His Identity

51

|Nick's POV|

Never in a million years did I ever think I'd be formally greeting my dad like he's an acquaintance rather than a parent yet here I am.

At a certain point, my relationship with my parents were amazing. We'd go on family vacations, to the beach, hold birthday parties, have movie nights— overall, we'd do fun family shit. Eli and I used to prank mom and dad, throw them surprise birthday or anniversary parties.

Sometimes, mom would bake us a cake— most of the time, it was a carrot one because that was Eli's favorite and we'd all eat it even though I hated it. But I mind it because it made my little sister happy.

I didn't know my dad until I was like four something years old. Him and my mom had some sort of argument I still don't know much about which resulted in her leaving him.

Though when she left, she had no idea she was pregnant with this amazing, world changing, jaw dropping, exquisite, unique and perfect human aka me.

Then years later, she returned back to my dad to make my love-able self known to him and the rest is history. I briefly remember ruining my dad's wedding to some bimbo. Ess and Sean were very helpful in the matter.

"Nick," dad says, his voice coming out soft as he stares at me, his eyes tracing my every feature as if he's unsure whether it's really me.

He's always maintained his tone whenever he'd speak to me, Eli or mom. With his men, he's an entirely different person— the kind of person one would think twice before crossing. Some people want to be on his good side while some want to be him. That's the kind of power he holds in our world.

"Why didn't mom come with you?"

I know Ess told me that they don't blame me for Eli's death but the looks in their eyes have always said otherwise. They couldn't get over the fact that it was the person I brought home that killed my sister. I understood it back then, I still do.

"Your mom is..." he pauses, contemplating his words carefully. "Busy," he finally says and I sink back in my chair.

Busy with that? Ignoring me? I want to ask but I don't. Maybe I'm overthinking this and she really is busy. It's not like she has been ignoring me completely. She does send a text every now and then to check on me.

We're at a restaurant, dad rented the entire place just so we could be alone. It's very extra of him but it is something he'd do so I'm not even surprised. It's better this way anyway, I like my privacy. Besides, he's one of the most successful CEOs in the world, he's practically a celebrity and an idol to some people— it's hard to be in public with him and not be the center of attention.

"Are you gentlemen ready to place your orders?" A waitress asks as she stops by our table, a notebook in a hand and a pen in another.

I don't miss the way she eyes me up and down while licking her lips like she wanted to suggest herself as dinner.

"Not yet," dad dismisses her with a wave of his hand, he doesn't even bother to spare the woman a glance.

She turns to me, her brows raised in a questioning manner once she's done glaring at my dad's face. "How about you, handsome?" She bites her lip in a way that makes me cringe.