"Then he told me…" Nicki's voice faltered for the first time, his jaw clenching as he looked down at his hands. "If I wouldn't break up with you or take the money… then he'd take it as me coming into your life not just to destroy you, but to ruin you."
My breath caught.
"He said he'd never let his son end up with someone like me. That I was nothing but trouble. A threat."
Nicki finally looked up again, and I could see it, the weight of those words - still pressing on him after all these years. The shame. The anger. The helplessness.
"I walked out of there with nothing but disgust in my chest. Not because of the things he said to me… but because I knew he'd never understand what we had. What I felt for you wasn't destruction. It was the most real thing I'd ever known."
Nicki's voice softened, but the weight of his words only grew heavier.
"Then… before I stepped outside the building, someone came running after me. He sent them to call me back."
