59. Niccolò
59
NICCOLò
R occo opens the door, leading us both into Matteo’s office. As I approach his desk, I say, “Gentlemen” and give him and Enzo a nod before taking the only open seat across from Matteo.
Enzo glances over from next to me and raises his brow before shaking his head. “Alone today?” he asks with a smirk.
Without taking my attention off Matteo, who seems to be studying me, I say, “I gave Leo and Dante the rest of the day off.” My intention with leaving them behind was to show a little faith to Matteo. I didn’t come here to start shit. I came here to end it.
“I’m here to call a truce.” My gaze remains pinned on Matteo, who eyes me with a certain regard.
A few beats of silence fall between us before he finally speaks. “You know, I didn’t peg my sister as someone who’d be interested in a man that clearly lacks even a speck of intelligence. You coming here with or without your men has to be one of the dumbest fucking things you could do.” His controlled tone should be seen as a threat, but if I’ve learned anything these past few years, it’s that fighting for the people you love is worth any fucking threat you could receive.
“You’d be surprised at what I’d do for the love of my life.”
Matteo’s expression remains blank, but his eyes darken. “What did you just say?” From what Isabella’s told me about him and his wife, he should know where I’m coming from. He remains silent, so I take advantage of the opportunity and continue.
“I’m here because you allowed me to be here. If you weren’t interested in what I have to say, you would’ve shot me down at your gate.”
“What makes you think shooting you isn’t still in the cards?”
“Because shooting me wouldn’t solve anything for you, Matteo.”
He raises a dark brow and leans forward, resting his arms on the desk. “Now that’s where you’re wrong.”
I lean forward so my gaze is level with his. This conversation needs to be had before we can come to any kind of agreement. “I had no idea my dad was going to call that hit on your parents.”
Matteo’s jaw clenches, sharpening the already rigid lines, and his fists tighten, whitening the knuckles on his hands. On my right, Enzo takes the leg he had casually strewn atop the other off and leans forward, surely expecting some kind of altercation between Matteo and me.
“I didn’t know about it until Leo and Dante called me to let me know what had gone down. Had I known he was going to pull that shit, I would’ve figured out a way to get my ass back here to stop it.”
Enzo’s knee begins to bounce, and I can feel the nervousness wafting off him.
Bringing my attention back to Matteo, I say, “My dad and I don’t have the best relationship. We never have. That’s why he sent me to Sicily. He knew I was seeing someone and that she was distracting me from my duties to the family.”
Matteo and Enzo exchange a quick glance. “He knew you were seeing Isabella?” Matteo asks.
“No, he didn’t know who I was seeing, just that there was someone I deemed more important in my life than my responsibilities as his heir. That didn’t settle well with him, and so he threatened me. He said if I didn’t get it together, he would get rid of the problem. I knew Isabella’s identity wasn’t compromised because my dad would’ve killed her had he known.”
Enzo’s elbow digs into the armrest as he braces his chin in his hand, still shaking that leg of his.
“That’s why I knew I had to do what I did,” I say. “I had to leave her so he wouldn’t figure out who I was seeing. Cutting Isabella completely out of my life was the only way to keep her safe. My dad was going to have my every move watched until he felt confident I wasn’t hiding anything from him.”
Running my hand over my mouth, I let out a sigh. “I don’t agree with how my dad runs the family, and I don’t have the same fucked-up morals he does.”
My heart begins to beat heavily in my chest, doing its best to pump the blood through my body. “I know how it feels to lose a parent. I would never wish that upon anyone, especially not the woman I love.”
Matteo’s stare bores into me as he repeats the word. “Love.” He’s silent for a few moments before saying, “You’re in love with my sister.”
“Yes, and she’s in love with me too.”
Matteo brings his attention to his brother and narrows his gaze on him. “Why are you so quiet over there?”
Enzo steals a glance at me before straightening his spine, sitting up taller in his seat. He clears his throat and says, “What do you mean?”
Oh shit.
“You should’ve had an outburst by now. You hate Niccolò just as much as I do, but he comes in here, proclaims his love for our sister, and you just sit there with your damn leg bouncing up and down?”
