9. Vitorio
Standing in front of Nicki on the balcony I can sense the obvious shift in her behavior towards me. Her body language has changed. Her guard is up. She seems tense and even frightened of me.
I thought that I would be coming out here to celebrate with her. We won the poker game, and she no longer has to be tied to any time with my brother - but then his words afterward, perhaps that is what is bothering her.
"What my brother said to you earlier, whatever it is he is holding against you, I am going to help you sort it out, Nicki. I will not let him hurt you or your family." I say, stepping closer to her again and trying again to reach out to her. I want her to know that I am here for her. I want to tell her that I would do absolutely anything for her, that for some reason that I don't even understand, she has quickly become someone I don't want to let go of or lose.
She stares at me defiantly.
"Maybe it is not only him I need to be wary of." Her words cut into me like an accusation.
"What are you talking about?" I glance towards the door and my brows knot. Who was the woman that I saw talking to her? What did she say? Is that maybe why Nicki seems so upset?
Nicki's eyes seem to glaze over as she pulls further away from me in her mind, putting her walls up and shutting me out.
"Don't do this, Nicki. Let me help you. I want to help you. Tell me what is going on."
She smiles, but it is cold and distant.
"My name is Nicola Dellacroce. I am the daughter of Leonard Dellacroce."
Her eyes shoot razor blades into me, as she waits for my reaction.
"Leonard Dellacroce. The man who died. The man you have been asking people about tonight." I can't hide the shock on my face. I had no idea she was his daughter, and now I know why she was so adamant about gathering information about him. She is trying to find out what happened to him.
"Yes, the man who died, while he was working with your family apparently."
I know he was working with my family when he died. But it wasn't my family who I suspected of taking his life. It is a rival family, one that I detest.
"Do you know him?" She asks fiercely.
"I do. I know of him." I reply, trying to figure out how to explain to her that my family was not involved. "I know there were some dealings between him and my family, but Nicki, we had no reason to kill him. My family is not responsible. We don't just go around making people disappear for no reason."
"I imagine it is hard not to make people disappear when your main business is human trafficking." She snaps angrily.
"Human trafficking?" I say, defensively, and not happy with the direction her thoughts are going in.
"Yes, it's no secret your family is entangled with human trafficking, Vitorio."
"Bullshit. Definitely not. I am sorry, I don't mean to be so blunt, but there is no way in hell we would stoop so low. Human trafficking is the shit the people at the bottom of the barrel choose to deal in -- the scum, and the psychopaths. My family has never had a hand in that type of disgusting business, and we never will. I would never allow it."
"So you are trying to tell me that a mafia boss such as yourself has standards? You care about the well-being of others? You aren't some ruthless egotistical maniac just trying to gain power? Doesn't that defeat the whole point of being a mafia boss?"
She is angry, and she is saying things that would get her killed if she were talking to anyone else. I clench my fists trying to remain calm.
Getting angry as well is not going to defuse this situation at all.
"That is exactly what I am telling you."
"I believe that someone in your family killed my father." She says bluntly, finally getting to the heart of the issue.
There is no more dancing around the truth or sidestepping with hints and suggestions. She just outright comes out to say what she thinks.
I sigh and close my eyes for a moment.
"Nicki, I don't know how to prove to you that you are wrong, but I promise you I will."
"Or you will just make me disappear, and this problem will go away?"
I have to tell her the truth about what I was doing here tonight. I have no choice. If she knows what I have been up to, if I share that with her, perhaps it can repair some of the trust she has lost in me.
"Look, I am going to tell you something dangerous to know. But I need you to know it for you to understand that you can actually trust me."
She tilts her head to the side and folds her arms across her breasts.
I lean against the balcony with my hip, rolling my shoulders back to try and ease the tension building in my shoulder blades.
"There is a rival family, one who has been causing issues for my family for quite a while now, the Romano family. Specifically, Ricardo Romano is the one I have been focusing my investigation on. I know that they are involved in human trafficking, and to make matters worse, they are using my family name to boost their status and enable themselves to find higher-paying customers."
"Ricardo Romano? I have never heard of him."
