Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
ENZO
“ N ico fired me,” I say, nursing my drink. That bitch got the better of me. I found her with a knife hidden in her room, and she turned it back on me. The bitch is smarter than I gave her credit for.
“I heard,” Andrew replies, sitting down across from me. The moment Nico fired me, I came to Andrew’s house straight away. If there’s anyone else I know who’s just as suspicious of Aurora as I am, it’s Andrew.
“I think she’s trying to kill him.”
Andrew raises an eyebrow. “And you saw the knife?”
“Yes. I ripped it right from her hands. But, of course, when Nico comes in, I’m the one holding the knife. Not her. She said I came in to attack her, and Nico believed her.”
“Of course, he did. He’s pussy whipped.”
I scoff. “How can he trust her? She’s a stranger to him.”
“Nico wanted a wife. He didn’t care about anything else despite my objections. You’re certain Aurora is trying to kill Nico?”
“Why else did she have a knife in her room?”
“Protection?” Andrew offers. “She’s a young women married to a Mafia man, after all. Maybe she thought it would offer herself protection from him.”
“Why are you trying to see things from her perspective?” I shift around in my seat. “You hate her just as much as I do.”
“I’m just trying to offer an alternative option. Because the other option is Nico married a woman who’s trying to kill him. But we can’t go after Aurora. If we do and hurt her, Nico will kill us. He’s already showing signs of possessiveness over her. If we’re going to go after Aurora, we need proof she’s trying to hurt Nico. All you did was find her with a knife. She wasn’t attacking him, was she?”
I sigh and take a large gulp of my whiskey. “No. She wasn’t.”
“Exactly. It’s your word against hers. Nico will believe her word. He already has by firing you. We need proof that she wants to hurt him.”
“How are we going to get it?”
Andrew’s smile makes my skin crawl. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle everything.”
AURORA
After another day spent alone, I decide to go to Nico, finding him in his office, bent over his desk, his head in his hands.
“Hey,” I say, slowly approaching him. “Are you all right?”
“I should be asking you that.” He drops his hands, sighing.
“Enzo didn’t hurt me. I’m fine.”
“But he tried. Which means I’ve had to spend all of today vetting my other guards. I don’t want any of them to try and hurt you.”
A flash of guilt courses through me. Nico doesn’t want me to get hurt while I’m trying to find a way to kill him.
After Enzo caught me with the knife, I promptly put the knife back, and I haven’t picked it up again. So, I’m back to square one on how to kill Nico.
If I even want to kill him, that is …
“You’re kind,” I say.
“You sound surprised.” He grabs my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine.
“Can you blame me?”
“Not really.” He stares at me intently. It’s so easy to lose myself around Nico. “I care for you, Aurora. Even within the short time I’ve known you. I know I don’t show it much, but I want to. I want to take you out on a date.”
A slow smile spreads across my face. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Tomorrow evening sound good?”
“Sounds perfect.” I can feel my stomach flutter by how Nico looks at me. He’s touched me in a way no one ever has before. There’s a closeness between us that wasn’t there before he pleasured me with his mouth and when he thought Enzo tried to hurt me. I hate that an innocent man had to be fired over my lie, but if it means Nico trusts me more, then that’s a good thing.
Too bad it also makes me feel insanely guilty.
“You look stressed,” I comment.
“I am. With the police looking at me and firing Enzo, it’s been a lot.”
“How about I give you a massage?” Beatrice’s words filter through my head—get him to fall in love with you. I don’t want her words in my head, and yet there they are.
“A massage would be great.”
I stand behind his chair and begin kneading the kinks out of his neck.
“You’re good at this,” he murmurs, leaning back into my touch.
“I would sometimes give neck massages to my dad. My mom used to give them to him, but after she died, I picked up the habit.”
“Isn’t that strange? Giving your father a massage?”
“It wasn’t sexual or anything. It was just me being helpful. I know he appreciated it. He carried a lot of tension in his neck after she passed.” My throat catches on the last word.
“You were close with your mom?”
“I was.”
“How did she die?”
My hands tense on his shoulders before I continue massaging them. “Breast cancer.”
“And how did your father die?”
By a bullet to the brain. Possibly done by you …
“Uh, a heart attack. He ate a lot of cheeseburgers.”
“Those things will kill you.”
“They will.”
Nico tilts his head back and smiles up at me. “If it makes you feel any better, I never eat cheeseburgers.”
I can’t help it—I smile back. “I’m glad.” Looking down into Nico’s handsome face, I know I’m in trouble. I can see myself falling in love with him, and that’s the last thing I can do.
But that still doesn’t stop me from going on a date with him.
Nico takes me somewhere surprising for our dinner date—a completely empty art museum. A large crystalize art sculpture is in a large room with a single table in it with two plates of food resting on top.
“I feel like I’m in The Bachelor ,” I admit after we take our seats.
“Never seen it.”
“Maybe you should. We could make it a weekly date night.”
Nico chuckles as he digs into his food. “We could. I know I’ve been busy lately. Well, ever since we met. I know our marriage isn’t conventional, but I do want to get to know you, Aurora. I don’t want you to be lonely.”
“I know. I can see you making the effort.” Which makes it all harder. It would be so much easier if Nico was an abusive asshole. Instead, he takes the time to smile at me and make sure I’m safe. He can be absent a lot with work, but for a Mafia man, he’s a lot better than I ever expected.
“So, now that it’s just us, I want to learn more about you. Favorite hobbies?”
