Sure enough, things started moving quickly once the feds got the new information on V3's charity. It kept him out of the office, and allowed him to avoid Dani since he wasn't allowed to tell her anything.

She was calling him and texting him every day, trying to find out if he knew anything more about Carl's death. He listened to one message, and it was gut-wrenching. She said playfully that his behavior was reminding him of the six months when he ignored her entirely, but there was an edge to her voice that made him wince. There was also another note to her voice that he couldn't quite identify, at least not on the phone, but it was also unsettling.

She eventually cornered him in the V3 office, calling across the floor to confront him. He was aware that she was angry and hurt and a little humiliated that he was so evasive and dismissive of her concerns. She pushed back, as he anticipated, but at the same time she was almost pleading with him to understand why it was so important to her. There was no other way to describe how that made him feel but deeply ashamed.

When Connor asked for his advice on how to make things right with Dani after she quit, Nico had to admit to himself that he had no credibility with her. She valued honesty, and he had hidden everything from her.

She finally texted him that she was in danger, so he put aside his fear of confrontation and rushed over to her house. It turned out to be a ruse, which he richly deserved. He knew that the confrontation he had dreaded had arrived. She was really angry, and frustrated, and confused by his behavior, and his evasions and excuses weren't cutting it. It registered on him that despite her personal feelings, she hadn't contacted him so she could get answers for herself, she had contacted him because she needed his help for one of her clients who was in crisis.

The turning point for him was when she said that his behavior made it clear that he must not care about her at all. He didn't feel like it was manipulative at all, which was a stark contrast from Gabrielle Pittman, who was constantly leveraging his feelings for her to get her way. What Dani was doing was much more effective than anything Mrs. Pittman could ever try: she was puzzling out his behavior, trying hard to find a reason to trust him, but his actions had left her no choice but to conclude that she didn't matter to him.

That hit him like a thunderbolt. Even after all of his coldness, his occasional cruelty, and his inexplicable behavior, she had wanted to believe that the Nico she knew from before was still there. She had been looking for that person - her friend - all this time. He hadn't thought that it was possible to love her more than he already did, but he was wrong.

He tried to tell her that it was more complicated than just telling her the truth, but she wasn't having it. She made it clear that if he couldn't be honest with her, she was done with him, for good. She turned from him, and stepped toward the door. He knew that she was seconds away from asking him to leave, and that would be the end. She'd left V3, and there would be no reason for him to see her again. There was no personal relationship anymore, and he knew she was on the verge of concluding that he wasn't someone she could trust or wanted to know. Once she had taken the measure of someone, she didn't waver. Look at how she had sent her husband packing.

He screwed up his courage and reached for her arm, turned her to face him, and kissed her. If this was goodbye, then he was going to at least have one more kiss to remember, and he wasn't going to leave her in any doubt about how he felt. She was surprised, but he felt the same connection he had before. Their lips separated briefly, but then he gathered her into his arms, and kissed her a second time - the way he had always wanted to. This time she kissed him back, and there was nothing tentative about it.

After they broke apart, he whispered, "Sit down. I'll tell you everything."

He wasn't going to risk losing her again.