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Even though Nikki might have been fed up with Teddy’s ways, that would never mean she was fed up with Teddy.

That was why, as soon as she got to the docks that morning, she searched for him. Because instinctively she knew, even though he was supposedly fired, he’d be there.

And there he was. Sitting on the dock of the bay watching the wreckage still being hoisted out of the water. Their men, those who survived or weren’t there at all when the explosion occurred, were out in force, too, as they helped with the cleanup. But their faces were no longer the faces of cocky wise guys who’d seen it all and done it all, but they all looked spooked. As if they’d never seen anything like this and couldn’t even imagine doing the shit to another syndicate that had been done to them.

When Nikki walked over to Teddy, she sat on the dock beside him. He still had that spooked look, too, only his face wasn’t laced in terror like the faces of their men. It was guilt that was spooking him.

How could she be worrying about their marriage when her man was falling apart? But she also knew that was when bad decisions bred worse decisions. If she remained silent, his momentary anguish could become the end of them.

She spoke up. “Is it your father?”

Teddy looked at her. She always had that look of supreme confidence, as if no tragedy was going to turn her inside out. But that was exactly how Teddy felt: Inside out. Like everything about him was being exposed when he wanted nothing exposed. He felt bare.

But Nikki had already gotten herself up, brushed herself off, and was back in the saddle again. He admired her for that, even if he was nowhere near there yet. “Is what my father?”

“The way you’ve been acting. The fact that he fired you, even though you’re back on the job like you always are, and he never appreciates it.”

“Sixty-one of our men died, Nikki.”

“Lord have mercy,” Nikki said. Last night it was in the thirties.

“Sixty-one good men, Nikki. That’s the death toll now. How do you expect me to act after hearing how many more of our men perished?”

“I expect you to act like Teddy T. That tower of strength you are. We got hit. And it was a horrific hit, no doubt about it. But what do we do about it, Teddy? That’s how I expect you to act. I expect you to act on it, not just feel it. That’s why I’m wondering if it’s those daddy issues you still have that’s driving you. Because you’re the one who taught me to face tragedy head on, and then move the hell on.”

Teddy stared at her. His old man said she had nerves of steel, and she did. And she was perceptive too. Because she was right. Something within him shattered when Frankie told him that his father said he wanted to talk to Nikki after Teddy left the house. “When he asked to talk with you, as if he was going to offer you my job on the spot, that hurt me, Nikki,” Teddy admitted.

Nikki was struck by his admission. It was so rare for him to go down that deep that it was like an event whenever he did.

“It felt like a twist of the knife,” Teddy continued. “It felt as if he couldn’t wait to get rid of me. After all I did for that man and he was willing to get rid of me so easily? But then I hear the new death toll, and come out here and see the look on the faces of my men, and I can completely understand why he would want me out. I’d want me out, too, if I was the boss.”

“You are the boss, Teddy, and not of any Bengino crime family, either. But of our family. The Sinatra family.”

But Teddy was shaking his head. “As long as Pop is around, I’ll never be anything but his flunky. You know it and I know it.” Then he exhaled. “I just didn’t want him to use you too.”

“It wasn’t about him using me. That’s why you gave me that ultimatum last night. It was about you making sure he didn’t have me without you. That’s what that was about,” Nikki said bluntly. “So let’s keep this shit real.”

Teddy knew she spoke the truth. “I’m fucked up, Nikki, that’s just the way it is.”

Nikki looked at him. “Don’t say that.”

“Let’s keep it real, remember? Well that’s the real. I’m fucked up! Ever since I was a kid I’ve been kowtowing to this man and it’s got to stop. Do you realize I live in Philly to this day because I wanted to be close to him? I had my own thing going. I could have lived anywhere. But I kept my ass right here in Philly. And for what? To be trampled on by him? I don’t allow anybody to treat me the way he treats me. Why do I do this shit to myself?”

“You love your father, and want to please him. That’s human nature, Teddy. That’s not a weakness or a crime.”

Then Teddy frowned. “Ah shit!”

