Chapter 45: 45

Suddenly, someone gripped my arm and yanked me forward. I spilled out of the crowd, tumbling toward the back of the of the room.

"Are you okay?" Lorenzo gasped. He was holding Cecilia, her arms linked around his neck.

"Mommy," Cecilia sniffled. Although she wasn't crying, her face was pale, and she looked terrified.

"Oh, baby, are you okay?" I reached out to grab her, but she only nodded, her arms tightening around Lorenzo.

"I got her. It's okay." He grabbed my hand. "C'mon, follow me." I squeezed his hand but also wrapped myself around his arm for added security as he guided me away from the crowd toward a back door off the main gallery.

He opened a door into a conference room and went to set Cecilia down on a large round table. I slammed the door shut behind us and leaned against it to catch my breath. The screams and shouts in the gallery were still audible, even with the door closed, but they were a bit more muffled. I gripped my chest, feeling the racing of my heart.

Lorenzo's hands touched my shoulders. "Hey, are you okay?"

Anger roared inside me, and I spun around, slapping my hands against his chest. "What the fuck, Lorenzo?"

"Mommy." Sitting on the edge of the table, Cecilia started to cry.

I ran my hands through my hair, trying to keep my voice even. "It's okay, baby, you're okay."

Lorenzo shook his head, the color draining from his face. "I didn't know it was going to turn into a stampede out there. I'm sorry, I didn't think that through."

My hands were trembling. "Didn't think...you didn't think it through?"

A million thoughts were racing through my head at such a fast speed, I didn't know what to say first. "Can you just...explain to me...what the hell is going on?"

He knew. That was the only thought I could grab hold of. Lorenzo knew. But what exactly?

I stared at him. "What do you know?"

Lorenzo sighed, his body stiffening. He leveled his voice so that only I could hear him. "Everything, Ophelia. I know everything."

My blood froze. "Everything...what?"

"I know you stole that video from Jonathan at the masquerade ball. I know you were working with Quinton. I know that...that you felt safe with me. And that's why you stayed."

I blinked, licking my lips as I tried to process his words. There was no reason to deny any of this. Lorenzo had clearly known for a while. If he was going to turn me in, he already would have. But that wasn't what happened. Instead, he'd taken the video I'd stolen and used it to expose Jonathan instead of me.

I should be elated, in awe. But all I felt was confusion.

"How did you...I don't understand."

He shrugged. "Finding the hacker was part of my job, Ophelia. Obviously, I didn't expect it to be you. But when I figured it out, what was I supposed to do? I wasn't going to turn you in."

"But the video...Quinton faked it to cover me up."

Lorenzo's shoulders slumped. "No, Ophelia. I hired someone to do that so that you would be off the hook."

I shook my head. "But then...Quinton?"

"He's alive," Lorenzo whispered. "And starting a new life in an undisclosed location."

My jaw dropped. Lorenzo had done all of this...for me…for us. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew?"

He glanced down at the ground, avoiding eye contact with me. "Because I wanted it to be your choice whether or not you stayed."

I knew that was a lie. I could see it all over his face. My heartbeat echoed in my chest. "The money from Quinton...Lorenzo...was that...you?"

He licked his lips. "Quinton told me that was how much he owed you, so I just figured that once I took you out of the picture and made sure that you were safe, you could get your money and choose whatever you wanted to do with your life."

"Bullshit," I hissed.

He slowly looked up at me. "W-what?" he stuttered.

"You were testing me, weren't you?"

"N-no, of course not, Ophelia."

"Then why didn't you tell me, Lorenzo? Why didn't you tell me that you knew all of this? Why didn't you just ask me to stay?"

His eyes narrowed. "I told you I loved you, Ophelia. Was that not enough?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but I couldn't figure out what to say.

Lorenzo scoffed. "Exactly. And you didn't say it back. Just like you can't say it now. So call it a test or whatever you want. But I gave you a choice. I gave you the money you were owed, that you would have gotten anyways if I hadn't gotten in the middle of this, and then you came here tonight and told me you were leaving."

Tears spilled out of my eyes. "Lorenzo, that's not fair."

"None of this is fair," Lorenzo hissed. "But that's life. And you made your choice, Ophelia. Loud and clear."

There was something about the way he said it that hit me like a ton of bricks. My whole life, I'd been trying to get by, to prove myself, to be enough for Cecilia. And I'd finally found a chance for her to have a full life, and yet, I was going to run, take all this money from a crime, and start over. Where? Doing what?

Living on that, getting a server job somewhere? Waiting until it ran out and then returning back to a life of being a hacker? Returning to a life of crime?

I was never going to be enough. Not for Lorenzo. Not for Cecilia. I didn't know who the fuck I was or what I was doing.

All I knew was that Lorenzo was right. I'd made a selfish choice to run. A choice that would have hurt Lorenzo and kept Cecilia in a cyclical space of stress. Except this time it would have been even worse because I would have taken her away from her dad.

What the fuck was I doing?

I slid past Lorenzo and picked up Cecilia.

"Where are you going?" Lorenzo asked.

But I couldn't respond because I didn't have an answer.

I just needed to get away from here.