Page 28 of Nikki Sinatra: For Her Lover

“Boss just drove up with Nikki and Pop,” Marco said as he stood at the living room window.

“I hope they found those bastards,” said Roz as she sat down on the sofa.

“They’re getting out now.”

“Mick look angry?”

Marco was watching him, but he hunched his shoulders. “He always looks angry to me.”

Roz laughed. “You better hope I don’t tell him you said that.”

Marco grinned. “You won’t tell. You’re the ally of every bad boy alive and always will be. You’re my gangster grandma. You won’t tell!”

Roz laughed at that too.

But when Mick, Teddy, and Nikki walked in, all smiles were gone. Because they all looked as if they were in a funeral procession.

“What happened?” Roz asked Mick. But he kept on walking past her and sat down in one of the wingback chairs. Teddy sat in the other chair. Nikki sat on the sofa beside Roz.

Roz frowned.“What?Mick?Teddy?Nikki?What happened?”

Mick was staring at Nikki. “Are you going to tell it, or do I need to beat it out of you?”

“Pop!” said Teddy. “That’s enough.”

“Beat what out of her?” asked Marco. “What’s up?”

But Teddy was still staring at Mick. “Stop treating her like you don’t know her. She’s still Nikki.”

“Did you know her ass was a drug mule for her lover? Did you know her lover was in town and that was why she wrecked her car? That was still Nikki too!”

Teddy knew better than to try to outtalk his old man. Especially when he made good points. He leaned back in his chair.

But Marco was confused, and scared too. “A drug mule? For her lover? What lover ?”

Roz looked at her husband. “Tell me what happened Mick.”

Mick was still staring angrily at Teddy. Then he exhaled. “Emilio said Nikki and Juda stole product from drug cartels, sold what they stole, and that Nikki hid her proceeds in her offshore accounts.”

Roz frowned. “What offshore accounts?”

Marco frowned. “Who’s Juda? Who’s Emilio? What have I missed?”

Roz looked at Nikki. “Nikki, is any of that true?”

“None of it’s true, Ma,” Nikki said.

“Then what’s Mick talking about?”

Nikki was so outdone that she could hardly speak. “It’s not true,” she said again.

Roz looked at Mick. “Nikki doesn’t have any offshore accounts.”

Mick looked at Roz. “That’s news to Nikki. She said she does.”

Roz got angry. “Okay now hold the fuck up. Hold. The. Fuck. Up! Somebody better tell me what’s going on up in here and they’d better tell me now.”

“Talk Nicole,” Mick said, “before I kick the shit out of you.”

Ted angrily stood up ready to battle his own father, but Nikki wasn’t about to be responsible for him and Mick going toe-to-toe too. She stood up and reached over and grabbed Teddy’s arm. “I’ll talk,” she said. “Please sit back down. I’ll talk.”

Teddy exhaled, still staring at his father, but he sat back down. Nikki sat down too. Then she looked at her father-in-law. “Emilio was lying.”

“About what?” Mick asked her.

“All of it. I was in Jersey last week, yes I was, but I did meet with Monk Paletti. You can call Frankie right now and ask him.”

“Did you also go to that hotel with Juda Gavin?”

Teddy looked at Nikki. When she hesitated, his heart squeezed.

Nikki didn’t ever want her past to come to light. She would have done damn-near anything to not have to deal with any of it. But that was impossible now. “Yes,” she admitted, “I went to that hotel.”

Marco frowned. “Ma, you didn’t!”

“Yes, I went,” Nikki answered Marco. Then she looked at Mick. “But it was nothing like what Emilio claimed. We didn’t get a room or none of that shit. I met Juda in the bar at that hotel.”

“Why?”

“He called and asked if I would meet with him. He was selling weed but was tired of that life. He wanted a job on the docks where he knew he could make the kind of money that would make giving up weed worth it to him. He asked me for a job before, but I turned him down then, and when we met up I turned him down again. I told him to leave me alone and to stay out of my life. I told him I didn’t want to have anything to do with him or anything else related to my past. And then I left.

And that was all there was to that meeting at that hotel. ”

“If that was it last week,” said Mick, “then why did I see you having a drink with him at that restaurant this week when I made your ass get in my truck?”

Teddy and Roz glanced at each other. What were they talking about?

Mick nor Nikki had mentioned any confrontation at a restaurant to either one of them.

Marco gave up. He couldn’t keep up with his elders.

They had more drama going on in their lives than he ever had in his. It was even more confusing to him.

But Teddy had an additional concern. “If that was it last week,” he said to Nikki, “then why were you at Juda Gavin’s trailer last night, hugging on him on his porch, if you didn’t want him in your life?”

“Hugging on him?” Mick was astounded.

“Hugging him?” So was Marco. “Come on now, Pop. Ma ain’t like that and y’all know it.” But then Marco looked at Nikki. “You aren’t like that, Ma, right?”

“No I’m not like that,” Nikki yelled out.

She knew she deserved some of their disdain.

But this was getting out of hand. She felt as if she was on trial.

“I met with Juda after I saw Emilio the night before. I was spooked when I saw Emilio. I hadn’t seen or heard from him in well over a decade.

That’s the only reason I contacted Juda and met with him.

I hired him to get rid of Emilio just like I told y’all. ”

“You wanted to get rid of Emilio,” asked Mick, “without finding out why he was even in town?”

“I didn’t want to have to deal with that part of my past. I just wanted him gone. I knew he was bad news. He tried to kill me on that road, he wasn’t playing with me. I didn’t need to know why he was here.”

But Mick was shaking his head. “Not good enough, Nikki.”

Nikki looked at her skeptical father-in-law.

Although she never bought the family line that she was his favorite and all the rest of it, she always thought they had a bond.

She hated that he would even consider the fact that she had it in her to try to undermine the family. She would never do that.

