Chapter 6 - Little Light
Nobody followed him.
Nobody defended him.
When the door closed, Evelyn sat down.
Nico immediately knelt beside her.
He signed.
I am sorry.
Evelyn shook her head.
He continued.
I should have learned your language twenty-seven years ago.
Tears filled her eyes.
I cannot return those years.
His fingers faltered.
But if you give me the years we still have, I will listen to every word.
Evelyn touched his cheek.
Then she signed slowly.
Start with dinner.
Nico laughed through his tears.
The room laughed with him.
Mara slipped behind the bar.
Her hands were shaking badly now that it was over.
She pressed them against the counter.
A minute later, she sensed someone beside her.
Nico.
“You came back,” he said.
“For Evelyn.”
“I know.”
Mara kept looking at the bottles.
“I’m not ready to decide what happens between us,” she said. “I came because your mother asked.”
“I understand.”
“I failed you.”
She said nothing.
“You gave me one rule.”
Now she looked at him.
His eyes were wet.
“You told me that when someone is communicating with me, I have to be present. I have to look at them.”
Mara swallowed.
“You looked at the door.”
“Yes.”
He lifted his hands.
His signing was imperfect.
Slower than speech.
But he never looked away.
I was afraid.
I thought trusting you could destroy everything.
He paused.
Then I realized not trusting you already had.
Mara’s eyes burned.
He continued.
I am sorry, Little Light.
She froze.
“Little Light?”
“My mother taught me your name sign.”
He made the small, distinctive movement Evelyn had chosen for Mara.
Then he explained the nickname she associated with it.
“She said you walked into a dark room and reminded her that light still existed.”
Mara began crying.
“She remembered what I told her about my dad.”
“What?”
“He called me Little Light.”
Nico lowered his hands.
Mara wiped her cheek.
“I mentioned it once, when Evelyn asked what he was like.”
Nico looked toward Evelyn.
His mother was watching them from across the restaurant.
Naturally, she looked extremely pleased with herself.
Nico almost smiled.
“Apparently my mother believes subtlety is for cowards.”
Mara laughed.
Then his expression became serious.
“I need to tell you something else.”
“What?”
“I’ve asked an independent attorney to help me cooperate with the investigators.”
Mara’s smile faded.
“About Arthur?”
“About everything.”
She understood immediately.
His businesses.
His father’s legacy.
The things people whispered about.
Nico looked around the restaurant.
“I spent my whole life telling myself I was better than my father because I was quieter.”
He exhaled.
“That isn’t enough.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Separate the legitimate companies under independent oversight. Give evidence. Accept whatever consequences are mine. Close the operations that cannot continue lawfully.”
“That could cost you everything.”
“Not everything.”
He looked at Evelyn.
Then at Mara.
“I spent years protecting an empire because I thought it was my family.”
May you like
His voice softened.
“I had the definition wrong.”
