“A wild child you say?” Consider my interest piqued.
“Nothing could tame him. Whenever someone told him no, it was as if his brain rewired the word into a yes.”
“I’ve been told I can be a bit wild myself.” I smile at the connection to my dad.
“I don’t doubt it one bit. Those kinds of genes don’t skip a generation.”
I clasp my hands together in my lap. “What else can you share about him?”
“Are you sure that you feel ready to hear about him? I don’t want to upset you.”
“Yeah. I want to know about him before I head back to America.”
Matteo’s brows raise. “You plan on going back? Why?”
“I came here to find my dad, and well, he’s not exactly here anymore. There’s nothing here for me.”
“But what about Santiago?”
Shit. He’s your boyfriend to the world, Chloe. Of course you need to think about how your decisions affect him. I rush to respond. “I think we could use a break.”
He frowns. “Because of what happened between the three of us?”
I look away and nod. “Yes. It’s hard for me to forgive liars. Not talking to you isn’t an option for me because I want to learn about my father. But with Santiago…I’ve had plenty of bad experiences with people who manipulate the truth to last a lifetime.”
“I can see where you’re coming from. I really can, even though I haven’t been through it myself. But you’ve been dating him for a year. That’s a long time to just get up and leave when things get hard. Are you sure you can’t sort it out?”
It’s hard to not scoff at the idea of dating Santiago for a year. I haven’t even had a relationship with my Netflix subscription for that long.
I choose my words wisely. “A break could give us some distance to figure things out.”
“Distance doesn’t fix things. Talking them out does.”
“No offense, but the only reason I’m talking to you is because I want to know about my dad. I’m not exactly happy with you either.”
“I know. And I appreciate you wanting to spend time with me, even if it’s for your own reasons. I promise I’ll try harder to be a permanent person you can count on in your life because you are my niece. My brother would expect no less of me.”
I swallow back the lump in my throat. “Okay.”
“And as your uncle, I feel the need to apologize on Santiago’s behalf.”
Oh, God. I thought he had moved past this already.
He keeps going, ignoring the look on my face. “It’s only right to explain what happened. See, he kept his cool when I told him the shocking truth. The poor man took it like a champ, repeatedly telling me that I needed to share the truth with you. I did ask him to tell you instead of me, but now I realize that wasn’t fair to him. He was right that the news would have been better received if I told you. So, he was caught in the middle between wanting to protect you and wanting to tell you the truth. It’s not like I made his job any easier by withholding the truth from you when you came over. It was wrong of me, and I’m very sorry for doing that to you. He came over the very next morning pissed as hell and told me to tell you the truth or else he would. And his version of the truth was undoubtedly a lot worse.”
My throat tightens, limiting my ability to speak.
He takes a deep breath. “It wasn’t fair, and you were right. It was cruel. And Chloe, I hope you forgive me one day. I understand honesty is extremely important to you, and I truly want to make it up to you. Not only because you’re my niece, but because I do care for you. My brother would smack me if he were here right now for hurting you in the first place.”
Unavoidable tears fill my eyes at the mention of my dad wanting to hurt someone for making me unhappy. It’s a foreign concept to me when all I’ve done is get hurt by those who were supposed to defend me.
“You think so? That he would be angry at you?” My voice cracks.
“Absolutely. He would’ve kicked my ass outside for making you cry. He was aggressive like that. I’m telling you—wild child in all capital letters.”
“I wish I could’ve gotten to know him.”
“Me too. You remind me of him in the best ways.”
“How so?”
“You have this kind of confidence I don’t see often. He was similar. It always drew people to him no matter if they were strangers or old friends. And I get that same feeling from you. You’re rather charming. It took you less than five minutes to get a job with me, and I never hire anyone.”