Nico

by Sarah Castille

  “I have a marriage certificate.” She pulled the official document from her purse and held it up for him to see. “And a ring. I’ve never lied to you, Dante, and you know I would never put you in danger.”

  Dante walked across the room to Nico and held out his hand. It wasn’t the customary Italian form of congratulations or greeting, especially when welcoming someone to the family, but given the circumstances, she accepted that it was the best he could do.

  Mia’s chest tightened when Nico shook the hand of his father’s killer. If there had been any way around this moment, she would have taken it. She felt sick inside about deceiving Nico who had come to her family home in good faith. But he had lived for his vendetta for ten long years. How could she take a risk? How could she gamble with her brother’s life?

  After the handshake, they made a quick exit. Mia apologized to her mother on the way out for not staying to eat, and promised to ask Kat to call.

  “That went better than expected,” Nico said after they were safely back in the vehicle.

  “Are you kidding?” Mia stared at him aghast. “I thought it would be bad, but not that bad. I don’t think he bought it.”

  Nico leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Then he missed the bit where you said you care for me.”

  Her cheeks flamed, and she glanced up at Luca and Frankie engaged in their own conversation in the front seat. Damn. He picked up on everything. “That was your takeaway from what could have been a fatal post-elopement meet and greet of the family?”

  “That’s all I remember. My girl cares for me.” He puffed out his chest and gave her a smug, self-satisfied, oh-so-masculine smile.

  She turned, rubbed her cheek along his jaw. “I guess she does.”

  “It’s too bad she has to be punished tonight,” he whispered as he inched her skirt up her thigh.

  “What?” She slapped his hand down. “Why?”

  “You tried to protect me. You risked your life. You need to learn never to do that again.”

  Mia huffed and tried to pull away. “Most men would say thank you.”

  “I’m not most men.” He unclipped her seatbelt and tucked her into his side, her cheek against his chest.

  “Apparently not.”

  “I’m your man. And it’s my job to protect you. Not the other way around.”

  Mia looked up and laughed. “In that case, you’d better do up my seat belt if you want me alive for a repeat performance of ‘Meet the Family’ at your nonna’s house tomorrow.”

  Nico sighed and clipped her seat belt. Mia leaned against him, enjoying the quiet moment together as they sped through the city.

  “Bella?”

  “Yes?”

  Nico pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “Thank you.”

  *

  Nico opened the car door for Mia and studied the vehicles on the street. He had requested a sit down with Tony at their grandmother’s house because it was neutral ground. Not even Tony would disrespect Nonna Maria by drawing a weapon.

  “Looks like we’ve got Tony, Charlie Nails, a couple of high-ranking capos and some bodyguards,” Luca said. “Full house.”

  “You think Nonna Maria will feed us?” Frankie put out a hand holding them back as he checked the road.

  Nico snorted a laugh. “She’ll be in her element. A house full of hungry men? It’s a nonna’s dream come true.”

  “Well, at least there is one thing our families have in common.” Mia stepped out onto the street and clasped his hand.

  “She’ll love you.” Nico gave Mia an encouraging smile as they walked up the sidewalk. She had worn a simple black dress—no skulls or chains, tears, ribbons or lace—and black shoes with heels in a bid to appear respectable for the meeting with his family. He didn’t mind the dress, although it wasn’t her, but he planned to fuck her wearing just the heels when they got back to his hotel. There was just something about Mia in heels that got his blood pumping.

  Not that he needed any help. They had spent last night recovering from the meeting with Dante by testing the strength of the various pieces of furniture in Nico’s suite, including, just once, the bed. He had fucked her hard, loved her soft, and held her all night long wondering if it was possible to have it all—a woman he respected and admired, but wanted with an intensity that took his breath away—a Mafia wife and mistress all rolled into one.

  “Uh no. I had two nonnas. I know what they’re like. She’ll probably ignore me because no woman is going to be good enough for her boy.” Mia reached up and gave Nico’s cheek a gentle nonna-style pinch.

