Ties That Bind Us

by Nicole Knight

  That was all it took. Tears streamed down her face. “Nick, of course I do. I don’t know why I did that. I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I messed up, and we need to be able to hold each other accountable. Although in the future I hope you choose another method besides giving your ring to a bartender and getting high.” I smirked a little, hoping to get her to crack a smile.

  It teased the corner of her lips, but she wasn’t giving in yet, still consumed by her guilt.

  “I need you to explain it to me. I can’t help you if I don’t know what you’re going through,” I pressed, not letting her off the hook. We needed to talk about this no matter how hard it was.

  “Nick, I promise, I’m not using again. Last night, I was . . . I got pissed off and I didn’t know what to do and I just snapped.”

  “That’s the only time you’ve used in our entire relationship?” I asked.

  “Yes.” She bit her lip. “The night I was out with Bella, we ran into Jimmy and he tried to get me to do it but I refused. I was so proud of myself for being strong enough to tell him no, and then I threw it all away last night.”

  I steadied my breathing, trying to put myself in her shoes. I hated that she thought all of her hard work had been in vain because of one moment of weakness.

  “You didn’t throw it all away, Ava. It was a mistake. A terrible mistake, but sometimes there may be bumps in the road. What matters is how you come back from it.” I paused. “How bad was it?”

  A darkness came over her eyes and I could tell she didn’t want to talk to me about this.

  “Bad,” she said plainly. “For several months after Andrew died, I was rarely sober. I was using constantly because it let me forget about everything else. I didn’t care about the pain or the embarrassment or what I was doing to anyone else. My dad was furious, tried everything to get me to stop.” Her eyes swarmed with painful memories.

  “How did it start?” I pressed.

  “I blamed myself for Andrew killing himself for a long time. He was my twin brother, I felt like I should’ve known something was off, and no one else could really understand that. I had just started dating Jimmy at the time, and I thought he was trying to help me. But all he really wanted was somebody to get high with. I didn’t mind at first, it was making all of my pain go away. My dad lost his mind, he tried everything in the world to make me stop. He tried to beat it out of me, and when that didn’t work, he threatened to throw me into his prisoner cells for a month so I knew how good I had it.” She swallowed hard, biting back tears. “It became a power struggle between us, and I pushed even harder. But one day I overdosed, and Vince’s daughter found me. I guess at that point, I realized how bad it was. I agreed to do whatever my parents wanted me to, and so I started seeing a counselor. I stopped that day, and hadn’t had anything again until the other night.”

  She paused for a second. The blood turned to ice in my veins listening to the way Alessandro had handled it. His daughter was crying out for help, and he treated her like one of his captives. He was a fucking monster.

  “But I swear, it’s not like that this time, Nick. I have a handle on it, I won’t do it again,” she assured me, with a desperation in her eyes that made me nervous.

  I wanted to believe her, but I also knew how things like this worked. I wouldn’t let her fail. The difference between this time and last was that she had me to support her, and I was going to keep her as far from her bastard father as I could.

  “I don’t want you to see Jimmy anymore.” I gritted my teeth; even saying his name infuriated me. I’d hated the guy even before I knew what he had done to Ava.

  “Done,” she agreed.

  I reached for her left hand and grabbed the ring off the counter.

  “Can I put this back on you?” I asked, waiting for her permission. Ava had never been given much authority over her own life, and that made it even more important that I followed through when I said I was going to do something.

  “Of course you can.” Her voice cracked with emotion.

  I smiled as I slid the ring back into place on her finger. “Promise me that if you ever feel like you want to use, you’ll come to me. That you’ll let me help you.”

  “I promise, Nick.” She blinked back tears. “You don’t have to worry about it. I don’t ever want to get back to that point, and I’ll do whatever it takes.”

  I brought her hand to my lips and kissed it softly. “Good.”

  Ava leaned forward and wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing my cheek softly.

  “But if it happens again, you’ll get professional help. I care about you too much to watch you self-destruct like you did last night. I’ll be here every step of the way, but understand that if you start using again, even at all, I’ll get you professional help and it won’t be a choice.”

  “It won’t come to that.”

  “That’s my girl.” I smirked. “I do have one more condition.”

  “So many rules.” She rolled her eyes playfully.

  I reached my hand around and tapped my fingers on her ass. “What am I going to do with you and that sassy mouth of yours?”

  “Kidding.” She laughed, holding her hands up in surrender. “What’s your condition?”

  I grabbed her hip bones and pulled her onto my lap. “Move in with me.”

  She looked a little taken aback at my request. “You want me to move in here?”

  “Yeah, I know we talked about it a few weeks ago, but I’m ready to make it happen. I don’t want to play around anymore. I want you here with me all the time.”

  “Wow.” She let out a sharp laugh. “This is not at all how I expected this morning to go.”

  “I know this isn’t the kind of conversation you’re used to, but it’s how things are going to go with me. Like I said, I want us both to be accountable, but it’s not my job to make you feel bad about what happened. If I had to guess, you’ve already been doing that. I want us to be able to come up with solutions together, it’s not a dictatorship.”