"He is a small fish in a massive pond, and his name means nothing, hence why he has been using my family name to get status and grow his business. He is pretending to be us. It is creating havoc amongst my clients, as no one actually wants to be involved with a human trafficker unless that is the specific product they are after."
"So, you are investigating him to get him to stop using your family name?" She doesn't seem to believe me.
"And to put an end to his business. Like I said, I don't condone that at all, and it goes against everything I stand for. I want to clear my family name and bring down his operation."
"Alright, let's say for a moment that I believe you, why did you need to tell me this? Why would you share that information if, as you say, just knowing it puts me in danger?"
"Because I think the Romano family is responsible for your father's death."
Her eyes widen in understanding. She pouts, lost in thought, and I stare at her beautiful lips. Her eyes are darting back and forth as she tries to puzzle different pieces of information together, but just like me, she is missing too many pieces to be able to see the whole picture.
I give her some time, biting back the urge to beg her to believe me. If she doesn't believe me it will tear us apart, and again I am surprised at how much the thought of losing her affects me.
When she sighs in frustration and turns her body to look out over the balcony I try again.
"Nicki, I think we are after the same person. I think our search for the truth is intertwined."
"And what does that mean at the end of the day Vitorio? Does it mean that I should throw my concerns about your own family's involvement to the side and start chasing down a man I have never heard of? What if you are just trying to steer me away from the truth?"
When she turns her head towards me, I see the despair in her eyes. She is lost, confused, and unsure about how to handle all of this. I can see that this is not a world she is used to, and despite the strength and bravery she showed me tonight, I can see she is scared underneath it all. I brush my hand over her back, wanting to take away all of her worries, wanting to wrap her in my arms and promise her the world.
"I know that you have to do whatever you have to do to find the truth out for yourself, but please believe me when I say that I am on your side. No matter what happens, no matter where your investigation leads, I won't hide the truth from you - and most importantly - Nicki, I will protect you. No matter what."
Her eyes soften and she licks her lips in a nervous gesture.
She wants to believe me.
I want her to believe me.
"I don't even know you, Vitorio." She whispers.
"Give me a chance to prove it to you then. I don't know what that veiled woman said to you, but she is as much a stranger to you as I was before you met me tonight. Don't just believe her over me. Give me a chance."
She hasn't moved away from my touch, and my hand is burning against her back, I want to caress her, feel her, taste her.
"I don't know what to do." She says softly. More to herself than to me.
"What does your instinct tell you -- about me?" I ask, hoping that I have done enough tonight to at least show her that I am on her side.
"My instinct could be wrong."
"In a world where you don't know who to trust - trust yourself. Trust what your heart is telling you. Despite the fears, despite the unknown, trust your heart."
She nods.
"We can do this together. You will be safe if you investigate with me by your side anyway."
"We have to be careful." She says.
"I agree, we need to be even more careful now that other people might know you are looking into your father's death. We don't know who that woman was, and what her intentions were. We definitely have to proceed with caution."
Nicki nods again. "Alright. I will work with you, for now, but if I find anything that leads me to believe you had a hand in my father's death, I won't hesitate to take you down."
"I expect nothing less. I know you have to protect your family."
I take a chance, and step even closer to her, wrapping my arm around her waist. She doesn't tense up or push me away. She doesn't stiffen in the same way she did when Luca touched her. So, I pull her against me and wrap my arms protectively around her.
I will do everything I can to keep her safe. But now I realize that I am also going to have to be careful with her, as she suspects my family, and while she is out there trying to gather information, I can't have her spreading false information about us being involved in human trafficking. I don't know what to do.
Her suspicions against my family have forced me to defend myself, and I will have to continue doing that until I can prove her wrong.
"It's going to be ok, Nicki," I say, reassuring her as much as I am trying to reassure myself.
I will make sure it is ok. I will do whatever it takes to make it ok.
"It will be ok." She agrees. And I know it is her way of telling me that no matter who is responsible, my family or someone else, she will find out - and they will pay.
We stood out on the balcony for a long time, with her leaning against me, and me wishing that I had met her under different circumstances. Everything about her is everything I want.