Now what , Nikki thought. “What is it?” she asked.

Teddy motioned toward the office. When Nikki looked, she saw Mick’s big white Cadillac Escalade speed onto the property and keep driving past the office all the way to the dock. Then he got out and made his way toward them.

Both of them were staring at Mick as he walked over. Teddy noticed that he, like Nikki, was well put together in his Armani suit. As if he was over it already too. Teddy just showered and threw on whatever suit was at hand. He didn’t give a shit if he was matching or looked good or any of that. He just wanted the pain of his screwup to go away.

Mick stood beside Teddy and Nikki and opened his suitcoat, placed his hands on his hips, and stared out at the wreckage too. For several seconds not a word passed between any of them.

Until Mick spoke. “What’s the final count?”

Nikki knew the number now that Teddy told her. But she felt Teddy should be the one to tell his old man. That Teddy needed to be the one. “Sixty-one.”

Mick leaned his head back. It was a massive number. “Damn,” was all he could say.

Then he looked at Nikki. “Any leads?”

“No sir. We’re waiting on forensics, but those assholes were under water. They planted that bomb underwater. I don’t see how they could find anything usable in that case.”

“Me either,” Mick said. But Nikki noticed how Mick continued to stare at Teddy although he was talking to her. Then he sat down beside Teddy, putting Teddy in between Mick and Nikki.

“How are you?” Mick asked him.

It shocked Teddy and Nikki both. That was not Mick’s kind of question ever.

But Mick was genuinely concerned about his son’s mental health. Because despite their differences, he knew Teddy better than anyone alive. He knew how a tragedy on this scale was affecting him.

“I’ve been better,” was Teddy’s answer.

“You made a call. It didn’t work out. Move the hell on.”

Now that was the Mick they knew and even loved. He didn’t mince words. You knew exactly where he stood. But when he added, “ This wasn’t your fault ,” they both were shocked.

Teddy looked hard at his father. “What do you mean it wasn’t my fault? I made the call. How could it not be my fault?”

“You didn’t plant that bomb. Your error was stopping those ships from sailing to begin with. Yes, that was an error. At least you can look at it that way. But I don’t anymore.”

Teddy and Nikki felt some weird energy coming from Mick. Just last night he was castigating Teddy for letting those ships sit. Now he was claiming the fact that he didn’t let them sail was no big deal at all?

“You’re talking through both sides of your mouth, Pop,” Teddy said boldly. He was the only member of the family, other than Roz and Big Daddy, to talk to Mick that way.

But Mick didn’t lash back. “You shouldn’t have let them sit. That’s the truth. But I guarantee you that bomb was already there. Had you sailed a week ago, the same thing would have happened. There would have been an explosion, only sooner.”

Teddy seemed to take some solace in what Mick was saying. “You think so, Pop?”

“I know so. I spoke with our sonar guys. They actually looked into it after that phone call you received that suggested the bomb was planted beneath the boat. There was activity in these waters, serious activity right around our largest ship, and it was happening the same night, right around the same time, that our three capos were murdered. They undoubtedly planted that bomb then and there. There probably would have been a full roster here that night, ready to set sail, which would have been triple the casualties. Your delay saved lives, Teddy. Not the other way around.”

Nikki stared at Mick. Was this some ploy to appease his son? But everything about him wouldn’t do that. He was telling the truth.

But it was going to take more than words to convince Teddy. “What are you saying Pop? That I didn’t fuck up?”

“Oh you fucked up. You fucked up when you decided not to rope me in. But would that have saved more lives? No. It wouldn’t have.”

Teddy was still staring at his father. Because it made sense to him. Or he needed something to hang his hat on, and the one man that could give it to him had given it to him. That deep affection he had for his father, Teddy suddenly realized, was still there.

That was when Mick’s look changed. “Does Nikki know?”

Nikki looked at Mick.

“About?” asked Teddy.

“Rarsi,” said Mick.

“Yes. Do you know?”

“Rarsi told me that you’ve been meeting with him, yes.”

