24. ~Nico~
24
~Nico~
It had happened.
Levi Knight was ready.
Primed.
In the perfect position of determination and desperation to do my bidding.
All the while believing that I was doing him a favor.
He’d reached out to me without any coercion on my part—well, not outright coercion, anyway, and none that he was actually aware of taking place. There had certainly been underhanded, concealed manipulation from me, though.
Something I knew Caterina wouldn’t accept.
It wasn’t the only reason I hadn’t told her about Levi’s connection to my father’s prospective arms deal.
I shook my head, chastising myself in the process for thinking about that right now when I needed to focus, as I was about to head out to meet with Levi. Not only that, but I had to ensure that I wasn’t tailed, that my leaving the city didn’t raise suspicion. With it being just days out from the wedding, that wasn’t easy to do. I had to throw up a fucking smokescreen just to accomplish it, and keep it off everyone’s radar.
Only Milo and Julian knew about my true destination tonight.
I shrugged on my designer leather jacket just as Milo burst right on into my bedroom, knowing how much I hated that. He was doing it purposely to display his distaste for the entire situation regarding tonight’s activities.
He made that even more blatant as he said, “A lie by omission is still a lie, Nico. I’m not even sure that it was by omission, to be honest, and not just an outright lie instead.”
“It’s necessary. I’ve told you that.” I spun to face him as I secured my gun in my hip holster. “And you would normally take my word as gospel. Except now you’re so smitten with her that the proudly unaffected, steadfast and stoic powerhouse is faltering on his well-trodden, established path.”
“Maybe it’s not meant to be my path.”
“Normally I’d be glad to hear it—from a personal standpoint for you, anyway—but currently it’s pissing me the fuck off. Because I need you with me on this.”
“You know I’m still going to be with you, brother. I’m just not happy about it this time.”
I cursed and scrubbed my hand over my face. “Do you really think I’m happy about needing to keep this from her? It took me an age to gain her trust, to pull her to me. And now to us. I don’t want anything to fuck that up. Especially with the connection we’ve all managed to establish between us and in light of what lies ahead of us with this war.” I shifted my weight and folded my arms across my chest. “ But her relationship with Levi is dangerous where this particular situation is concerned. Things need to happen the way they are tonight. He needs to take this intel and run with it. If Caterina is involved, not only will she not be okay with that, she’ll very likely want to involve herself in it and assist him. That can’t happen. It will put her in danger, which is bad enough, but it will also pull her focus from what we’re doing here and it could even out her true skills in the process.”
He shoved a hand through his spiky hair. “You need to tell her right after this meeting.”
“I just told you that—”
“It will already be in motion then. Besides, if you wait until Levi buries Malcolm Lynch and Osiris, the chances of her finding out about both that and your involvement will increase with every passing day. And it coming out like that won’t do us any favors.”
“I’ll consider it,” was all I offered, all I could offer right now.
“Look, are you actually going to be able to do this? Meet with him and focus only on the mission at hand and not the Caterina of it all?”
“Why wouldn’t I be able to do that?”
He gave me a withering look. “How about, despite the fact that you played it off in front of her like it was nothing to you, it does actually bother you greatly that the two of them were together? Given the situation at the time, you had to stand back and basically let it happen, let her fuck another man even after you’d made an obsessive connection with her that night she stabbed you at the restaurant.”
I ground my teeth as his words dug into still open wounds. Wounds that I hated were still actually open and not yet in the scar stage.
“I can’t change what happened.”
“You also can’t hurt Levi when you meet with him. He’s a valuable asset. And he’s even more than that to Caterina. He’s her only friend, and it would break her to pieces if something happened to him.”
“I’m well aware. He’s not in any danger from me.”
“And you can keep it unemotional like that?”
“For the good of the mission, yes.”
“Maybe I should go with you.”
