Chapter 28
Alive & Well
Rico
I have to question the timing of it all. Why now? What’s my uncle up to?
This would have been Oni’s nineteenth birthday. Everyone knows I’ve crashed out on this day in the last three years. Why promote me, throw a party, and make a big deal out of this day?
My mother and father aren’t around. Both traveling or whatever. This happening now makes me feel so alone.
This shit is pissing me off and I can’t fucking breathe. Yet I’ve just been made, and I need to put on a smile for everyone. While I’m putting on an act for everyone else, I’m fucking dying inside.
That’s why I’m in this bathroom stall trying not to lose my shit. My uncle didn’t even have enough respect to be on time. I’m here holding on by a thread and he’s nowhere in sight.
“What do you think is going on with the don? I thought he’d be here by now,” a guy says outside the stall.
I’m not the only one who realizes the disrespect. I’m tired of this. Uncle Emilio has been riding me harder than ever in the last two years.
“Marone, word is tonight isn’t about Rico. Well, it is, but it’s not. He’s giving the kid his flowers, but the real celebration is about his daughters. He’s bringing them back home.”
“Don’t you mean daughter? He only has the one.”
“Yeah, yeah, one by blood, but word is getting around fast about the other one.”
I knit my brows. Emilia is my uncle’s only daughter. These two must have had too much to drink. However, I lock in and listen.
“Other one?”
“Marone, you really don’t pay attention, do you? You better get your head on straight. Gallo isn’t fucking around about her. Word is, he’ll blow your brains out himself over her.”
“Who is she?”
“In the old country, they say she’s more ruthless all on her own than the trinity put together.”
I try not to scoff. He’s referring to Uncle Emilio, my father, and me. This guy is talking shit. Ain’t no fucking way.
“You’re shitting me.”
“Nope, not shitting you at all. My cousin back home says he had a run-in with her. One of his guys fucked something up and she handled him. Let’s just say I’m happy to be on this side.”
“You still haven’t told me who she is.”
“She’s the one who took that bullet for the don’s princess. Things are changing around here for sure. We’re to bow down to a mulignan.”
“If what you’re saying is true, you better watch that shit. I’ve seen the Don bury men for less.”
My head is buzzing as I stand in confusion. Oni took a bullet for Emilia, but she’s dead. How … motherfucker.
I play that day in the hospital back in my head. My Uncle chose his words carefully. I was also too distraught to follow if he was lying to me or not. In hindsight, he gave all the tells that he was.
His wording was off, he wouldn’t look at me, he tried to console me. If I wasn’t so fucking destroyed, I would have picked up on all of it that day.
I storm out of the stall as rage rushes through my blood. This has my uncle written all over it. I never saw a body. I was in a jail cell before I could confirm a word he said.
“Hey, baby. Congratulations,” Alyissa says as she appears in front of me.
“Not now,” I bite out.
I move forward blindly. I need answers. So much is starting to make sense.
I haven’t talked to Pop in three years, not for lack of trying. I figured he was pissed at me about Oni. I thought he blamed me for her death.
The two had become close. However, if she’s alive. Fuck.
He knows. The old country. She’s been right under my nose in Italy. That’s where Pop has been.
Everything shifts in the ballroom. Everyone’s attention turns to the door. I move to the empty dance floor and stand there, staring at the entrance.
In walks my father. He looks a little older, but still sharp. A smile comes to his face when his gaze lands on me.
He opens his arms and waves me to him. I go to embrace him, but I freeze when Uncle Emilio walks in with Emilia on one arm and none other than Oni on the other.
“Fuck outta here,” I breathe.
She looks beautiful as she stands there, looking like she owns the room. There’s something different about her. I swallow hard as I take her in.
She’s a little taller, but not by much. It could be the red patent leather pointed-toe heels on her feet. Heels that are making her silky-looking legs look long and shapely.
She has cut all her hair off. The sides are short, but she still has full bangs that fall into her eyes. She’s dressed in a black dress that’s fitted with a sheer layer over top that bunches and angles in different places, bringing a sophistication and elegance to the look.
All that innocence is gone from her gorgeous face. Her eyes look sharper. There is also something about her presence that’s more powerful than it once was.
Her lips are painted a bright red to match her shoes, making her full lips pop. Her gaze moves over the room as if she’s searching for someone. When her eyes land on me, a huge smile comes to her lips.
