Jonathan stares at me across the table and I expect disapproval, or perhaps surprise. Instead, his lips curl into a smile. A genuine one.
A proud one.
Wait. He’s proud of me?
Wasn’t he the one who said I wouldn’t tell Aiden anything? He should be surprised that I did talk. Or was that entire speech a manipulation plot to push me to speak?
Whatever it is, the expression on Jonathan’s face encourages me to keep talking.
“I was sixteen at the time, a minor. Since I had no relatives, aside from my father and Alicia, I was taken to a safe house. I couldn’t attend Alicia’s funeral, even if I wanted to.”
“I’m sorry.” Astrid’s eyes fill with deep sympathy. “Mum died when I was fifteen. It would’ve killed me if I hadn’t attended her funeral.”
My lips tremble, but I rein in the tears. All I think about is the nights I spent in that safe house. The fear. The guilt for ratting my dad out. The thoughts of what if I made a mistake. But most of all, I was hit by the grief of losing Alicia and the inability to even say goodbye.
In a way, I still haven’t.
“What happened afterwards?” Levi is the first who goes back to eating.
“Statements and trials.” I release a breath. “Lots of trials.”
“How long did that take?” Aiden asks. “Weeks? Months? It couldn’t have possibly been eleven years, right?”
Elsa pins him down with a glare again, but his attention stays firmly on me.
“Due to the nature of the crimes my father committed, I had to be admitted into the Witness Protection Program.”
This time, Jonathan is the one who narrows his eyes on me. He couldn’t possibly know that I escaped the program the moment I could. After that, I didn’t let them write my story for me. I went back to the cottage and wrote my new beginning with my own bare hands.
“You have an answer for everything. Brilliant.” Aiden goes back to eating.
“Aiden,” Jonathan warns.
“You can’t bring her here, to the place Mum called home, and expect me to act all acceptant of her. That woman is not Alicia. Why can’t you see it?”
“She does look like her, though,” Levi mutters.
“Silence,” Jonathan orders, and just like that, everyone turns quiet.
He has the power to make anyone listen, even if they don’t like him or his decisions.
“Aiden.” His attention falls on his son. “When I told you to stay away from Elsa, what did you do?”
“That’s different —”
“Answer my question,” he cuts him off. “What. Did. You. Do?”
“I married her.”
Levi laughs under his breath but stops when Jonathan’s deadly attention shifts to him. “And you. Did you hear a word I said about staying away from Lord Clifford’s daughter?”
“Nope.” Levi takes Astrid’s hand in his and kisses her knuckles. “I made her my world.”
“Fascinating.” The tone Jonathan speaks with suggests he finds this anything but ‘fascinating’. “Now, you two expect me to listen to you. Do you know what I call that? Hypocrisy.”
Aiden releases a mocking sound, but he doesn’t say anything, and I’m guessing it’s due to the way Elsa is discretely holding his hand on her lap.
After that, the meal goes peacefully — mostly. I keep to my space as Levi goes on about his upcoming game, and then he gets into a teasing argument with Aiden, who quit football after school.