Page 109 of Nico

I slid the knife into his stomach. The rage at Solonik, at Benito, and most of all, at myself was gutting me from the inside, mirroring the knife I wrenched upward, spilling the guy's guts all over the floor.

My first instinct when I saw her all those years ago was right. She didn’t belong in my world and was too good for it. Yet, she was mine now.

Kicking his lifeless body down, along with the chair, I turned to Alexei.

“I’m impressed,” he murmured. “You didn’t need me.”

“Years of practice.”

It was a true statement. The killer mindset was required by anyone living in this world. Otherwise, you just didn’t make it. After Nicoletta died, I killed every single man that dared touch her, except Benito. But he would die too. Very soon. If not by my own hand, then by his sons’.

“I am so sick and tired of hearing about the Belles and Mobsters agreements.” I suspected it, but the Amalfi coastline I didn’t see coming. The last records pulled up showed her grandmother as the owner, to be turned over to her mother. My wife being part of the fucked up arrangement run by the King family infuriated me.

It didn’t matter. Now, I had to protect her and her girls.

“Tell me what you need,” Alexei offered.

ChapterThirty-Four

BIANCA

He knows.

Benito learned the secret my mother kept all those years.

Everyone was in bed. I checked on Mom again and she was out cold. Gia wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I returned back to the bedroom I shared with Nico. After a quick shower, I found a corner on his balcony overlooking his vast estate.

The air was cool while I sat on the balcony of the master suite. I didn’t notice it last night, but today I had a bit of time to explore Nico’s bedroom after Gia sent me out of Mom’s room. I sat on the chair, wrapped in a blanket, trying to gather my thoughts. The exhaustion felt heavy in my heart and my body but sleep would be pointless. There were too many worries whirling inside my mind.

It felt safe here with forest in the distance that surrounded us and numerous men guarding the place. Yet, I knew we couldn’t live here and never leave this property.

I was unsure what the right thing to do was. Would Nico protect us when he found out about my connection to Benito; that I was the daughter of the very man that killed his sister? I wanted to believe so. After all, he was friends with Cassio and Luca.

If Mom, the twins, and I were to run, we needed money and for Mom to get better. Gia assured me that she’d start healing, and in a few days, she’d be able to move without any pain. The question was whether we had a few days. Maybe I should stick with the plan that my mother and grandmother always pounded into me. Run. Dad made me promise to run when Benito found out I was his daughter.

He didn’t say if he found out; it was always when.

If that was the case, we’d have to run very soon then. This week.

I wanted to scream my pain at the stillness of the night. It wouldn’t do me any good though. The cool air and the darkness masked the sound of my breaking heart. I knew we’d go our own separate ways. It was only yesterday that I raged at my husband. Now, something in my chest constricted every time I thought about not seeing him.

Was it possible to fall for a man that fast? To feel such a wide range of emotions in such a short span of time?

Whatever it was, I would miss him. I recalled the first time I saw him, when I was back for the summer, after my first year of college. I didn’t know who he was but Nico wasn’t a man that you’d forget easily. He dominated the room, his aura easily capturing the room. He had the same impact on me that night when I was in downtown D.C. with some girlfriends and John. I only shared a fleeting glance with him, but it took months to forget the handsome stranger.

Angie, John, and I danced to the beat of the music, the fancy nightclub overcrowded. The rest of our friends danced right around us. We laughed so hard at John’s dance moves. Going out with him was always a hit. But hours of dancing made me overheat. It was too hot.

“Let’s grab a drink,” Angie yelled over the music, pulling me with her to the bar area.

“Sure!” I yelled back.

I started to make my way across the room, but realized too late Angie went back to dancing with John and the girls.

“Ugh, little traitor,” I grumbled under my breath but continued to the bar.

Once I ordered the drinks, I stood in front of the bartender, as he made them. I let my eyes scan the room, and that was when I saw him.

His eyes connected with mine, and it was like a jolt of electricity. He sat in a private booth, with several other men, but there was no mistaking it. He was looking at me.