Page 71 of Privilege

“Did you feel like you failed her back then?” she asked quietly.

Her father’s gaze blazed. “Every single day.”

“This isn’t the same thing. That’s not who Renzo is, and—”

“Liliana would have said the same thing back then, Lucia. She didn’t know either. Not until it was too late.” Lucian scrubbed a hand down his jaw, and peered down the lonely looking street. “That man was also nothing that Renzo is—he had money, contacts … clout behind his name. He wasn’t the kind of man you saw and thought, abuser.”

“But you do for Renzo.”

Her father’s gaze snapped back to her. “Lucia—”

“You look at him, you know he sells drugs—but you don’t care why—and you see his life, and think … he’s a terrible person; he must be a horrible man. He’s not.”

“I don’t want to find out if that’s what he is, Lucia. And I do not want to wait around for you to find out that’s what he is, either. I may not know everything about him, or his life, but what I know is enough to tell you to stay the hell away. His father—a fuck up of a man—has a serious gambling problem that he likes to aid with a bottle of liquor. Do you know how many times he’s been brought in on charges of domestic violence? He’s got a rap sheet longer than you are tall, dolcezza. Boys don’t wake up one day and hit girls. They learn it.”

Lucia was still unaffected. “He’s not like that.”

She was going to keep saying it until her father heard her.

“You’re to stay away from him. That’s the end of it.”

“Your feelings are clouding up your judgment, Daddy.”

“They are not.”

“They are.”

Lucian’s jaw clenched again. “I made myself clear, didn’t I? He’s not the type that I want you to be mixed up with. You’re going to force my hand, Lucia, and you may not like what I do, but I will do it if it means keeping you away from that young man.”

“What does that mean?”

Her father simply gestured at her car, and stepped away from the vehicle at the same time. “I will see you at home.”

TWELVE

“I don’t mind waiting for you, Ren,” Rose said. “You should be back soon, right?”

Renzo pulled the phone away from his ear to do a quick check of the time. “Probably not,” he replied when he put it back to his ear. “I’ve got a drop off to make, and that’s going to take a while.”

By drop off, he meant the drugs he was currently taking to his guys, so they would be well supplied for the next little while. His sister didn’t like all those details, and so he didn’t offer them to Rose. She’d worry too much, and then he would have to listen to that as well. Renzo didn’t have the time for any of that today. The faster he got this shit into the right hands on the street, the quicker he could get back to Rose and Diego.

“You know, you’re going to have to head back to your place soon.”

“I’m fine here for a couple more days to help you with Diego,” Rose said.

“Diego is fine,” Renzo argued. “He’s got a spot in the daycare as long as I get him there early enough, and a chick down the block who can watch him otherwise, so—”

“He hates her.”

That wasn’t a lie.

Well, hate was a strong word. The woman had a couple of her own kids, and they were little brats, to be honest. Always picking a fight with Diego who was just too nice for his own good. He much preferred to go to the shelter daycare if he couldn’t go out with Renzo … which most days, he couldn’t. It just wasn’t safe.

“I have Diego figured out,” Renzo said, wanting to get his sister back on track for her life. She was always willing to put shit on hold for him and Diego, but Rose didn’t need to be doing that at all. He had his shit handled. “You need to get back to school before you miss a whole damn week of classes, and it starts showing on your grades.”

Rose sighed.

Renzo just laughed.