But Mick was unrelenting when the facts weren’t factoring. He looked her squarely in the eyes. It would break his heart if Nikki wasn’t who he thought she was. It would be a hard blow for him to take.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to pursue the truth to the ends of the earth and rip her in two if that truth led where it was currently leading. “Why do you have offshore accounts?” he asked her bluntly.

They all looked at Nikki as if they were The Enquirer. As if their inquiring minds wanted to know too.

And Nikki knew she had to just tell it. It was her business, she thought, but she put herself in a position to no longer have that liberty.

Men, Mick’s men , had already died because of her business.

She had to talk and hold nothing back. “It’s my own money that I earned working for you, and all the money Teddy gave to me.

Teddy pays all my bills. He won’t let me pay for anything.

So I put my money away, yes I do. But I didn’t get a dime of that money from any drug cartels. That’s a lie!”

“That wasn’t my question,” Mick fired back. “You can put money away, and you should. But why do your ass have offshore accounts?”

Nikki decided the only way to deal with Mick Sinatra was to fight fire with fire. “The same reason you do,” she said boldly.

Teddy, Roz, and Marco all wanted to grab Nikki and run her out of that house. Nobody came back at Mick like that except for Roz. They all looked at Mick. But Mick was staring at Nikki.

Nikki knew she was crossing a line, but in his eyes she was already on the other side. “I have offshore accounts to protect my family’s financial future,” Nikki said.

When Mick didn’t respond but continued to stare at her, Teddy and Roz quickly realized why Mick didn’t go for her throat.

Nikki was talking a language Mick understood.

The language of ruthless. The language of protecting your family at all costs.

The language of the ends justifying the means. The language he respected.

But Teddy was frowning. It felt like a slap in the face to him. “Why would you need to protect our financial future? How is that your job? That’s my job, Nikki. Always was and always will be. And I don’t need you helping out!”

“I know that. I’m not doing it for that.”

“Then why are you keeping a secret like that for? Why are you doing it?”

“If anything were to happen to you,” Nikki started saying.

But Teddy cut her off. “Anything like what?”

“Like your father kicking us out of his organization, which has happened before. Like us being forced to go on the run and we can’t get a hold of your funds or any family funds.

But we’ll be able to get a hold of my funds.

They’re under a different name, a different everything. And also if you and me . . .”

Teddy waited. “If you and me what?”

Nikki couldn’t finish her sentence, but Roz could.

“If you and her don’t make it,” Roz said, “she wanted backup. She wanted to make sure that if your ass started sleeping around or acting a fool she could grab her baby and start a new life away from you and this family.” Roz looked at Nikki. “Am I right?”

Nikki nodded. “Yes. That’s right.” Then Nikki frowned. “ I don’t wanna be, but I have to be prepared.”

When Nikki said those words, Mick nodded his head in agreement. “Sometimes your ass gets on my last nerve with some of your choices. But I respect that choice. That’s a boss move right there. Keep thinking like that.”

Nikki audibly sighed relief. With Mick back on her side, she had her bookends back: Mick and Teddy. “Thank you, sir,” she said to Mick.

But Marco grinned. “Boss move my ass,” he said. “That’s a gangster move right there. Kudos, Ma. And I figured you would like that one, Boss,” he said to Mick.

Teddy leaned forward. They were all celebrating the game, but he didn’t like the way Nikki was playing the game. She could have told him. She didn’t have to keep it a secret from him. Just like she kept her past life from him. It was too much.

He stood up. “Marco, go get your sister. We’re going home.”

Nikki stood up too. She could see the anger in Teddy’s eyes.

“Why the baby gotta go?” Roz asked as she stood up with them. “We haven’t seen her all week, and we haven’t seen Marco longer than that. You and Nikki go home. Y’all asses need to talk anyway. Let Kimmie and Marco stay the night with us.”

Marco smiled. “I am a grown man, Ma. I think I can make that decision for myself.”

Teddy gave him a hard look.

“Or not,” he said with a grin.

Roz smiled too. Marco was the most charming young man she’d ever encountered.

“We still have unanswered questions,” said Mick.

Teddy and Nikki looked at him. “Who killed Emilio?” Teddy asked.

“And was he their only target,” Mick added. “Whoever was behind it got away. Remember that. I don’t care how you feel about this shit you don’t let that get in the way of your duty. You protect your wife.”

Teddy and Mick stared into each other’s big green eyes.

Because it was a reality check for Teddy.

Except for maybe Teddy’s best friend, mob boss Frankie “The Monk” Paletti, his father knew better than any human being alive how sensitive Teddy was.

How Teddy felt everything. And when it came to Nikki, how he felt it doubly hard.

That was why Teddy didn’t lash back at his father. More than any human being alive, he knew his father had his back. His father was telling him nothing but the truth. “Yes sir,” he said.

And then he allowed Nikki to walk in front of him like the gentleman he was, and then they went to the game room to say their goodbyes to their baby. Marco, who loved being a part of that family, went too.

Roz let out a hard exhale and then went over to Mick and sat on his lap. She leaned against him and rested her head on his broad shoulders. “Their asses better stay together,” she said.

“They will,” Mick replied. “Nikki’s ride or die come hell or high water, and my boy is too. Nobody loves deeper than Teddy.”

Roz leaned her head up and looked into Mick’s sexy eyes. “Except for you,” she said sincerely.

Mick wrapped Roz tighter into his arms. Anguish was on his face and Roz didn’t try to ask him why.

She knew why. Mick was worried. She wasn’t certain why.

But he was. He didn’t give Teddy that protect your wife speech for nothing.

They weren’t out of danger. Not by a longshot.

And somehow, Roz was certain, Mick felt it to the depths of his soul.

As she acknowledged, nobody loved harder than he did.