“You didn’t love Gina?” Luca had married Gina in a shotgun wedding after getting her pregnant. He’d never expressed any discontent about the situation, and they’d seemed happy together, especially after Matteo was born, but she was not the kind of woman he would have ever picked for Luca. Too brash. Too loud. Too shallow. Too needy. Luca had taken to carrying two phones, one just to field her constant calls, and the other for business.
“Who the fuck knows?” Luca fiddled with the zipper on his jacket, and Nico realized they’d never talked about Gina’s death before. He had never witnessed the utter destruction of a man, until he went with Luca to identify her body. He’d assumed love had crushed Luca’s soul, but now he wondered if something was going on.
Nico’s hands tightened around the railing. His entire life had been about the family—duty, honor, and revenge—and the best thing for the family was to stand aside while Tony married Mia. The marriage would provide a short-term benefit in the form of a truce between the families, and a long-term benefit in the form of increased family security and power after he married the girl from Sicily, and dealt with Don Cordano and Tony in a permanent way. It made perfect business sense. It was what his father would have done. But it didn’t align with the yearning in his heart.
“I don’t want to speak bad about her,” Luca said into the silence. “I cared about her enough to marry her when I could have just walked away. And she gave me Matteo. When he was born, I thought there might actually be a heaven and maybe I did something right in my sorry life because God sent me an angel of my very own.”
“Yeah, I know that feeling.” Big Joe joined them at the railing. “First time I realized I had a heart was when I held my kid in my arms. One day maybe I’ll find a woman who makes me feel like that, and my fucking heart will start beating again.”
Nico’s heart had started beating the moment he laid eyes on Mia, and it had stopped when he gave her up to Tony.
“Your talents are wasted in the mob.” Nico mounted his bike. “You two should be writing fucking greeting cards.”
Nico wanted vengeance, but he wanted Mia more. Vengeance had left him empty inside, blind to what was going on around him, deaf to the rumblings on the street as Tony secretly gathered more and more power in anticipation of the day Santo was whacked. If he had been on the ball, he wouldn’t be on his back foot in the fight for control of the family. If he had thought and planned ahead, he would have been able to secure his power the day Santo died. Mia offered him more than just an opportunity to save his family. He could save her. He could save himself. He could make his heart beat again, and he could give it away.
“Where are we going next, boss?” Luca mounted his bike.
“Back to the city. I’m getting married tonight.”
SEVENTEEN
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“Mia! It’s Nico. Open the door.”
Bang. Bang. Bang. He thudded again on the motel room door. Big Joe had confirmed Mia was inside with her sister. They had no time to waste.
He heard the bolt slide and chains rattle. The door opened and he pushed his way through with Luca and Frankie behind him. “Let’s go. If I could find you, your father won’t be far behind.” He spun around, startled when he saw her gun. If he’d expected a broken, tearful, terrified woman, he was sorely mistaken. He had come to rescue a kitten and found a tiger instead.
“Put that away.” He waved a dismissive hand. “We have to leave right now.”
“Jules called and told me you were coming. Get out.” She backed up, pushing a girl behind her. Taller than Mia, and slim, she shared Mia’s long dark hair and dark eyes, but her face was more oval than heart-shaped, and she wore light, floaty clothes covered in flowers, a decided contrast to Mia’s black outfit—all leather, chains, and laces.
“We don’t have time for this,” he said impatiently. “I’m here to help.” Nico scraped a hand through his hair. It had taken all day to track them down using his network of contacts and calling in favors.
“Come.” He gestured again to the door, and Mia shook her head.
“Thanks for the effort, but I’m not going with you. I’m done with the mob. This is a family matter, and I’ll deal with it my own way.”
Damn stubborn woman. “You asked for my help,” he gritted out. “I’m giving it to you.”
“I asked, and you refused. I realize now I didn’t need your help. We’ll be fine on our own. I hacked my father’s phone. I’ll be able to track them and keep us safe.”
Cristo mio. “I came to marry you, Mia. You can’t get safer than that.” Once he had the marriage certificate, he would use the threat of the alliance to oust Tony. He would take over as boss of the family, get close to Don Cordano and whack the fucking bastard. He figured Mia would no longer have any objections. Although, he didn’t know what Don Cordano had done to her sister, it was bad enough that she had thought to offer herself up to him as a mob wife to save her, and when he refused, to take her sister and go on the run.