Chapter Twenty-Eight
NICO
I COULDN'T BELIEVE what Hudson and I had just walked into. Seeing Rosa being manhandled by one of Viktor’s goons nearly made me completely lose it. It was just lucky that I never carried my gun when I walked into the office. I had plenty at hand around the place, but I would have had to walk out to my room to get one.
The only saving grace I had was that Viktor and I had a reasonable relationship and had never crossed each other before, although he was currently pushing the boundaries of our relationship.
I didn’t want to leave Rosa alone, but I knew I had to be there with Hudson when he spoke to Viktor. There was only one other person I trusted with her, and that was Gino. I had sent him a message as soon as I walked into the office and found Viktor and his men standing there. If he hadn’t arrived when he did, there was a strong chance that all hell was going to break loose toward the guy who had manhandled my Rosa.
I knew that she wouldn’t be happy with being taken to a room by Gino, but I had to convince her it was for the best. I could feel her resistance as Gino went to lead her away, but I tried to give her a reassuring smile as they walked off together. I turned to look at the man who had held Rosa, and he instantly lowered his head as a mark of respect. It was then that Viktor spoke.
“Do not blame him, Nico. He was only carrying out my orders, the same as one of your men would. He would never have physically hurt her. You should know me well enough by now to know that I do not hurt women or children. Unfortunately, I cannot always say the same for some of my men.”
He spoke to his men in Russian, and they all proceeded to walk out of the office. But I suspected that they wouldn’t be that far away, just in case something went down.
It was Hudson who spoke next. “Shall we go into my office? I can offer you a drink while we talk.”
I knew Hudson was trying to keep things as civil as possible, always the peacemaker. But right now, I could have murdered him for his politeness to Viktor when I was so angry that he had invaded our personal space and tried to take the one thing we both loved from us.
Hudson gestured for Viktor to follow him into his office and he duly obliged, followed by me. Hudson walked over to his drink cabinet and poured himself and Viktor a drink. He knew I wouldn’t have one as I would be driving later. He passed Viktor the drink and they both sat down. I walked behind the desk and stood next to Hudson as he started to speak.
“Viktor, as I said, I am guessing there are quite a few things that you haven’t been told about Vincent, and what he has done to Gabriella. All of which, I hope, will make you reassess your decision to take her back to him.”
I stood there and listened again as Hudson went through everything he had already told me about Gaby’s relationship with Vincent, and what he had put her through. He also explained about the fact that Gaby had decided to come to New York with us of her own accord to get away from Vincent and that she was now in a relationship with us both. I guessed Hudson felt that Viktor of all people would understand that, and that he wanted to be completely honest with him about the whole situation. I could feel my anger increasing again as I listened and could see that Viktor was also affected by what he was hearing by the way he was clenching his fist. However, none of that compared to my anger when I heard Hudson continue.
“There is one other thing, and this is something that I haven’t even told Nico, so I apologize now if he flies off the handle.”
I looked over at Hudson, perplexed at what he was about to say. He just gave me an apologetic smile before he spoke.
“I really think you should sit down for this, Nico.”
I was still confused about what he could tell me that would upset me so much, but at his request, I grabbed a chair and sat down next to him.
“As I have already explained, Vincent was quite free with his hands when it came to Gabriella. Unfortunately, there was more than one occasion where he did this while she was pregnant, causing her to have multiple miscarriages.”
Before I could even react, Viktor brought both his fists down on Hudson’s desk, and I thought for a moment he would break it in two. He leaped up from his chair and started to pace the room, muttering to himself in Russian, though it was quite loud and I was surprised that his men didn’t come running into Hudson’s office to establish what was going on. All the while, I could feel the anger further growing inside me. If I ever got hold of Vincent again, I wouldn’t be so nice this time, and from the looks of it, I wouldn’t be the only one. It would just be a race to see who got him first: me or Viktor.
I felt a hand come over mine and I looked over to see Hudson looking at me with sadness in his eyes. I could understand why he hadn’t told me this before now, but why it was so important that the truth came out to Viktor. We both sat there in silence for a moment, watching as Viktor calmed himself down and then returned to his seat.
