But Nick understood now that Alex wasn’t blowing his money on childish things, or even overindulging Lia. He was taking care of his mother. His family.
He felt a kinship with him on that point.
Alex also bore the same tense, nervy aspect every time he came into this office, and Nick knew him outside it now well enough to see a contrast and understand that there was more than intimidation and respect in his nervousness. Alex felt unworthy, but not for the reasons men felt that in Nick’s presence.
Men feared him for his reputation, but they felt humble in his presence because of his success and power, because of what he’d accomplished, because they couldn’t imagine such success of their own. Alex felt unworthy because he had imagined success, he had expected to accomplish great things and had turned away from those expectations to live a life at the bottom—and he wasn’t sure he wanted the path up that was left to him.
“Alex,” Nick said and crossed his arms before him on his desk. “You did well last night. You didn’t let me down.”
“Thank you, don.” He swallowed hard, and fidgeted a little in his seat. “I—I never want to let you down.”
Nick picked up a sense that he meant to say something, was trying to muster the courage—or maybe was simply deciding whether he should say it. He waited him out for a few seconds and then decided to ease the boy’s angst.
“Do you want to be an enforcer, Alessandro?”
Alex hadn’t been expecting that question. He blinked, processing, and then simply asked, “Please?”
“Let me ask a different way. If you could be anything you wanted, what would it be?”
Alex’s jaw loosened, and he snapped it quickly shut. He turned to Donnie as if seeking help, but Donnie was, of course, impassive. Nick’s underboss would give nothing away.
With another big swallow, and a hand that floated toward his collar before he controlled it and set it back on his knee, Alex brought his focus to Nick. “Mi dispiace, don, but I don’t understand what you’re asking.”
Often, especially when he meant to bestow a boon, Nick enjoyed some good-natured toying with one of his men, letting them puzzle out his meaning. Today, however, he wasn’t in a playful mood. So he spelled it out. “You had a lot of scholarships for college. To some excellent schools. Ivy League. But you didn’t go.”
“No, I didn’t.” Nick liked that he didn’t show surprise at Nick’s knowledge, or offer an explanation. He waited to know how much of himself was required before he gave it up.
“Do you know what you would have studied?”
Alex regarded him silently, and Nick saw anger push into his eyes. He liked that, and he liked how calm the boy stayed despite it.
“Don Pagano, rispetto, truly, but I don’t understand why it matters. That’s old stuff. I lost that chance.”
“Is it? Did you?”
Again, Alex was quiet, trying to process.
“What would you have studied, Alex?” The answer didn’t matter to the first part of his plan, but it might mean a change to the second.
First he cleared his throat. Then he said, softly, reluctantly, with the pain of an old wound opened, “I wanted to be a lawyer.”
At his side, Donnie grinned. Nick let a smile show, too.
“That’s very interesting. I have an offer for you, son.”
He paused, gauging Alex’s reaction, but the boy sat perfectly still, frowning, and waited.
“Last night, we achieved peace, one that should last. We made our world safer. I’m going to tell Lia that she can go back to Brown in the fall. And I would like to send you to Brown with her.”
“As her security.” Not a question, an assumption. “Of course. Thank you.”
“Yes, I will feel better having you there to protect her, but I want to send you as her classmate.”
“Huh?”
Donnie chuckled at that gobsmacked syllable. Nick pressed on. “I spoke to the Chancellor at Brown to have Lia’s enrollment reinstated, and I asked her for a favor. When she looked up your application from a few years ago, it wasn’t even much of a favor. You should check your personal email tomorrow. I imagine there will be a message from Brown University waiting for you.”
“I would have gone to Brown. They didn’t offer me enough. I couldn’t afford it.”
“I’m paying your way, Alex. All of it. And I paid off your mother’s debts this morning.”
Now the boy fully gaped at him. “I don’t understand.”
“You are the first recipient of the Elisabetta Pagano Memorial