I’m in motion before I can think of what I’m doing. My father forgotten, I move past him and straight for the love of my life. I wrap her in my embrace, cupping her head to my chest as I hold her tightly.
“Rico, we should talk,” my uncle says.
“Fuck you.”
“You best remember yourself.”
“You lied to me. You told me she was dead. I have nothing to say to you.”
I close my eyes and inhale deeply. Her scent does everything to calm me down. I begin to sway with her in my hold. She’s real.
I can feel her heart beating against my chest. She’s fucking alive. I tighten my hold.
“Rico,” she whispers.
I pull away slightly to look down into her face. She cups my cheek and runs her finger over my facial hair. I must look so different to her.
Not able to wait a minute longer, I dip my head and press my lips to hers. I don’t deepen the kiss, and I don’t pull away, afraid she might vanish the moment I try to take too much or break the connection.
“Rico, what the fuck? Who is she?”
Reluctantly, I pull away to find Alyissa glaring at Oni. I’m hit hard with the feeling of déjà vu. I clench my jaw. I’m not about to do this shit again.
“This is my fiancée, Oni,” I say as I give Oni’s waist a squeeze.
She flips her long, waist-length, jet-black hair over her shoulder. “Your fiancée? What the fuck are you talking about?
“You were just talking to my father about proposing to me. Are you serious? What kind of game are you playing?”
“I’m not playing any games. Your father asked me to think about a merger between our families. I never committed to anything,” I reply.
“You’re going to pay for humiliating me, asshole.”
With that, she storms off. Oni moves like she’s going to go after her, but I grab her arm to stop her. She turns to me and some of the anger fades from her face as we lock eyes.
“Don’t worry about her,” I say.
“Fiancée?” she says and lifts a brow.
I wink at her and reach to brush her bangs out of her eyes. I still can’t believe I’m looking at her in the flesh. I don’t know what to feel.
“Oni?”
Turning toward the voice of Mario, I set eyes on him, Al, and Ed. However, Mario seems to be the only one surprised to see Oni. I shake my head.
He didn’t know. As I muse on that, Oni runs into Mario’s embrace. I take her in from behind.
Marone. My girl is all grown up. Her hips are more shapely, her ass is fatter, and she’s filling out that dress like an Insta model. I move behind her and tug her into my front.
Not able to hold myself back, I press my lips to the butterfly tat on the back of her neck. It looks like she has a swarm of them rising up behind her ear and right into the corner of her hairline, just above her nape.
“What’s going on?” Mario says in confusion.
“She’s been in Italy. That asshole lied.”
I can’t take my hands off her. For the first time in three years, I’m growing hard. She has to feel me stabbing into her ass.
I probably should give her space, but I can’t bring myself to. Mario’s face lights up as he comes out of his shock. I think I can understand how he feels. I still haven’t fully processed what’s before me.
“Romano will be a problem,” Uncle Emilio says in my ear as he claps me on my shoulder.
I shrug him off. I already know I’ll have to deal with Romano and Alyissa. Trust me, I’ve learned from my mistakes.
Oni
It has felt weird to be back in New York. I’ve been in my new penthouse apartment in Manhattan since I arrived. A gift from Emilio himself, for my birthday.
However, the best gift I could have asked for is wrapped tightly around me. Rico hasn’t let me out of his sight. I had planned to come home alone after the party.
This man wasn’t having that. He insisted that we needed to spend the night together and talk. I don’t think it’s settled in that I had a part in disappearing.
I’ve been holding my breath waiting for it to. Once he figures it out, I don’t know that he’s going to be so clingy anymore. I don’t want to lose him over this.
I smile as he tosses his jacket toward my couch. His gun holster is next. I guess he’s making himself at home.
He presses a kiss to the back of my neck, still not releasing me from his hold. I melt into his embrace, savoring his strong arms around me.
“Can I get you something to dri—”
My words are cut off as he grasps my neck and turns me to face him. In the next breath, his lips are on mine. It’s not like the kisses he’s been giving me all night.
This one is desperate and all-consuming. He’s practically eating my face. I moan into his mouth as I cling to his shirt.
“I want you so much,” he groans as his hands are everywhere.
“Rico, don’t you think we should talk?”
“I figured most of it out. I don’t want to talk about it. Trust me, baby, I know my uncle.
“He told you some shit that sounded good at the time to get you to leave me. Then he made you my competition and brought you back home to rub it in my face. You’re the earner who’s been crushing my earnings,” he growls as he pulls the zipper down on my dress.