  Nico caught her hand and brought it to his lips. “Then she’ll be wrong.”

  Nonna Maria came to the front door to greet them. She wore her usual red apron, her silver hair swept neatly back in a bun. Nico gave her the customary kisses, and introduced Mia.

  “This is my new wife, Mia Cordano.”

  Nonna Maria looked Mia up and down, then turned her back and walked away.

  “She’s lovely,” Mia whispered. “I feel welcome already.”

  Nico felt a surge of protective anger and put his arm around Mia’s shoulders. Whether this marriage lasted one day or one year, Mia was his wife, and any disrespect of her was a disrespect of him, whether it came from the cousin he hated or the nonna he loved.

  Conversation halted when Nico led Mia into the dining room where Tony and Charlie Nails sat with the four capos in the family. “Permette che mi presenti mia moglie—May I introduce my wife, Mia Cordano.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Tony finally spluttered, after a moment of stunned silence. “When I first heard about this, I thought it was a fucking joke. You really have some balls.”

  “The size of my balls has never been in question.” Nico tossed a copy of the marriage certificate on the dining-room table.

  “That piece of paper means nothing,” Tony snapped without giving it a glance. “We had an agreement with the Cordanos. Would you dishonor our family by making us go back on our word?”

  “The agreement was for a marriage between the Cordanos and Toscanis. That agreement has been fulfilled.” He glanced over at Nonna Maria standing in the doorway to the kitchen. No words. No facial expression. No gestures. He hadn’t expected support from the rest of the family, but his nonna was like a second mother to him, and he had hoped she would accept Mia as part of his life.

  “Not in a way the New York bosses approve.” Tony picked up his highball glass and drained the contents.

  Nico’s skin prickled in warning, and he motioned for Luca to stand closer to Mia. He had expected an outburst from Tony, expressions of surprise from his men, but the cold, calm that had settled in the room had him itching to draw his weapon.

  “She’s mine in every sense of the word.” Crude, he knew, but it needed to be said, although he suspected no one would believe he’d consummated the marriage over a sink in the filthy restroom of a dive bar.

  “Do you really intend to challenge me?” Tony stood so quickly his chair toppled over. “Are you going to drag this family into a civil war? Did you really think a bastard can become the capofamiglia and head this family when there is a Toscani of pure blood who has been groomed to lead? I’ve been the underboss for fuck sake. No one knows how this family works better than me.”

  Mia squeezed Nico’s hand, but he wasn’t leaving yet. Tony clearly had a card to play, and Nico wanted to see it. Tony was arrogant and impulsive, lacking the foresight, intelligence, and political awareness needed to be an effective leader. Nico would only have to push a few buttons to find out what was really going on.

  “Better a bastard than a man who will destroy the family with his greed,” Nico shot back. “I have nine crews working for me, each with ten soldiers and not one of them is involved in the drug trade, nor are their associates, because drugs are the fastest way to bring the family down.” He was repeating what Tony already knew, but since both of them had declared as acting boss, the decision would come down to a vote by the five capos of the fa
mily, and he wanted them to know just how powerful he had become. In the event of a tie, Charlie Nails would have the deciding vote, and Nico knew which way the betraying bastard leaned.

  “Drugs are where the money is at. This is the modern Mafia. We don’t need to rely on protection rackets, loan sharking, petty deals, and real-estate scams.” Tony smirked and looked to his men for support. “We don’t need to build up legitimate business portfolios to support the family because the traditional ways aren’t working anymore. I make more money in one week with my drug operation than you do in one month with all your rackets put together. And that’s what this business is all about. Money. Making it. Keeping it. Spending it. And making fucking more.”

  He finished with a flourish, mocking a bow. Nico took note of which capos laughed, and which sat in stony silence, already planning how to direct his bid for leadership.

  Luca shot Nico a quizzical glance, and Nico gave the slightest shake of his head. Tony had no idea how much money he really made. Nico had been careful to keep most of his high-performing rackets off the record, paying up only enough to Santo each week to keep him from becoming suspicious.

