“And now you’re going to kill her brother when only yesterday you were willing to put aside your quest for vengeance to have her.” Frankie took another drag of his cigarette.
Irritated, his nerves frayed, Nico slapped the cigarette from Frankie’s mouth. “I’m fucking sick of watching you try to kill yourself. My Uncle Ettore died of lung cancer. It is not a death I would wish on anyone and especially not you.” He had lost everyone he cared about—his parents, Mia, friends, and family during the war—and the prospect of losing one of his two closest friends as well was unbearable.
“And I’m fucking sick of watching you lose yourself to the memory of a father who has been gone for ten years,” Frankie shot back. “Yes, there is a matter of honor. But you have to live for something more than revenge, and Mia was that something. Now, you’re going back instead of moving on. When does it end?”
“It will end with Dante dead, my father avenged and the family honor restored.” He clenched his fist and thudded his heart in a silent pledge.
“And you’ll be alone with your vengeance, your honor, a war with both Tony and the Cordanos, and a stranger in your bed that you don’t love.”
Nico’s heart thudded a protest beneath his hand. “Love isn’t worth the pain. I should have heeded the lesson I learned long ago. Even you…” He gestured to the cigarette, directing his anger at the friend who never left his side. “Every day you make me watch you die.”
Frankie dropped the cigarette and toed it with his boot. “You didn’t seem to be in pain for the last coupla weeks.”
“Forget about it.” He waved Frankie off, even though he knew Frankie was right. He felt right with Mia. Happy. So fucking happy he had considered giving up the vendetta to be with her even though they’d known each other only a few weeks. Stupido. Dante’s death might not bring his father back, but an eye for an eye had always been the traditional Mafia way. His father had been right. The old ways were best. Mia had spent her life fighting against tradition, and where had it led her? Back to the fucking beginning. Just like him.
*
“So what’s on the menu today?” Jules handed Mia a cup of coffee and took a seat on the other side of Mia’s desk. “Penetration test of a mob-run casino? Done that. Escape from a mob clubhouse? Done that. Getting hot and heavy with a mob boss? Triple check. Destruction of the office after the mob boss goes protective crazy? Check. Dressing up as a pretend mob wife? Done with miserable results. Escape from the mob? Vegas wedding? Something happens that you won’t share with the best friend? Check, check, check, check. And now you’re getting divorced. It’s been an exciting month. I can hardly wait to find out what’s next.”
“It’s an annulment, not a divorce.” Mia pushed the annulment form across the table. “If I contest it, then it can take four to six weeks. If I sign the paper, it is over in one to three days.”
Jules stared at the annulment form and shook her head. “I don’t get it. I thought you liked him. I thought he was the one.”
“I never wanted to marry into the mob. It was just a way of protecting Kat and getting away from Tony.” Mia shrugged. “It was a stupid plan.”
“I’ve never known you to come up with a stupid plan.” Jules took a pen from the holder on Mia’s desk. “I also never saw you so happy as you were with him.” She doodled a happy face on the form. “Oops. Look what I did. Now you can’t get the marriage annulled. Silly me.”
Mia groaned. “Jules … that’s not going to change anything. I’ll just print off another. I’m sure he’s already filed his by now. He didn’t say anything to me after we left his nonna’s house except about getting the marriage annulled. He wouldn’t even get in the car. He sent me home with Luca, and he and Frankie walked off down the street.”
“What happened at his nonna’s house?” Jules continued to doodle. “I’m pretty sure you didn’t insult her cooking. I know there’s a lot of mob stuff you don’t want me to know, but it’s not like I don’t have a good understanding of what the underground world is like. I lived rough on the streets for six years. There’s very little I didn’t see. And if you’re trying to protect me, don’t. I can look after myself.”
“I knew something.” Mia swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I knew how his dad really died. I watched him shake hands with his father’s killer, and I didn’t say anything. Revenge is the one thing he’s wanted for the last ten years, and I didn’t tell him it was right in front of him.”
Jules doodled another happy face and added a bow on top. “I’m sure you had a good reason.”
“I did.”