He dips his head. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure. It’s been thirteen years. I figured you would have moved on.”

“I did move on!” I snap, because I’m feeling like a fool right now. A sixteen-year-old pining fool.

A fool still in love. But I have to accept that all I’m in love with is a memory.

“You are right. This was a mistake.” I stand. “Thank you for coming. You can go back to work now. And maybe you should consider applying for a transfer to another building. Gus can help you with that.”

“Piper, I didn’t mean—”

“You broke my heart!” My voice cracks, my chest tight with emotion that I’m still grappling to understand. Maybe time doesn’t heal all wounds.

I march toward the door, acutely aware of the sound of Kyle’s chair banging against the table’s leg, the hair-raising ping of metal-against-metal hanging in the air. A moment later, his hand is around my wrist, gripping it tightly, holding me back from escape.

“I’m sorry, Piper. But you don’t understand.”

“You’re right. I don’t. Because if all we had was a summer fling thirteen years ago, why the hell would you even give me a second’s thought now?” I dare to meet his eyes. “Did you come here for money? Is that what you want?”

He releases my wrist like I’ve burned him. His nostrils flare. “I don’t want any of your family’s money,” he pushes through gritted teeth.

I shrug, but inside, every bit of me twists at the idea. “How do I know that? I don’t know you anymore. Maybe I never did.” I turn to leave.

“He paid me to leave you alone!” Kyle says in a rush.

My feet stall. “What?” I turn to find Kyle’s head bowed, his eyes squeezed shut.

“What did you just say?”

“I never could lie to you to save my life,” he mutters.

A sinking feeling takes over. “Who paid you to leave me alone?”

Kyle meets my gaze, this time with a flat look. “Who do you think, Piper?”

I shake my head. There’s only one person who would do such a thing. The one man who could afford it, and who would be motivated to do so.

“Fifty grand, to pack up and leave, and never contact you again.”

“And you actually took it?”

Kyle flinches. “Your father can be persuasive.”

My pulse begins to race. I can’t believe my father would do this, and yet I don’t doubt for a second that he did.

“When I saw you in the lobby the first time, I couldn’t figure out if you ever found out—”

“When did this happen?” I demand.

“That night. When you were leaving,” Kyle admits with a hint of reluctance. “While you were talking to Darian. He told me that someone would be by my apartment within the next day or two to give me money, and that if I was smart, I’d take it and get the hell out of your life for good, before I did something to ruin it.” He sighs. “And that if I didn’t take the money, he’d find a way to put me behind bars with the rest of my family, where I belonged.”

“You’re lying,” I accuse, even though a voice inside my head demands that I listen. I fish out my phone, intent on dialing my father right then and there.

“He’s not going to admit to it.”

“Oh, yes, he will.” If Kieran is anything, it’s self-righteous. Everything I do—everything I’ve ever done over the years—I’ve done only with your best interest at heart. You know that, right? His words echo in my mind. Is that what Kieran Calloway thought paying the boy I loved to disappear was? In my best interest?

“He doesn’t know I’m working in this building,” Kyle says, more urgently, with worry on his face. “I’m not sure how he’ll react to me showing up here again.” He hesitates. “But if you don’t care about that, then go ahead and tell him.”

If what Kyle says is true, then I have a good idea how my dad will react. Kyle’s ass will be out on the sidewalk by this afternoon.

I tuck my phone away, muttering, “He’s likely on a plane, anyway.” Despite everything, I don’t think there’s a situation where I wouldn’t care what happens to Kyle. I sigh heavily.

“So . . . fifty thousand bucks. That’s my going rate.”

Kyle’s eyes are on the thin navy carpet, as if he can’t face me. “He made it pretty clear that he’d do anything to make sure you and I were done the second you stepped off Wawa property. I think he actually used the words over my dead body. I figured if we were over anyway, that much money would give me and Jeremy a chance to get out of the hole we were living in. So I took it. I thought it was for the best for everyone.”

That is a lot of money for anyone, but especially a seventeen-year-old going back to a roach-infested apartment above a 7-Eleven.

“And your mother? What did she say?”

“About the money?” He lets out a derisive laugh. “I never told her about it. She would have taken it and there was no way I trusted her with that much, not when my dad and brothers were asking for cash. God knows she’d find a way to smuggle it in for them. No . . . I decided that if I was gonna take money from your father, I was gonna make it matter. So I hid it. I used what I needed to get a decent car. We were already getting kicked out of our apartment, so I convinced Mom to go to California. We drove for two days straight, found a cheap apartment down there.” He shrugs. “I told her I earned the money from Wawa.”

“And she believed that?” I ask doubtfully. I remember those pitiful paychecks.

“Of course not. She figured I was doing something shady on the side, but she didn’t ask too many questions. She never did. As long as there was money at the end of it.” There’s no shortage of bitterness in his voice.

I’ve often wondered what kind of woman gave birth to Kyle and his brothers. Now I’m not sure I ever want to find out.

Uncomfortable silence lingers in the room as I try to process this bomb. “So that’s why you disappeared. It wasn’t because . . .” My words drift.

“Because I didn’t care about you?” He looks steadily at me. “No. That’s not why.”

And did you ever stop caring? I bite my tongue on that and ask instead, “My father . . . How do you feel about him?” I can’t even begin to wrap my head around how I feel about him right now, but if what Kyle is saying is true, then I have to wonder if him working here, in my father’s building—having easy access to him—is going to be a problem.

And what happens when my father sees Kyle sitting in the lobby?

What will he do if he recognizes him?

I watch Kyle carefully, to see if I can read the lies in his answer.

He surprises me by smiling softly. “You know, it’s funny—ironic, actually . . . As much as I hated him back then for making me leave you like that,” his somber eyes flash to mine, “that money changed our lives. I got Jeremy away from Poughkeepsie, away from prison, away from all of it, before he could get himself into trouble. A fresh start in San Diego turned out to be the best thing for us. Jer has no interest in getting dragged down with the rest of our family, either.”