introduced herself as my girlfriend…and you adored her. She used it as leverage against me, said if I didn’t treat her right, she would rat me out.”
My father still didn’t react, listening to every word.
“As time went on, things began to change. She became my friend, my confidant, my lover…and we were close. I shared my whole life with her. She shared hers with me. But I told her it didn’t mean anything. I would never want marriage or a family. But then she told me she loved me…and that’s when everything fell apart. I told her to leave…and that’s the end of the story.”
My father didn’t move, even though I expected him to jump out of his seat and beat me senseless. At this point, I was in so much pain there was nothing he could do to make me feel worse. He could hit me if he wanted—and I would take it. He finally took a drink from his glass, lifting the tumbler high so he could get every drop in one gulp.
“Our relationship isn’t what it seems…it’s not real. It’s just—”
“It’s even more real,” he said quietly. “Despite what you did to her, she still looked past the cruelty and fell in love with you. Con, that’s how you know a woman’s love is real. If she can accept you for who you are, all the good and all the bad, you know you met the right woman. And the second you want to be a better person for her…then you have to marry her.”
“I’m surprised you aren’t whacking me over the head with that scotch bottle…”
He tilted his face down slightly. “It would be hypocritical if I did…”
“What?” I whispered.
He leaned back into the couch, quiet as he considered his response. He rubbed his fingers across his chin, turning quiet. “Doesn’t matter. This is your story, not mine. I can’t stress it enough, Con. By doing nothing, you risk losing the love of your life. If you just tell her you’re willing to work on it, that you love her, I know that will be enough for her to come back. But you have to meet her halfway.”
I sighed under my breath.
He flashed me a look of disappointment. “When am I ever wrong about anything, son?”
I sighed again. “Never.”
“Then answer this question—to yourself. She’s been gone for seven weeks. With your newfound freedom and your bachelor lifestyle restored, how many women have you slept with?”
Did he know? My father might know a lot about my life, but there was no way to know who slept in my bed when the lights were off.
He gave me a knowing look, like he already knew the answer. “You don’t want anything to change, but it already has. You’re still in this relationship. You’re still as committed as you ever were. So stop being in this relationship alone—get your damn woman back.”
8
Sapphire
Over the next few weeks, I finally fell into a routine. New York started to feel like home, and while it didn’t have the same beauty as Italy, it had a lot of its own good qualities. There was a coffee shop around the corner from my house that made the best coffee, so I stopped there every morning before I went to the gym. The park was a perfect place to jog, so when I didn’t feel like breathing in the sweaty air from everyone around me, I took a trail through the trees. Now that fall had settled in, the leaves of the trees turned red and gold. My breath escaped as vapor in the cold mornings.