“Ti amo, Nico.” Mia drifted off to sleep soothed by the gentle rise and fall of his chest, the strength of his arms, the warmth of his body, and the soft murmur of his voice as he told her how he felt in the language of love.
When she woke the next morning, he was gone. Only the dent in the pillow beside her showed he’d been there at all. But his words stayed warm in her heart. She just wished it could be forever.
TWENTY-FIVE
Mia knocked on her father’s office door. She hadn’t been surprised to receive the summons after teaching her class at the community center. After all, she had brought her new husband home when her father wasn’t around.
“I’ll be right outside.” Kat gave her a hug. She had returned home with Mia, worried about their mother being left alone. “If anything happens, I’ll call Big Joe and he’ll send Nico.”
“Big Joe?” Mia gave her sister a puzzled glance.
Kat blushed. “He was so nice when I was at his place. It wasn’t like being guarded. It was like finding a new friend. When I left, he gave me his number and he told me to call if I needed him.”
“He has a little girl,” Mia warned her. “And some messy ex drama going on. He’s also a lot older than you. And in the mob. And there’s also something else about him you should know.”
“You’re beginning to sound like Mama.” Kat gave an exasperated sigh. “I’m nineteen, Mia. I understand the danger. But sometimes you can’t help who you fall for, and when you do, the baggage doesn’t matter.”
“Come.”
Mia swallowed hard at the sound of her father’s voice. “Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need luck,” Kat said. “You have strength. You have me. And now, you have Nico.”
Heart pounding, Mia opened the door and walked into her father’s office. This time there was no fire in the fireplace, although the curtains were still drawn. He had two guards with him she didn’t recognize, and he was seated, as usual, behind his desk.
“I hear you married Nico Toscani.” His dark eyes blazed as anger crept over his face.
“Yes.”
“I’m not a fool, Mia. I know you did it to get out of the marriage to his cousin. You’re a stupid girl if you thought you could defy me.” He scrawled on a piece of paper in front of him, as if their conversation was nothing more than an idle chat.
“You’re partly right.” She straightened her shoulders. “At first, I did it so I didn’t have to marry Tony, and to save Kat from any more of your abuse, but I cared for him when I married him, and now I love him. So if you think I’m going to agree to have the marriage annulled, think again. As with all Cosa Nostra marriages, it is forever.”
“Forever only lasts until one of you is dead.” He looked up and held her frozen with the cruel smile on his lips. “That gives you about one hour to enjoy your marital bliss.”
Dread crept over her, leaving goose bumps in its wake. “What are you going to do?”
He gave her a haughty smirk. “The question is not what I am going to do, it’s what have I done? I’ve sent someone to deal with the problem. I can’t run a business when Dante is being chased around the city by that Toscani bastard who just can’t give up the pathetic vendetta that he’s clung to for ten fucking years.” His calm facade slipped and he pounded his fist on the desk. “Nor will I tolerate being disrespected by my own daughter who is determined to dishonor the family.”
“You put a contract on him?”
Her father laughed. “I didn’t just put a contract on him; I baited him. I’ve turned his fucking quest for revenge against him. I’ve sent him around the city hunting down false leads on Dante, and tonight I’ll put him out of his misery. He knows where Dante is, and he’s on his way to whack him. Except Dante isn’t the one who’s going to be whacked. And just to be sure nothing goes wrong, I’ve enlisted some help. I’m not the only one who benefits if Nico Toscani is dead. The rest of his family wants rid of him, too.”
She stared at him aghast. “You’re working with Tony?”
“Soon to be my new son-in-law, and a man who shares my vision for how to make Cosa Nostra great again in Vegas.”
Fury rose up in her chest like a fireball. “If you hurt him, I will destroy you. Everything you’ve built, everything you have, I’ll take it away. I won’t rest until you are nothing.”
“Another vendetta.” Her father raised an idle hand. “I am not afraid of you, Mia. You’re a woman, and for some reason you’ve never been able to accept that. You are no threat to me. I am bigger than you, stronger than you, and more powerful than you can ever imagine. I’ve known you since the day you were born, and although you were desperate to prove yourself to me, your compassion was a fatal flaw. You would never be able to pull a trigger and take a man’s life. And until you do, you will never be enough; you will never be worthy of my respect; you will never be as good as a son.”