Page 130 of Nico

I scoffed. “No, I’m not. And thank God that she left me with Grandma and Dad.” I tilted my chin towards Nico. I raised to my full length. “You two, untie my husband. The next bullet, it will be the end of Benito.”

“If you shoot me, you’ll bring all of the mafia to your doorstep,” he threatened. “And you won’t be able to shoot them all.”

“That’s okay,” I told him with a false bravado. “I’ll have my husband, and my brothers, along with his men. You might find you don’t have as many people at your back as you thought, Benito.”

Jesus, I actually acted like I knew what I was talking about. It was all smoke.

“You don’t know everything, Daughter.” I knew he called me that to irk me. I hated the idea of being his daughter. He was a true monster, twisted and sick, getting off on the pain of others. “I have a few cards up my sleeve.”

I didn’t care what he had to say. He might have some aces up his sleeve, but Nico and his friends could work against him. I just wanted my husband back. I needed to tell him I loved him, needed his body next to me when I fall asleep and when I wake up. Fuck if I would live the rest of my life alone. We’d work out our shit Together. We’d raise the girls together, keep them safe.

“How about a trade?” Benito suggested with a gleam I didn’t like in his eyes. “You for Nico.”

“No,” Nico grunted. “Don’t do it, Bianca.”

“How about a better suggestion?” I told him. “Give me my husband and I let you live. See, you don’t get to call the shots. I’m the one with the gun.”

Benito threw his head and laughed. “If you only grew up alongside me,” he drawled, making my stomach churn. “You would have made me proud.”

“Fuck. You.” I spat at him. “The last thing I want to do is make you proud.” I knew hate burned in my eyes. He wanted to control me, to destroy the real me and everything I love. Benito King was all kinds of twisted. It was a mystery that Cassio and Luca turned out somewhat normal.

“Give. Me. My. Husband. Back.” I told him. “Last warning.”

ChapterThirty-Nine

NICO

Bianca made me so proud. When we get home, I’d punish her for leaving the estate without telling me, and then I planned on fucking her raw. Until she screamed my name so loud, the entire state heard it.

“Hey, Father-in-law,” I called out. He was pale, his pants soaked in blood. My woman was a great shot. I’d have to keep that in mind. “I have a surprise for you.”

I reached into my pocket, ignoring the piercing pain running through my shoulder. Pulling out a folded piece of paper, weighed down with a chip.

“Here, Benito,” I tossed it across the room. “Vladimir sold me the Belle agreement for the last generation of the Catalano family. Oh, and he says hi. He’s on his way. Couldn’t stop him.”

What little color was left in his face drained from Benito’s face, and I couldn’t help but smile coldly. “You’ve fucked up, Benito, thinking I’d ever let you take my wife or our children from me,” I said darkly. “Vladimir will give you the same treatment you have given my wife, my sister, and Bianca’s mother.”

Bianca looked in confusion back and forth between me and Benito. Alexei, Cassio, and Luca were right behind me. I counted on Benito thinking he was smarter and walked right into their trap.

Panic evident on Benito’s face, he scrambled for the door, limping like the weasel he was. I reached out to grab him by his neck when the explosion blasted. Smoke engulfed and one side of the building disintegrated. Ignoring the pain, I threw myself across the room and covered Bianca’s body. Both of us tumbled down onto the ground.

“Stay down,” I whispered into her ear. “I got you.”

Covering most of her small, soft body underneath me, I kept mumbling nonsense in her ear.

The sounds of gunfire surrounded us. Bullets whizzed through the air. I kept my hands on her head, my mouth next to hers.

“You’re good,” I murmured. “You’re safe.” Another explosion shook the ground, and her breath brushed on my mouth on a whimper. “I got you, love.”

I crawled us a few feet over, tucking her under the bed, to keep her out of sight. She still clutched the gun in her hand.

“Don’t leave me here.” Her voice shook, her free hand gripped on my shirt.

“Never,” I vowed, pressing my lips on hers. “We are going home tonight. Together.”

I tried to take her gun, but she clung to it so I let her be. She seemed to know how to handle it. And if she shot me… well, so be it. It wasn’t as if I didn’t deserve it. All that mattered to me was that she was safe.

“Nico,” her voice was so quiet, drowned out by the gunfight. I itched to go and fight, kill all those bastards that even contemplated hurting my wife, but Bianca’s safety was more important.