3/3
Chapter 48
Nico watched Lola laugh, the way she threw her head back without restraint, her whole body leaning into the joy. It did something to the table. Shifted it. Lightened it.
He didn’t say anything. Just let it settle.
Lola
Lola drifted toward the edge of the room, her heels silent against the tile. The low hum of dinner conversation faded behind her. She caught Enzo leaning back on one elbow, talking to Marco, who looked seconds away from passing out on the long couch. His laugh was lazy, quiet–tinted with something softer than usual.
It made her smile. Made her wonder how many people actually got to see that version of him.
A shadow moved beside her. Nico.
“Mind if I join you?”
She shook her head and slid a little to the side. He leaned on the railing next to her, arms crossed, gaze scanning the room like he was always calculating.
“He looks good tonight,” Nico murmured, nodding toward Enzo.
“He always looks good,” Lola replied dryly.
Nico chuckled. “I meant–relaxed. Like he’s actually enjoying himself. That doesn’t happen often.”
Lola glanced sideways. “Because of me?”
“Probably,” Nico said. Then, quieter, “Definitely.”
They stood in silence for a second.
“When Enzo’s dad died seven years ago,” Nico began, voice steady but distant, “he didn’t get a choice. He had to step in. No prep. No warm–up. Just… be the man. I was already working with him back then. My father made sure of it. Said I had to understand the business by the time I was sixteen. Enzo was twenty–three when the whole empire got dumped on his shoulders. And he didn’t flinch. Not once.”
Lola followed Nico’s gaze across the room. Enzo looked up right then and caught her eye. One brow lifted, like he was checking in without a single word. Her stomach did a slow, traitorous flip.
“He’s been protecting all of us ever since,” Nico continued. “Never asked for anything back. And most people don’t even realize how much of himself he’s given up just to keep things running.”
Lola was quiet for a moment, swallowing hard.
“People always want something from him, don’t they?” she said softly. “Even when they say they don’t.”
Nico turned to her, watching carefully. “Yeah. They do.”
Her arms folded loosely, the edge of her nail catching at her sleeve. “My parents were like that,” she murmured. “Used me for as long as I can remember. Not in obvious ways, not always. But it was never about what I wanted. It was what they needed. What their friends needed. Always something. Until I ran.”
Nico didn’t push. Just nodded.
“So I get it,” she added. “The always being needed. The being seen as what you can offer. Not who you are.”
They stood there a beat longer.
1/3
Chapter 48
Nico’s voice dropped to something gentler. “Then maybe it’s not about what he sees in you, Lola. Maybe you just don’t know your worth.”
She didn’t reply. Couldn’t, really.
But the words followed her. As she walked back toward the seating area. As she caught the flicker of Enzo’s grin across the room.
Maybe you just don’t know your worth.
And for the first time in a very, very long time-
She wanted to try.
Because even with Ethan, she was never comfortable enough to do anything like she’s done with Enzo.
Lola padded softly back toward the group, the low chatter washing over her like warm static. Enzo was leaned back in the oversized chair, nursing a glass of something amber and expensive, his head tilted toward Marco, who looked half–asleep, his smile lazy and eyes heavy–lidded. Dom, Gino, and Nico were still throwing jokes back and forth over another round of drinks.
She didn’t say anything.
Just walked up, placed a hand on Enzo’s shoulder–and climbed right into his lap like she’d done it a hundred times. Not to straddle. Not to seduce. Just to be.
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