“You can’t. I need you here running interference. Me taking off right now isn’t the best timing. I need you and Julian to cover me, or all of this will go south very quickly.” I ground my teeth again. It was a lot to take having him questioning me and not trusting in me implicitly, not trusting my assurances immediately. It was how things were between us.
Except when it came to my feral side. Whenever he saw me unleash it, he was unsure and worried for a few hours afterward. Seeing as though that had happened more than usual lately, and the fact that he was now smitten with Caterina, it was shifting that for him, shifting our dynamic.
“All right,” he agreed, albeit reluctantly.
“You remember the plan?”
“Of course. I’ll prevent you from being tailed. Julian will throw an over-the-top bachelor party for you that will function as an epic distraction, enabling you to duck out without drawing attention.”
“And if they come looking for me in spite of that?”
“We say you left to pick up wedding rings for you and Caterina personally, wanting to reinforce this commitment to the marriage directive.”
“Almost my exact words. Well done.”
“You know me, always on the ball.”
I read between the lines there. He was telling me that was what he needed from me, what I was so good at. What they all needed from me.
And they’d fucking have it.
Tonight would be another major step forward in our mission to bring the current status quo crashing down.
Those who controlled us, who believed they had the right to rule us, would fall.
They’d suffer for it too.
A reckoning was coming.
I pulled into the small lot of the nondescript dive bar, bringing my Ferrari to a stop just a few feet from the entrance.
It was Levi’s kind of place, where he felt comfortable with the down-to-earth aspect. He didn’t like pretense. Unfortunately for him, what he was currently wrapped up in required him to do a great deal of that, to play the game.
And this meeting would be no exception to that.
I climbed out of my car, locked it, then headed straight for the bar entrance, wanting to get this dirty dealing done as soon as possible. Julian and Milo could only cover for me for so long. The journey here and back already ate up enough time as it was.
I hauled open the door and stepped into the dimly lit bar, scanning it quickly to ensure Levi was truly here alone. I discounted the two bar flies within immediate view, talking with the bartender, as well as a middle-aged man sitting at a table in the middle of the establishment. Everywhere else was clear.
And there was Levi, sitting in a booth in the corner, shrouded by a whole lot of shadow.
Figures.
As I approached, I saw him taking me in, a whole lot of determination lit with suspicion.
I turned my nose up at the vodka he was drinking. I hated the stuff. Then I noted the bottle of Johnny Walker Black with a crystal class beside it.
My lips quirked, and I gave him a chin lift, recognizing his show of respect.
I slid in opposite him at the booth and poured into my glass. “You certainly have my attention.”
“That was the goal.”
I looked him up and down, from his short, black curly hair and his compact and toned boxer’s physique—well, for him, really street fighting—down to his go-to black cargo pants with a hoodie nestled beneath a leather riding jacket that had seen better days. “I see you’re still dressing beneath your station.”
“I like to be prepared.”
“You like people to recognize that you’re always prepared for a fight.”
“I am,” he retorted.
I took a sip of my drink, then sat back against the booth, affecting an air of calm indifference that I really didn’t feel.
“Your strategy may not be the optimal one, Levi. In fact, it can be unwise to give everything away up front, to allow people to know exactly what and who they are dealing with.”
“It can also be a deterrent. A formidable one.”
“Well, our philosophies differ. Something that may change in time as you come to see that your approach can be provocative rather than the deterrent you intend. However, that is not what you’ve called me here to discuss. So, we’ll get to it.” I took another sip of my drink, then informed him, “I am investigating Malcolm Lynch and he is an enemy to me, not an intended asset or partner in any sort of business venture.”
“Why is he an enemy? That much I wasn’t able to deduce.”
Hmm, he was worried about my intentions. Smart kid.
“As I’m sure you’re aware, Osiris has become heavily involved in arms trading since its revival. My father intends to partner with Lynch, desiring to acquire military-grade weapons, far from the street level weaponry the Marchetti Syndicate deals in. It’s both dangerous and the wrong move for us. He’s getting into bed with madmen. Should it come to pass, it will hurt the Family gravely, setting us on a path that will be incredibly difficult to turn back from. I won’t allow it.”