“I mostly spend the days reading,” I admit. “There isn’t a whole lot more to do. I used to enjoy shopping, but …”
“But?”
But then I was out shopping the day my father was murdered.
“I grew out of it,” I say instead. “What about you? If you weren’t working all the time, what would you be doing?”
“Probably relaxing on a beach somewhere.”
“You? But you’re a New Yorker.”
“Who’s getting tired of working all the time.” He takes a bite of his steak and chews it, a pensive expression on his face. “I wouldn’t mind just relaxing for a bit.”
“Then why don’t you?”
“Because too many people depend on me. And my job isn’t exactly one you get a vacation from.”
I take a sip of my wine. “So, is this our lives now? You work, and I stay home?”
“I think you knew that when you came to my house that first day.”
He’s right. I didn’t expect anything more. But still … now that Nico is opening up, I know I want more.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I ask.
“No. Just being yourself is enough.”
I know I shouldn’t push for more answers, but with Nico looking so open and vulnerable with me, I have to try. “Is there nothing you can tell me about why the police are looking into you? Who’s Giovanni Costa?”
More like, who’s Giovanni Costa to Nico?
“I shouldn’t tell you. The less you know, the better.”
“Please.” When I grab his hand, he doesn’t pull away. “We’re married. I know we don’t love each other, and technically, you don’t owe me anything, but I want you to let me in. Please.”
He stares at me for a long moment before sighing. “All right. Giovanni Costa is a Mafia man from LA. I got into business with him. And then he disappeared. And now, the police are looking into him and asking me questions.”
“What happened to him?” My heart is beating out of my chest. It hurts so much that it almost distracts me from Nico’s answer.
“Honestly? I’m not sure. But I believe he’s dead. And I don’t have anything to offer the police. All I can hope for is this storm to pass.”
Does Nico truly not know what happened to my father? Or is he still holding back and not giving me all the details? If I don’t know everything, then the police can’t use me against him if he did indeed murder my father.
“Does death happen a lot in your line of work?”
“It does.”
“Have you …” I lick my dry lips.
“Have I ever killed anyone? Are you sure you want to ask me that, Aurora?”
The truth is I don’t want to know, but I need to know.
“If you feel ok telling me,” I say instead.
His eyes narrow slightly, and he pats my hand, pulling back slightly. “It’s better if you don’t know everything.”
That confirms it for me—he’s killed people before. Or, at least, given out orders to kill people. I’m not surprised, but to hear it from his own lips still hurts.
Despite what I found in Andrew’s briefcase and Nico admitting he believes my father is dead, I still don’t know one hundred percent if he was involved in my father’s murder. Did Andrew go rogue and kill my father himself?
Or did Nico give the order? Or did Nico do it with his own bare hands?
Or … is Nico telling the truth, and he played no part in my father’s murder?
Because if he didn’t, then I can see myself falling in love with him, and I really can’t allow that to happen.
“Are you going to ask me if I’ve ever hurt anyone?” I don’t know why I ask the question.
“Have you?”
“No.” Not yet, anyway.
Nico’s expression softens again, and he runs his fingertips along my face. “I can tell you have a good heart, Aurora. It was one of the things that drew me to you.”
The guilt weighing on my heart threatens to pull me right through the floor.
“So, is there anything else planned for tonight?” I ask, trying to change the subject.
“In fact. There is.” He stands up and holds his hand out to me. “Come along.”
We walk through the museum together, hand in hand. It’s special to be in this place with no one else. It’s so strange to me still how I can feel so at ease with Nico. That shouldn’t happen. He should be a monster I run from, screaming my lungs out.
Yet I like holding his hand.
He leads me into another room of the museum where a stage is set, and a woman behind a microphone begins to sing. The band behind her plays a slow, romantic love song.
Nico pulls me into his arms, and we begin to dance.
“You set this all up?” I ask.
“I know I’ve been busy. So, I wanted to make this night special. When I said I wanted a wife, I meant I wanted someone who could give me children. But the more I get to know you, Aurora, I’m starting to see life is more than just kids. It’s everyone in your life who makes you happy. You make me happy.”
My throat clenches at his compliment. “What do I do that makes you happy?”
“Your company. You make me feel at ease.” He leans down and gives me a sweet kiss on the lips.
Once we pull apart, I rest my head on his chest and let him hold me as we sway to the music as my guilt eats me alive.
When Nico and I get home, Nico presses me against the wall of our bedroom and kisses me deeply. It would be so easy for me to sink into his arms and let him pleasure me like he did once before.
But I know I can’t.
So, I gently pull away.
“Too much again?” Nico asks.
I nod.
“God, I want you, Aurora,” he says into my ear, making me shiver.
I want him, too. If he weren’t possibly my father’s murderer, I’d give him my virginity right this second.
Beatrice’s words come back to me— seduce him and make him want you . She wants me to make Nico crazy for me.
I just want him to like me even though I shouldn’t.
It would be easier to kill him if he hated me. Abused me. Kept me as a prisoner.
Instead, Nico planned a beautiful date for us tonight, and the guilt is tearing me apart.
The guilt won’t let me kiss him. I need to be punished for how I feel.
“I just need a little more time,” I say, stepping away from him. He lets me go.
“Well, you know how I feel.” The lust in his eyes almost makes me fall right back into is arms, but I stay rigid.
“Goodnight, Nico.”
He sighs, nodding in defeat, before leaving the room. “Goodnight, Aurora.” I know he’s off to get more work done.
It’s his way, and it makes things easier. What doesn’t make things easier are the feelings for Nico stirring within my heart.