“I just want to put all this behind us. I wish you were here.” With Nicco’s arms around me, I felt strong. I felt like we could weather any storm.
“Soon, amore mio. Soon.”
Chapter 29
Nicco
I snatched up my phone and rushed out, “Yes?”
“Niccolò,” my father’s gruff voice replied. “Everything is in place. Our friend down at the local PD will hit the Fascini this evening, when they are least expecting it.”
A potent mix of relief and anger flooded me.
“Son?”
“I…” I dragged a hand through my hair. “That’s good.”
“I know it is not what you had hoped for.” There was a distinctive lilt in his voice. “But this is a good outcome, for Arianne. For the Family.”
“I know, I just…” Fuck, I wanted Scott to pay for his sins. I wanted to watch him bleed, knowing that I would spend my life loving the girl he would never get to hurt again.
“Be strong, figlio mio. Soon this will all be over, and you and Arianne will be able to get on with your lives.”
“It doesn’t feel right,” I murmured. “Arianne is mine to protect, mine to…” The words died on my lips.
“Don’t make the same mistakes I did, Niccolò. Don’t let your need for vengeance eat away at your soul, not when you have something to live for. Arianne is safe, she is strong, and she will make you a good wife.”
His words were like a fist around my heart. I wanted the happy ending, I did. But letting Scott live, it felt like a giant fucking mistake.
“What happened to taking him out and making it look like an accident?” I threw his words back at him, and he chuckled.
“The offer still stands, but I know you won’t do it. Because that would be a heavier burden to carry. Arianne wants justice, Niccolò. She wants to believe that the authorities will do the right thing. She is not ready to accept that our world is—”
“Don’t, just don’t.” Pain splintered me in two.
“Let me handle it, Son. Trust me to do this for you. For you both.” I gave him a sharp nod even though he couldn’t see me. “I know you’re probably going out of your mind, so I’m sending you a distraction. Sit tight. It will soon all be over.”
Just then, the familiar rumble of Enzo’s GTO caught my attention. “They’re here?” I asked him.
“You shouldn’t be alone, Niccolò. They are your cousins, your brothers, be with them. I’ll talk to you when it is done.”
We hung up and I went outside.
“We brought supplies,” Matteo called, waving two bottles of scotch in his hands.
Enzo tipped his chin at me as he approached carrying a pack of beer. “You good?”
“What do you think?”
He roped his arm around my neck and pulled me back toward the cabin. “I think we need to get lit and fuck some shit up.”
Usually, I would have told him to rein it in.
But not today.
Today I needed my friends.
I needed to forget.
“It’s the right call,” Matteo said later, as we sat around the fire pit, drinking beer and shooting the shit.
“Like fuck it is.” Enzo slammed his beer down on the arm of his chair. “That sick fucker deserves to bleed.”
“Ari—”
“She doesn’t get it, Matt. She doesn’t understand this life.”
“E,” I warned. I had enough anger zipping through me without him making it worse.
“He raped her, Nic. And as if that wasn’t enough, he took a gun and pushed it into her mouth and—”
“Don’t,” it came out a low growl.
I was losing myself, my thin rope of control fraying.
“You should be angry,” he went on. “You should be fucking—”
“Enzo,” Matteo glanced precariously between us, “this isn’t helping.”
“No, let him talk,” I seethed, my eyes growing thin. “Let him tell us what he really thinks.”
“You don’t have the balls,” he sneered. “You’re letting her call all the shots. You’re Niccolò fucking Marchetti and you’re out here, hiding like a little punk ass—”
I shot up out of the chair, fists clenched at my sides. “Say that again.”
Enzo stood up, his cool gaze trained right on me. “You heard me.” He stepped up to me, the air crackling with anticipation. “You don’t have the ball—”
I wound my arm back and let my fist fly at his face. Enzo jerked back, my knuckles clipping his jaw.
“Come on, guys.” Matteo was out of his chair too. “This isn’t what Uncle Toni had in mind.”
But it was too late.
Enzo had pushed me too far. He’d unleashed my inner beast and there was no