  I could see that her mind was swirling, and I would have given anything to be able to know exactly where it was at.

  “I guess it was bound to happen eventually.” She shrugged, giving me a soft smirk.

  “No, that’s not what I want to hear.” I chuckled. “I want to hear that you want to be here with me.”

  She reached out and put her hand to my cheek. “I want to be here with you, Nick. One hundred percent. Every day for the rest of my life.”

  Chapter 19

  Nick

  A week after Ava moved in with me, I pulled into the parking lot of the Moretti warehouse to have a little chat with her father. I wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible. Alessandro was not high on my priority list, especially since Ava was living with me now, but I had been putting this off all week. He needed to know that I had told Ava the truth after the other night, and I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like it.

  My dad called as I turned off the car. “Nick, I know you’re going to Miami this afternoon, but I’ve got a job for you. Can you swing by the warehouse?”

  Shit. I scratched my head, not wanting to deal with any of this today. I was traveling to Miami to visit one of our underperforming vendors and I was already on edge about that. If I had to take someone out today . . .

  “It’s not what you’re thinking. I just can’t explain it over the phone, can you come by?” My dad interrupted my thoughts.

  “Sure,” I conceded. “I’m running an errand, and then I’ll be over.”

  He paused. “What kind of errand?”

  I clenched my jaw. “One that I can’t explain over the phone,” I said, using his own words against him. He didn’t need to approve every decision I made. I was going to be Don soon; I could make my own choices, and confronting Alessandro was one of them.

  “See you soon.” My dad hung up before I could respond.

  Now I really had to ge
t this over with. I was hoping to see Ava before I left, and if these “errands” took me too long, I wouldn’t be able to. We’d fallen into an easy routine now that she was living with me, and I loved every second of it. Coming home to her every evening was more than I ever could have imagined, and although she was hesitant at first, I could tell it was a big relief for her too. It amazed me how well she was adapting, especially since she had been so vehemently against our marriage in the beginning. It was new for both of us, but so far things were working out even better than I expected.

  I headed inside the warehouse, determined to have a few words with Alessandro. His door was open, so I didn’t bother knocking to let him know I was there.

  I cleared my throat, and he looked up from his desk.

  “Nick! Good to see you, I didn’t know you were coming by.” He stood up to greet me and shook my hand. “Ava’s only been living with you a week, are you having trouble with my darling daughter already?” He smirked as he sat back down.

  “Quite the opposite actually, it’s going really well,” I gloated. “I actually came by to let you know I told her what happened with Andrew.”

  Alessandro’s face hardened, and I could see the vein in his neck pulsing. “I thought we agreed to keep her out of that.”

  I couldn’t help but scoff a little bit. His interpretation of discussions were much different than mine. And what exactly did he expect after Vince’s display at dinner the other night? “You agreed, Alessandro. I’m not gonna leave her in the dark about what happened, especially when our marriage is on the line. And Vince’s outburst didn’t give me much choice.”

  “Your marriage was never on the line,” Alessandro spat. “Ava will do what I tell her to do, despite what she knows or doesn’t know.”

  “I guess that’s where you and I differ. I feel like she should know things that pertain to her. From now on, she will.”

  Alessandro stiffened in his chair. “You’re not going to tell me how to run my family, Nick.”

  “Fortunately,”—I stood up—“as soon as Ava and I are married, she becomes my family. And per our agreement, any decision you make, like withholding important information from her, will have to come through me.”

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve coming in here and saying that shit, Caponelli.” He gritted his teeth and leaned back in his chair.

  “Just want to be sure we’re all on the same page now that we’re going to be family.” I smiled. “Especially where Ava is concerned. I’ll see you later.”

  I got up and headed out of his office. One thing down. By the time I got to my dad’s, he was heading out for a meeting. I met him in the parking lot and he briefed me.

  Alek Asnikov had bought a house in our area. Just three short miles from the Morettis’ warehouse, actually. Dad wanted me to pay Alek a visit to see what was going on and let him know we were aware of his move. It seemed tedious, but a small show of force could go a long way.

  The house wasn’t fancy by any means. He had chosen a quiet suburban neighborhood where he was certain to stick out like a sore thumb. I’d be willing to bet he wasn’t actually living here, which made it all the more suspicious.

  I knocked on the door and heard footsteps approaching after a few minutes. I put my hand on the butt of my gun, just in case. Alek opened the door, and if he was surprised to see me, he didn’t show it.

  “I was planning to have a housewarming party in a few weeks, but since you’re here . . .” He gestured, opening the door wide for me.

  “No need.” I shook my head. “Just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood.”

  “Well, thank you.” He smirked. “I hear business is booming around here.”

  “Not for you, it isn’t. I can think of a few people you might piss off with this purchase,” I warned.

  “Certainly not you, though, right, Nick? I would think you have bigger things on your plate, like your impending nuptials, than to worry about my real estate investments.”

  “You’re right. But that can change in a split second,” I growled.

