Lost Your Mind novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Man at the Garage

Nico's POV

I sat in the dark in the back of my own garage for three nights.

I had a folding chair, a thermos, and a view of the side door through the gap between two tarpaulins.

Giulia thought I was at my father's, going over the guest list.

I hadn't lied to her since the study, and I didn't plan to start now.

I had told her I'd be in the garage, and she had looked at me for a long moment and said, "Take the cane. And call me."

On the third night at two in the morning, the side door opened.

The man who came in didn't switch on a light.

He knew the garage by feel, and he crossed to the sedan with a small flashlight cupped in his hand.

I knew his walk before the light touched his face.

I'd known it for nine years.

He had taught me to drive again after the leg, in an empty lot, with his hand on the dash and his mouth full of jokes.

"It's you," I said.

I said it quietly, from the dark, so he wouldn't drop the light.

He dropped it anyway.

It clattered across the concrete and rolled to a stop against my shoe.

"Boss," he said.

"Don't."

"Mr. Nico. I can explain."

"Then do."

He stood very still in the dark, and I heard him breathe.

I had imagined this scene all week.

In every version I was angrier than I felt now.

"He has my daughter's school," the man said. "Her name, her teacher, the street. He had a photograph of her coming out the gate."

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