Matteo glances between the two of us before his eyes widen slightly and says, “Wait a fucking minute.”
Enzo holds up his hand to his brother as if he’s trying to calm the beast. “Teo…” He draws it out like he’s testing the waters.
Matteo’s nostrils flare and the vein on the side of his forehead has gotten substantially larger. “Enzo, please explain to me why the fuck you aren’t as surprised by all of this as I am.”
“Okay, listen, Teo?—”
“Oh, I’m fucking listening.”
“First of all, I know what I’m about to say is going to piss you off, but I’m going to need you to not freak the fuck out about it.”
“Enzo…” he says in warning.
“I may or may not have known about these two frolicking around behind our backs a week or so ago.”
Matteo clenches his jaw, and I suddenly feel like I may not be the most hated person in the room.
He snaps his gaze to me, and the burning fire in his eyes is prominent before he slides it back to Enzo.
Strike that, still the most hated person in the room.
“How did you find out about them, and better question, why the hell didn’t you tell me about it?”
With a tilt of his head, Enzo says, “I really don’t think you want me to answer that.”
“Enzo,” Matteo grunts out.
Holding his hands up to Matteo, he says, “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Enzo glances at me for a second, and I already know this will not end well. For either of us.
“I may or may not have walked in on them having sex.”
Now it’s my turn to hold up my hands as Matteo whips his gaze to me, and I start to question if he’ll shoot me right now on the spot. “Okay, hold on, we were not having sex when he walked in on us.”
“I mean, it was implied,” Enzo says. “Little cunnilingus. Little fellatio. Something was going on before I walked in there and definitely would’ve continued had I not barged in, sooo…”
“What exactly did you expect coming here today, Niccolò?” Matteo snaps, his voice getting louder. “Your father is the reason our family was destroyed. I made a promise to my parents’ dead bodies that I would avenge their deaths.”
The stoic expression Matteo wore when I first entered this room has officially been replaced with a mask of anger as his nostrils flare and his eyes gleam with disdain for me and my dad.
“I’ve made it my mission to dismantle your entire organization. When I’m done with your family, the Silvestri name will be nothing but a blip in history that no one needs to remember, and now, thanks to this new discovery, you will also be a blip in history, especially my sister’s.”
Matteo’s anger rolls off him like waves crashing on the shoreline right into me, and I can’t blame him for it. My dad took his parents away. I would do the same thing if I were in his position. But I’m the least of his worries, and while his anger is understandable, this needs to stop.
Thinking about Isabella and the life I want to have with her—the life I would sacrifice anything to obtain—reminds me of why I’m really here, and that’s when I know the decision I have to make.
“You want to dismantle my family’s name?” I ask Matteo, who continues to glare at me from behind his desk. “Fine, do it. Taking over my family’s business isn’t something I need in life. The only thing I need is Isabella, so if you’re so hellbent on taking down the Silvestri name, do it. But let me have Isabella.”
Matteo opens his mouth to speak, but a knock sounds on the door. He directs his gaze behind me and yells, “We’re busy!”
I hear the door open and the sharp click of heels as someone walks in.
I know exactly who those heels belong to.
Whipping around, I make eye contact with Isabella, whose hands are perched on her hips. Her gaze is narrowed on mine, and her full lips are set in a straight line.
She looks gorgeous as ever in her light-pink bodysuit, dark high-waisted jeans, and black thigh-high boots. Her chestnut hair flowing freely in loose waves.
“Isabella,” Matteo starts but is quickly interrupted by her sharp tone.
“So it’s true. You’re here.” Her eyes remain solely on mine while she ignores her brother. She walks farther into the room so she’s only a few feet away from me.
Rising from my seat, I say, “I told you I would figure out a plan.” She might be irritated with finding me here without her knowledge, but as soon as I close the space between us, weave my arms around her waist and draw her body into mine, the tension leaves her body.
Releasing her hands from her hips, she brings them up and wraps them around my neck, and fuck that her brothers are right behind us. I need to taste her.
Lowering my mouth to hers, I capture her soft lips with mine. It’s a slow, sensuous kiss, not one that’s rough with the need I feel for this woman twenty-four seven, but one that showcases the absolute fucking adoration I feel for her.