  Alek held his hands up, chucking. “I’ll stay out of your way, Caponelli, you stay out of mine.”

  He shut the door and the interaction was over as quickly as it had begun. I couldn’t say we knew much more about his motives, but at least he knew we were paying attention.

  As soon as I got back in my car, I checked my phone to see a missed call and a text from Ava. Shit.

  Heading home. I’ve got a headache and think I am going to lie down for a while. Call me from the airport.

  Hearing her call my place home would never get old. I loved the way it sounded. If I rushed, I had just enough time to swing by the flower shop and then head home to see Ava before I needed to get to the airport.

  Ava

  I had been living with Nick for a few weeks now, and although it was strange at first, I was finally starting to feel comfortable there. Like it was my home too. Nick had gone out of his way to make it that way, but it was so different from what I was used to, it would just take time to adjust. My parents’ house was out in the middle of the suburbs with space and fresh air, whereas Nick’s penthouse was right in the middle of the city. We had all kinds of space, but most of the time I felt like I was staying in some high-priced hotel. Nick didn’t pay much attention to decoration or homey touches, and that was something I was slowly going to have to change. I loved coming home to him at the end of the day, though. We’d cook dinner together and have a glass of wine and tell each other about our day. It was so easy with Nick, like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and I wondered why I hadn’t made this decision sooner.

  My mother did everything around our house, and my sisters and I helped her, but Nick had a housekeeper. Everything had its place, and no matter where I left it at night, it somehow found its way back there by morning. I’d get up in the morning and she would have the bed made before I was even out of the shower. When I tried to make it myself, she shooed me out of the room, assuring me it was part of her job. The only thing she didn’t do was cook, which at least gave me something to do so I didn’t feel completely useless. It felt nice to come home after a day of class and be able to make something for Nick. It would be quiet around here the next few days with Nick gone.

  My head was throbbing when I got home that afternoon. I had been fighting off a migraine the last few days and it looked like I had finally lost the battle. I was ready to get some painkillers, take a nice hot bubble bath, and then curl up on the couch for the night. When I got inside, though, all I wanted to do was collapse on the couch.

  “Ava?” Claire, Nick’s housekeeper smiled, startling me a little bit. I hadn’t realized anyone else was here. She was an older woman, and reminded me a lot of my grandmother.

  “Hi, Claire.” I smiled, pushing through the pain in my head.

  “How are you feeling? Nick told me you’re sick.”

  Of course he had. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. He just had to have his hand in everything. “I’m okay, I’ve got a migraine. I think I just need to lie down for a little bit,” I assured her.

  “Can I get you anything before I go?” she asked.

  “No, thank you, though. I’m just fine. Have a good evening,” I said, not wanting her to worry about me. It was just a headache and Nick was acting like it was the end of the world. And he wasn’t even here.

  “I know Nick will be away for a few days, please call me if you need anything at all,” she said, collecting her things and slipping her jacket on.

  “I will,” I agreed, waving as she left. When she shut the door, I headed into the living room and snuggled into the couch. I found some sappy movie on Hallmark and closed my eyes. Maybe after a nap I would feel better.

  When I woke up an hour later, I was a little disoriented. The TV was off, and I hadn’t remembered doing that before I fell asleep. I also had the distinct feeling that I wasn’t alone.

  I propped myself up
quickly, and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. My head was throbbing, and now my entire body ached. Nick was sitting at the end of the couch. He was hacking away at his laptop and my feet were draped over his lap. I hadn’t seen him wear glasses before, but it was definitely a good look for him.

  “You know you really should lock the front door when you’re here by yourself.” A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth but he didn’t look up. He must have felt me staring at him.

  “So creepy men don’t sneak in and watch me sleep?” I teased, my voice sounding much hoarser than it had a few hours ago. My throat was much more painful too.

  “Precisely.” He chuckled and shut the laptop, turning to face me. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine,” I insisted, sitting up a little bit more. The sudden move made my head feel like it was going to explode, and I winced.

  “You want to try that again?” Nick reached for my hand. “You’re burning up. How’s your head? Be honest with me this time.”

  “It hurts. A lot,” I conceded, repositioning myself on the couch so that I could snuggle into his chest.

  He frowned, putting his arm around my shoulders and holding me tightly to him. “Why didn’t you tell me you were so sick? I thought it was just a little headache.”

  “Why aren’t you in Miami?” I ignored his question.

  “There is no way I am going to Miami when you’re sick like this. I came home to check on you before I left and you were burning up, so I canceled my trip.” He kissed my scalding-hot forehead.

  “You didn’t need to do that.” I was secretly glad he had. I was already starting to feel better now that he was here.

  “I know I didn’t, but I wanted to. You need someone to nurse you back to health. Speaking of which,”—he leaned forward, being careful not to jostle me too much, and grabbed a glass from the coffee table—“drink this.”

  “Whatever you say, Dr. Nick,” I teased, but took it from him eagerly, hoping to calm my burning throat, thinking it was just water. A horrible taste filled my mouth and I nearly spit it right back out all over the living room. “Ugh! What is this? It’s awful!”