“I was weighing my options, Pop. I meant no disrespect.”

Mick frowned. Nikki and Teddy both thought he was about unload on Teddy. But he did the exact opposite. “My actions were running you away. I know that,” he said.

Teddy just sat there. But Nikki knew this was their opportunity for this shit to get resolved once and for all.

That was why she spoke up. “Why were you running him away?” she asked Mick.

Teddy’s jaw tightened. He and Pop would brawl again if he laid a hand on Nikki.

But it didn’t go down like that. “Because I’m the one they’re all gunning for,” Mick said. “It’s dangerous working for me. I was pissed when Rarsi first told me about it, but that didn’t last long. Because I knew, if he went with Rarsi, he’d be in a safer place.”

“But why would you want to put Nikki in my spot, if it’s so dangerous?”

Mick was puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

“When you wanted to talk with Nikki last night. We assumed, well, I assumed that it was because you was going to make her boss of the family.”

Mick frowned. “Make her boss? Half of our men don’t even respect her as underboss, but you expect me to elevate her to boss?”

Nikki knew it too.

But Teddy had a different take. “Then why would you want her to stay back last night if you wasn’t going to elevate her?”

“I wanted to see where her heart was. The best tests are those given in the heat of the moment. I wanted to see if she was more about being the top of the food chain, or being with you. I saw what she was made of.”

“A blind man could have seen that,” said Nikki. Although she understood his rationale, she still didn’t like it. “You didn’t need to test my loyalty. I’m loyal to Teddy.”

“And I knew you would go wherever Teddy went,” said Mick.

“But that doesn’t explain why you would let our men dictate who ran your syndicate. They would either accept her as boss or hit the road, is what I think,” Teddy said.

“That’s because you’re thinking with your heart and not your head,” said Mick. “Or you’re thinking with the wrong head.”

Nikki almost laughed, but she knew Teddy would take it the wrong way.

“Say what you want, “Teddy said, “but that’s how I see it.”

“I don’t see it that way,” said Mick bluntly. “She’s capable. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying she’s not capable. But there’s no way I’m destabilizing my entire organization just to elevate her. There’s no way.”

When Teddy stared at him as if he couldn’t disagree more, he decided to explain himself. “There are only six people on the face of this planet that I would make boss of my organization. Only six. Myself, Reno, Tommy, and Sal Gabrini, Monk Paletti, and you. I would make Charles the boss of all of us, but he’s already got that title,” he added, and Nikki and even Teddy laughed. It was a welcomed respite from the tension.

But Mick didn’t smile. His look, in fact, became even more stern. “I’m a hard man to work for, to say the least. It takes a special person to do it. A very special person. And it’s dangerous assignment on top of that. You go with Rarsi, it probably won’t be so dangerous. But you won’t have the guardrails that being with me affords you either. Because it takes a real motherfucker to come after me and mine. Lesser guys will try to come after Rarsi’s outfit, and I believe those attempts will increase substantially if your name gets attached to that organization. Because you’re my son. Because,” he said as he looked deep into Teddy’s soulful green eyes, “you’re me and they know it.”

It was the kind of admission Nikki was pleased to hear. But Teddy was still digesting it.

“You’re my son,” Mick said, “and your ass may want to go everywhere to get away from me, and I don’t blame you, but you aren’t going anywhere. I’m fighting to keep your ass right here. Because I can protect you and Nikki better than anybody else can. And because you’re my son,” he added, heartfelt.

Teddy felt his heart. He felt it as if it was his heart too. And emotions welled up inside of him. He didn’t know what to say. They didn’t have that kind of relationship ever. “I don’t know what to say, Pop,” he said honestly.

“Say you’re staying with me,” Mick said.

Nikki’s heart was ready to soar. Unless Teddy blew it.

Teddy knew nothing was going to change. He knew, after this kumbaya moment, everything would get back to normal.

But normal sounded great to him. He extended his hand. “It’ll be my honor to stay with you, Pop,” he said. And Mick shook that hand.

He didn’t blow it.