I slide my hand down and give her ass a firm squeeze to which she responds with a small whimper, and I nearly lose myself in her altogether from it before the click of a bullet being chambered in a gun interrupts the moment.
I reluctantly pull myself away from Isabella, whose widened eyes don’t move from mine. I give her a reassuring smile and a peck on the nose before turning around. Matteo is standing behind his desk with his gun aimed directly at my head. Isabella goes to step around me, but I hold out my arm, stopping her.
Enzo lets out a long sigh from his seat. “Probably shouldn’t have done that, Nicco.”
“What, kiss my girl? You might not know what it’s like to have the instinctual need to have the woman you love wrapped in your arms, Enzo”—I lift my head, nodding to Matteo—“but your brother should understand.”
Matteo tightens his hold on his gun, his finger twitching over the trigger. I should be concerned that I’m staring down the end of the barrel, but I’m not.
“Right, Matteo?” I bait him, knowing he can’t deny the love he feels for his wife would lead him to do the dumbest shit of his life.
Taking Isabella into my arms and kissing her in front of him might not have been the smartest idea after where we were in our conversation, but when it comes to Isabella, my brain shuts off and pure instinct takes over. The need to feel her is strong, and I acted on it. Like any man would.
Isabella tries to step around me again, but I extend my arm out and shove her back behind me. “Nicco,” she hisses before letting out an exasperated sigh. “Teo, put the gun down. You’re being ridiculous.” She smacks me in the back with her hand. “And you, stop keeping me behind you.”
Doing what no person should ever do in my position, I turn my back on Matteo and the gun he has pointed at me and place a firm grip on Isabella’s hips. “I will not allow you to stand in between me and a gun,” I state, hoping she understands the gravity of the situation.
She looks at me with her big brown eyes that make me want to buckle at the knees.
“But it’s my brother. He won’t shoot me. You he could very easily shoot, and I cannot have that happen. I might be pissed at you for sneaking behind my back to meet with him, but I don’t want you dead.”
“I don’t give a fuck who’s on the other side of the barrel, Isabella. You will never stand between me and a gun.”
She opens her mouth to speak but decides against it, and instead, gives me a small nod, knowing I’ll never budge when it comes to her safety.
“I told you I’d handle this,” I whisper to her, and she gives me a few small nods before I turn back around to face Matteo.
Enzo lets out an exasperated sigh as if he’s over this entire situation. “Alright, Teo, just put the damn gun down already.”
“And why should I do that?” Matteo says, his voice low and eyes still glued on mine. “I should kill this motherfucker and then you next, Enzo.”
“Okay, fucking relax. You’re not going to shoot anyone,” Enzo says.
“I think you’d be amazed at what I would do to protect our family.” Matteo’s voice is low, but the threat is loud and clear.
“Teo, you know I hate Giuseppe Silvestri as much as you do,” Enzo says, “but we can’t ignore what we just witnessed.”
Matteo clenches his hand around his gun once more, but I don’t flinch. Even if he shoots me right now—for fighting for the woman that I love—it’ll be worth it, because a life without her, is a life not worth living.
“I love your sister more than anything, Matteo. You can stand there and not support us, but it doesn’t change the way we feel about each other. I already told you you can take down my family’s organization if that’s what you think is the smartest decision to make, but if you ask me, I think it could be one of your dumbest,” I say with a shrug.
Enzo chuckles, breaking the tension that’s been bursting at the seams since I entered this room, and Matteo snaps his gaze over to him. “Have something to say, Enzo?”
“Oh, nothing at all,” he states. “Just that this is one big damn clusterfuck now. What’re you going to do, Teo? Kill Izzy’s boyfriend right in front of her? Lower the damn gun already.”
Matteo eyes me once more, clenching his teeth before begrudgingly lowering his weapon to his desk, then gesturing to the open chair I was sitting in. “You better start talking, Niccolò. And if I don’t like one word that comes out of your damn mouth, don’t think for a second I’ll hesitate to bury a bullet deep inside your skull.” Looking back at Enzo, he adds, “And don’t think you’re off the hook for this shit. You and I are going to have a conversation after this.”