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She nods. “How is your father connected to the Salamancas? Does he work for them, or is he—”

“He’s the head of the family.”

“Wow,” she breathes, pacing across the room. “You should’ve told me this sooner.”

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

She’s right. I should have.

God, I can’t believe I managed to fuck this up so bad. I just hope I can fix it.

“This is huge, Rex,” she says, stopping in front of me. “Your father is a mafia boss.” Her eyes widen as she realizes what she just said. “Is my life in danger?”

“No, absolutely not,” I rush to assure her. “If I felt your life was in danger, I would’ve walked away without question. But that’s the thing. My brother and I, we have nothing to do with the Salamanca family or their business, which is why I didn’t think about it early on. Things were going good between us, and I’ve separated myself from that life, so I didn’t see a need to fuck it up by telling you. I didn’t want to scare you away.”

“But you did fuck it up. You should’ve told me sooner, Rex. What if something had happened to me?”

“I would never let anything happen to you. I wouldn’t put you in that spot.”

“But you did.” She clenches her fists at her side, grinding her jaw. “You put me in that spot when you started seeing me and chose not to tell me about your family. I was with you at Ambrosi’s when you spoke to your father. Did he know I was there?”

“Yes.”

The anger on her face is quickly replaced by fear. “Does he know who I am?”

I shake my head. “Shae, he doesn’t give a fuck what I do or who I do it with. He has no control over my life, and he knows it. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I can’t believe this.” Collapsing on the couch, Shae looks at me. “I can’t believe you kept this from me.”

; “It’s not something I’m proud of.” I take a deep breath, because what I have to say isn’t easy, and I don’t want it to come out the wrong way. “Shae, my family is incredibly wealthy—”

“Drug money,” she spits out.

“My father may do some questionable things, but he doesn’t sell drugs. What I’m trying to say is that most women I meet already know who I am. They don’t want to get to know me. They usually only want one of two things: to be able to say they fucked an Ambrosi, or to get close to the money and the life. You’re the first woman I’ve spent time with who had no preconceived notions. As far as I know, you had absolutely no idea who I was when you met me. The amount of money in my bank account, my father, my last name—none of it impacted us, and I didn’t want to lose that.”

She nods, and for a half second I think maybe she understands. But then I remember she’s not like me, that she grew up in a different world than I did, and there’s no possible way she could understand.

“Shae—”

Throwing a hand up, she cuts me off. “Just give me a minute to process this, okay?”

Time stands still as I wait for her to tell me to leave, because that’s inevitably what’s going to happen. Why wouldn’t she?

When she blinks up at me, I prepare myself for the worst.

“You hurt me,” she says.

“I know I did, baby. I know, and if you can look past the last name, and who my father is, I promise you I’ll never hurt you again. I was a mess tonight, Shae. If you believe anything I’ve told you, believe that. The thought of hurting you nearly killed me, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Don’t you see? I don’t care who your father is or what your last name is, and I don’t blame you for not wanting to tell me. But when you broke up with me without an explanation, that’s what hurt me. I’m sorry you felt you couldn’t tell me.”

What? No. “Don’t apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s me.” Unable to keep my hands off of her for another second, I pull Shae’s face to mine and kiss her stupid. She grabs at my shirt, clinging to me. Once the kiss is over, I rest my forehead against hers.

“I understand,” she whispers. “I know why you were hesitant to tell me. I get it.”