  “And you know who agrees with me?” The consummate actor, Tony paused for effect. “Don Cordano. I had a meeting with him after he flew in from New York this morning. We agreed that there has been too much bloodshed, and the war between the Cordanos and the Toscanis must end. And the only way to do that is to honor the old agreements that were made before my father died. After your marriage is annulled, I will take your bride.”

  “You’re crazy.” Mia looked from Tony to Nico and back to Tony. “It can’t be annulled without my consent and I won’t give it.”

  “It can happen if one party agrees to the annulment, and I think Nico will.” Tony gave them a sly smile, and Nico braced himself for the big reveal.

  “After all,” Tony continued. “Who wants to be married to a woman who would take you to the man who killed your father, a man you had been waiting ten years to destroy, the target of a vendetta that you were honor-bound to fulfill, and stand there and watch as you shook his hand?”

  Dante.

  Nico felt as if the floor had just dropped from under him. All these years, plotting and planning, frustrated because his requests to avenge his father were refused again and again, and he had been after the wrong man. No wonder the New York bosses had turned him down. They must have known.

  Just as Mia knew.

  One glance at her guilty expression was all the answer he needed, and her betrayal hurt more than the knowledge that vengeance had been close at hand.

  “I don’t think the New York bosses will refuse your request to whack your father’s real killer,” Tony said to Nico. “After all, he wasn’t a made man when he shot your father in the back, and you have waited a very long time.”

  Nico forced back the emotion that welled in his chest, smoothed his face to an expressionless mask. He wouldn’t give Tony the satisfaction of knowing how deep his blade had gone. He would show no weakness. No anger. No fear. Even though this charade with Mia was done, no one would see his pain. He would leave them with the impression he knew about Dante, and that nothing could tear Mia from his side. He would make them believe he had a master plan even though he had shattered inside.

  “Come, bella. We are done here.” For the very last time, Nico clasped the hand of the woman who had been his wife for a few, short, glorious days. The woman who had opened his heart.

  The woman who had betrayed him.

  TWENTY-TWO

  “Where the fuck is he?” Nico thudded his fist on the hood of his SUV. He’d pulled out the larger vehicle to accommodate all the men and weapons he could carry after hearing that fucking Dante was the man he wanted. After signing the damn annulment papers ending his marriage to Mia, he had driven around the city with Frankie and Mikey Muscles looking for Dante. But so far they hadn’t found their man.

  His man. The end of his quest for vengeance. The fucking bastard who had shaken his hand.

  Something niggled at the back of Nico’s mind. How the fuck did Tony know he had shaken hands with Dante? It wasn’t the traditional greeting a man would give to a new brother-in-law. Maybe Dante passed the details of the meeting to Don Cordano who passed them on to Tony. Maybe Tony had a spy in the Cordano house. Or maybe Mia’s betrayal went even deeper than he had thought.

  “What the fuck is taking Luca so long?” They had been waiting for ten minutes in the parking lot outside a bar Dante was rumored to frequent for its high-stakes back-room gambling, but so far Dante hadn’t shown.

  “There he is.” Mikey Muscles pointed to Luca’s black 300C.

  Luca pulled up beside them, and Nico raged as soon as Luca opened the door.

  “Christ. You drive like a nonna. Go with Mikey Muscles and see if he’s in there.” This was the sixth tip they’d had about Dante’s favorite haunts, and so far, they’d struck out five times.

  “On our way.” Luca gave him a thumbs up before joining Mikey Muscles in a jog across the gravel.

  Nico pulled out his phone and checked his messages while Frankie lit a cigarette. “Where is Big Joe? Why isn’t he coming in? The whole fucking world is going to shit. The one person who is always on time, never misses a fucking call, is not there when I need him.”

  “He’s guarding Kat,” Frankie reminded him. “He can’t be in two places at once.”

  “Tell him to take her home or to Mia’s place or wherever she wants. We’re done with the fucking Toscanis. And tell him to get his ass down to the clubhouse when he’s finished. We’ll meet him there.”

