“Bull.”
Damian looked up. “What?”
“You heard me, Aristedes. I said, ‘bull.’ Nothing’s come up. You just want a way to get out of what’s coming.”
“And that would be…?”
“A question.”
“Ask it, then.”
“Why didn’t you tell Nicolo or me when it happened? Why let us hear about it through those damned scandal sheets?”
“That’s two questions,” Damian said evenly.
“Yeah, well, here’s a third. Why didn’t you lean on us? There wasn’t a damned reason for you to go through all of that alone.”
“All of what?”
“Give me a break, Damian. You know all of what. Hell, man, losing the woman you love…”
“You make it sound as if I misplaced her,” Damian said, his voice flat and cold.
“You know I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that Nicolo and I talked about it and—”
“Is that all you and Barbieri have to keep you busy? Gossip like a pair of old women?”
He saw Lucas’s eyes narrow. Why wouldn’t they? Damian knew he was tossing Lucas’s concern in his teeth but to hell with that. The last thing he wanted was sympathy.
“We care about you,” Lucas said quietly. “We just want to help.”
Damian gave a mirthless laugh. He saw Lucas blink and he leaned toward him across the table.
“Help me through my sorrow, you mean?”
“Yes, damn it. Why not?”
“The only way you could help me,” Damian said, very softly, “would be by bringing Kay back.”
“I know. I understand. I—”
“No,” he said coldly, “you do not know. You do not understand. I don’t want her back to ease my sorrow, Lucas.”
“Then, what—”
“I want her back so I can tell her I know exactly what she was. That she was a—”
The men fell silent as the waiter appeared with Damian’s second double vodka. He put it down and looked at Lucas, who took less than a second to nod in assent.
“Another whiskey,” he said. “Make it a double.”
They waited until the drink had been served. Then Lucas leaned forward.
“Look,” he said softly, “I know you’re bitter. Who wouldn’t be? Your fiancée, pregnant. A drunk driver, a narrow road…” He lifted his glass, took a long swallow. “It’s got to be rough. I mean, I didn’t know Kay, but—”
“That’s the second time you said that. And you’re right, you didn’t know her.”
“Well, you fell in love, proposed to her in a hurry. And—”