“Wow, going against Marco… that’s a hell of a thing.”
He didn’t know the half of it. Hell, a fraction of it.
And he had absolutely no need to either.
“We do what we must to protect what’s ours.”
“Yeah. Yeah, we do.” He took a swig of his vodka. “So, how did you come to acquire intel on these operations? I couldn’t find it anywhere.”
“Only through the fact that it is my father who’s doing business with them. All their files were locked down, kept off the internet, only rooted to a local network connection. As I’m privy to the deal that was made, I was able to obtain the information.” I pulled the flash drive from my pocket. “Unfortunately, I cannot get my hands dirty on this one. The stakes are too high if my involvement is discovered.”
“Hence, why you need me.”
Something like that, kid.
“Precisely. Ensure that Roman is also involved. However, he cannot know of my part. Is that clear?”
“Crystal. Terms of the deal and all that.”
As I held out the flash drive to him, and he went to take it, I clamped my hand down around his, pulling him up short. Not so fast.
“One more condition.”
He arched an eyebrow in question.
“Caterina is off-limits.”
“We’re merely friends.”
Hmm. He was adept at wearing a mask, too. His just friends line was almost believable. Pity for him that I knew much better. I knew every fucking thing.
It was why I told him, “Your in-person get togethers will stop, effective immediately.”
The bastard had the balls to glare at me in clear challenge. “I wasn’t aware you had influence over her.”
My lip curled. “The news is very recent. That’s why you’re not privy to it.”
“What news?”
“Caterina Leone is to be my wife.”
He jolted, and it was highly satisfying to see him out of sorts at the news. “You hate one another.”
“That matters not.” And it was only what the two of us had led the world to believe.
Although, why she hadn’t yet told Levi that things had shifted was curious.
She couldn’t possibly be in denial, could she?
No, she was definitely on board.
So, what was it then?
Shame?
Could that be it?
Fuck, that didn’t sit well with me. It better not fucking be the reality.
As the thought of it started nagging at me, I found myself reaching into my inner jacket pocket and pulling out the Tiffany box I’d picked up on my way here tonight.
I opened it to reveal a diamond encrusted engagement ring interspersed with turquoise, along with a wedding band that was engraved with my initials, NM. As he zeroed in on that part, I told him, “She will wear my brand. My property, my wife.”
Caterina would kill me if it was actually more than a farce to fool our families. But Levi didn’t need to know that, or that the truth was a great deal more complicated, or not nearly as cold as I was making it out to be.
I saw him grind his jaw, not pleased in the least. Good, now he was experiencing a fraction of what I felt regarding their closeness, let alone their hookup.
The brave little soldier challenged me again as he said, “I noticed that my love was missing from that.”
“Some marriages are based on duty. You are fortunate given your position as heir to a formidable empire as well that your father has allowed you to be free of that obligation.”
I put the rings away and squeezed his fingers, watching the struggle all over him not to strike me where I sat, not to respond with his known reckless aggressiveness, or full-on violent edge.
Something stopped him and diplomacy and reason won out as he managed to stay his hand. Interesting.
“My wife won’t be in another man’s presence without me by her side. Are we clear? That’s my final term of our deal.” Again, that was only part of the truth and reality. It was his presence I didn’t want her in.
“Fine,” he gritted out. “Just don’t fucking hurt her.”
“I don’t intend to. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.” More than you can ever hope to perceive of.
“All right, you’ve got it,” he told me, despite looking extremely confused and concerned about it all.
I released him and allowed him to take the drive, which he pocketed.
I downed the rest of my drink, then grabbed the bottle, rising to my feet.
“It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
He nodded. “You too.”
“Until next time, Levi.”
“Right back at you, Nico.”
I flashed him a sardonic smile. “ Arrivederci .”
With that, I turned and stalked out of the bar.
Mission accomplished.