  He had no responsibility toward Kat any more. As soon as Mia signed her papers, the annulment would go through in one to three days, and he wouldn’t have a sister-in-law in need of protecting. Nor would he have a wife.

  Nico thudded his foot into a wooden fence bordering the parking lot. He hadn’t spoken to Mia since leaving his nonna’s house except to tell her he intended to get the marriage annulled before sending her home with Luca. He hadn’t asked for an explanation, and she hadn’t offered him one. It was clear why she’d kept quiet about Dante. She wanted to protect him from Nico’s wrath. But she’d made the wrong fucking choice because Dante was a marked man from the moment he pulled the trigger. And now that Nico knew the truth, there was nowhere Dante could run, no where he could hide. Nico was going to hunt the bastard down and put a bullet through his brain.

  Part of him knew he was out of control, but the only way to deal with this fucking mess was to unleash the beast or he’d goddamn implode. And the one person who could soothe his pain had betrayed him.

  “Fuck.” He kicked the fence again. “Dante can’t just disappear off the face of the earth. What’s the point in having hundreds of associates and soldiers when they can’t find a single man?”

  “I keep telling you, go for the bodyguard.” Frankie puffed on his cigarette. “He’s more visible, more recognizable. And he’s not the kind of man who’s going to hide. He’ll lead you to Dante and then we can whack him. Rev is like a human shield. Dante will be vulnerable without him.” He tested the wooden fence and pushed the board Nico had dislodged back in place, before blowing out a stream of smoke.

  “We’re not murderers, Frankie. There’s only one man I want dead, and then I am going to try and end this fucking war. If we clip Rev, then they’ll come after our guys, and we’ll go after their guys. It won’t stop until the streets run red with blood.”

  “With all due respect…”

  Nico raised his hand. “I don’t want to hear it. Everyone will be hitting the mattresses now. We need to focus our efforts on finding Dante before he disappears, if he hasn’t already.” He knew Frankie wanted him to lay low—hit the mattresses, too. But Nico didn’t hide. He didn’t run. And sure as hell didn’t stop looking for the man who had taken his father’s life.

  “I’m trying to protect you,” Frankie said. “Less chance of you getting clipped if the bodyguard is out of the wa
y.”

  “I don’t need protection,” he snapped. “I need revenge. We’re done with that topic.”

  “What about the topic of the girl you’ve been fucking brooding over all day. Why don’t you just call her?” Frankie blew a smoke ring and watched it fade away.

  “What the fuck?”

  “Call your girl. Save a fence.”

  Nico punched the fence so hard, his hand went numb. “She’s not my girl; she was my wife. Although it turns out I didn’t know her at all.”

  “She was trying to save her shit-for-brains brother. Seems to me that’s pretty consistent behavior for her.” Frankie always seemed so calm, and yet when Nico looked in his eyes he saw nothing but darkness, anger, and rage.

  “She betrayed me.”

  “And now you’re going to kill her brother when only yesterday you were willing to put aside your quest for vengeance to have her.” Frankie took another drag of his cigarette.

  Irritated, his nerves frayed, Nico slapped the cigarette from Frankie’s mouth. “I’m fucking sick of watching you try to kill yourself. My Uncle Ettore died of lung cancer. It is not a death I would wish on anyone and especially not you.” He had lost everyone he cared about—his parents, Mia, friends, and family during the war—and the prospect of losing one of his two closest friends as well was unbearable.

  “And I’m fucking sick of watching you lose yourself to the memory of a father who has been gone for ten years,” Frankie shot back. “Yes, there is a matter of honor. But you have to live for something more than revenge, and Mia was that something. Now, you’re going back instead of moving on. When does it end?”

  “It will end with Dante dead, my father avenged and the family honor restored.” He clenched his fist and thudded his heart in a silent pledge.

  “And you’ll be alone with your vengeance, your honor, a war with both Tony and the Cordanos, and a stranger in your bed that you don’t love.”