I Don't Need to See to Know What's True.

Nick watched the white Audi drive away from their house. In a few seconds, he cursed himself with at least a dozen different words that he did not return home five minutes later. If he somehow survived Daniel's wild laughter, then giving the same pleasure to Armand was not part of Nick's plans.

Unfortunately for him, Armand managed to see the guy in all his glory. And if Daniel did not hide his emotions and laughed openly, Nick knew Armand's reactions better than anyone else. And that benevolent nod of goodbye, which the man awarded young Anderson, was more eloquent than any laugh.

David waited for Nicholas to leave the motorcycle in the garage, after which the young man approached him.

"He's not here anymore," David guessed his son's question. "How are things at the clinic?"

"Nothing new," Nick replied with obvious relief. Meeting Marcus for the second time this evening would not be a pleasant prospect. "Where's Elena?"

"Putting Sean to bed. I think she will come down soon." David headed back to the house, Nick followed him, mentally thanking his father that he hadn't commented on his appearance.

"By the way, what a great helmet. It suits you," the man added. Still, it was too early to be grateful to David, Nick thought.

"You can borrow it. Maybe it will suit you too."

David chuckled but said nothing, which Nick took as a small victory. After all, David and Daniel have been mocking him for like forever, and now it was a high time to change it.

"Would you like to drink something hot?"

"WHAT?" David's question surprised the guy. "Hmm, I don't know. How about whiskey?"

Nick thought that David would go to his office, where there was a bar with alcohol, but instead the man turned to the kitchen.

"Actually, I meant cocoa or coffee. You are still too young for alcohol."

"You! You intentionally asked your question in such a way so that I misunderstood you!" Nick said angrily. He had the feeling that everyone was just waiting to put him in an awkward position. "I'll have some coke! And, for your information, I'm almost 21!"

David smiled as he saw Nick sit down in a chair and folded his arms across his chest in protest. The man took a bottle of cola from the refrigerator, poured a glass and put it on the table. Then he took a bottle of whiskey from another cabinet and added a little to the cola.

"You said I was too young for drinking alcohol," the guy muttered. Armand had Spartan rules about alcohol, and Nick never really tasted it.

"Your dad is in a good mood today," David winked, "You can try while Elena is gone. But if you want something stronger in the future, then only under my supervision and no more than once a year."

"Are you serious now?! Why are these strange rules? In my opinion, such thing as democracy hasn't yet vanished from this world," Nick said, but in general, he was not against it.

David shrugged and took a sip of coffee he had made for himself, "I've just made these rules up."

"Somehow I didn't notice that Sean has some kind of limitations," Nick tasted a little whiskey and cola and put the glass back on the table. The drink made his chest hotter, but he wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

"Hmm. You're right. Sean is allergic to chocolate. Looking at you, I forgot about it. You constantly take candies from the secret box, don't you? Can I add one more rule about sweets for you?" David suggested, his grin was hidden behind a cup of coffee.

Nick's ears turned red. How did David know about this? He made his way to the kitchen when no one was around!

"I no longer have any allergies! I will eat what I want!"

"Oh, really?" David raised an eyebrow, "Okay then. You can no longer sneak for sweets at night like a thief. This is for you," he handed Nicholas a small key, "A present from me. In that drawer over there," the man waved his hand at one of the drawers in the kitchen unit.

Nick felt like a small child, ready to find out with anticipation what kind of gift was inside. "Whatever is there, I hope it is not rainbow colored and does not resemble unicorns."

"You better hurry, you will have unicorns in your eyes after you see what' is waiting for you there," David did not go into details and waited for his son's reaction.

Nick inserted the key into the small keyhole and opened the drawer. Boxes of his favorite chocolate sweets lay in dense rows under a double layer of gift paper. He stared at this sweet treasure for a few seconds, pushed the drawer back, pulled it out again to make sure the candy hadn't gone anywhere.

"My goodness! It's a limited edition! You can try the same only in the White House! Is that all for me?!" Nick looked at David with a dumbfounded gaze, to which the man nodded his head.

"Dad, this is really cool! Where did you get them?!" the guy pulled out one of the boxes, sat down at the table, holding it in his hands like a treasure, opened it and put the first candy in his mouth. The chocolate began to melt like ice cream. "Mmm, they're awesome! Will I take one box to my room? May I?"

"If you want, you may take all of them, just don't overeat," David laughed. At such moments, Nick was exactly like little Sean. It seems that this child did not even have sweets in childhood if he dragged them around under cover of the night so that no one would notice.

The man's heart was filled with weight. They didn't know for sure what to do, but David decided to do everything possible so that the future would not be the same as Nick experienced.

"Nick, Marcus will be here at 12 tomorrow. We need to discuss the current situation together. Your presence is required."

Nick wanted to take a second candy from the box, but put it back and pushed the box aside. "What is it, you decided to appease me with sweets so that I behave well?"

"No, sweets have nothing to do with it. And you know about it. I understand that learning about the relationship with Taubert was a shock for you. We were just as surprised, so we need to discuss all the details. If you tell Marcus about what is about to happen, he may change his mind on some issues. At least we can find out his motives." David put his coffee aside and looked at his son in all seriousness.

"I'm not asking you to change your opinion about this person. I also have a lot of questions for him. But judging by what I saw and heard today, I doubt that he could have been involved in Elena's death in your past. Something else could have happened there."

"What's different, dad?!" resentment and anger overwhelmed Nick, "I saw how he pulled this damn kukri out of mom's chest! You got that?! Straight from her heart!" the young man jumped up from the chair and hit himself on the chest with his palm, "Isn't that enough?!"

David frowned. The first time he heard Nick's story, all he wanted was to find Marcus and kill him on the spot with his own hands. And he would have tried to do this if Armand had not admitted that his brother is Elena's father.

"Did you see how he stuck this knife in?"

Nick was taken aback and thought. He asked himself this question many times, but the answer was the same. Nick didn't see it. He couldn't remember at all what had happened before that moment.

"I did not see. I don't need to see what I know is true! Everything that happened next, that Marc Technologies did to the world, is sufficient proof of his guilt. And in general-" the guy's gaze fell on David's hand, "What is this?"

David turned his hand over, "This is a ring," he replied with the obvious answer, "I rarely wear it, really, but today I wanted to. Have you seen it before? This is my wedding ring." The man held up his hand to display a beautiful ring as he thought Nick liked the design.

"What do you mean, the wedding ring? Why is it white?" he couldn't put two plus two together in his head.

"Because it is made of white gold, can't you see it?" David did not understand why there was such an interest in the ring when they had such a serious conversation.

"What do you mean, white gold? Wasn't that made of the red one? And what kind of engraving does it have? "Love you beyond time", is that right?" Nick's heart pounded unpleasantly. He had already guessed what the answer would be, but he wanted to hear it from David.

"Love you beyond time? Hmm, that sounds great. But no, there is no engraving. Only the infinity sign on the outer circle. Does it matter?" David was surprised. Nick looked confused, like a child who was told that Santa doesn't exist.

"N-no, it's okay," the guy stammered, and turned around, "I'll go to my room. Goodnight."

"Won't you wait for Elena? I thought we would all sit at the table together. Is everything ok?"

Nick nodded, "Yes, everything's okay. See you tomorrow." He didn't wait for David's answer, left the kitchen, quickly passed the living room, and climbed the stairs. Nick did not notice how he was in his room, as he closed the door behind him and sat down on the bed, staring at the wall.

There was a question in his head. If his parents' wedding rings were white gold and had no engraving, then whose rings did Marcus give him on that fateful night? A possible answer to this question immediately appeared in Nick's head, but he would never accept it.