“I am so sorry that I came here today. I was completely misinformed about the situation. I should have gotten my facts right in the first place before I jumped to the wrong conclusion and tried to return Miss Quinn to that monster. Believe me, I will not be bothering her again and will leave her in your safe care. I would like to apologize to her, but I know today would not be the right time. Would you mind if I came back another day? Without my men, of course.”
I started to relax a little knowing that Rosa was safe and that Viktor would bring no harm to her. It was Hudson who answered for both of us.
“That would be perfectly okay, Viktor. We would both appreciate that. But what are you going to do about Vincent? He has already come to see me at my apartment.”
I watched as Viktor considered what he was going to say. He must have known how I was feeling right then, and what I would personally like to do to Vincent. A sly smile came over his face before he spoke.
“Nico, you know I have great respect for you and your family. We have never had any problems between us and have always kept out of each other’s way. I would ask that you allow me to personally deal with this matter. I know how much you would like your revenge on Vincent, but he does have some powerful allies, unfortunately within my own ranks. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you or Miss Quinn.
“With that in mind, please leave it with me. I will deal with him myself, and you know how I do not like to get my own hands dirty. However, for that piece of trash, I will make an exception. If I deal with him, then none of my men will dare go against me. I will also make sure they are aware what he does to women, but will not mention Miss Quinn’s name. Once I am done with him, his own family won’t recognize him. Not that they will ever find him.”
I looked at the hatred on Viktor’s face. He was indeed a man that you didn’t cross, and up until now, our paths had hardly crossed. Still, I knew that if he had a vendetta against someone, he would get the job done and would make the person suffer for a long time. I had heard stories that would give even a hardened assassin nightmares. I looked over at Hudson, who looked at me as though desperate for me to agree.
I turned back to Viktor and spoke. “I agree, we have always shown each other the utmost respect. I promise that I will not actively go looking for Vincent. However, I cannot promise that I will not get my own hands dirty if he crosses my path before yours.”
I felt Hudson’s hand tense on mine, but saw Viktor start to smirk before he spoke.
“You and I are very similar, Nico. That would have been the same answer I would have given if I was standing there in your shoes. I just hope that I get to him first, because I will make him suffer for what he has done to Miss Quinn. Believe me, I will. He will wish he had a quick death. If you do hear anything, please let me know. As I said, I would rather you do not involve yourself if you can help it. I will, of course, keep you informed.”
I wasn’t so sure that I could keep myself in check if I received any news about Vincent. I would probably want to go and find him the instant I knew where he was.
It was Hudson who replied. “We will let you know if we hear anything, Viktor. I will speak to Nico after our meeting is concluded to make sure of it.”
He turned and looked at me with a stern expression, one that I knew meant this was of extreme importance. I gave him a small nod, knowing this would not be the end of the conversation, and turned back to Viktor. He stood and held out his hand to Hudson, who proceeded to stand and shake his hand.
“I apologize again for any undue stress I have caused with my actions today. I promise to make more informed decisions in the future.”
He turned to me as I got up from my seat and held out his hand to me, which I took. I didn’t hold any grudges against the man. In fact, I probably would have done the same thing as him had I been given the information he had.
“Nico, please think about Miss Quinn before you do anything rash. She is the most important thing to you right now, not Vincent. Allow me to deal with that scum and wipe him off the face of the earth.”
I shook his hand. “I will try my best.”
With that, Viktor said his goodbyes and walked out of the office, leaving me alone with Hudson.
“Nico, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that before. I just knew your feelings for Vincent and Gaby would get in the way and you would do something you would later regret. As Viktor said, she is the most important thing in our life right now. I’m not sure she could take losing you if you do anything stupid. You know that Viktor will keep his promise.”
Deep down, I was hurt that Hudson had held that back from me, but I knew his intentions hadn’t been malicious. He was just trying to protect me from doing something stupid – which, no doubt, I would have. But he did need to realize that we shouldn’t have these kind of secrets from each other, especially when it came to Rosa.
“I understand what you are saying, Hud, and I know that Viktor will do exactly what he says he will. However, we can’t have these secrets. I am hurt that you felt you couldn’t trust me enough to tell me about Rosa. That you instantly thought I would do something stupid.”
He looked down to the floor, obviously realizing how much this had affected me. He slowly raised his head as a tear fell down his face.
“I know, babe. I didn’t want you to know that, knowing you would be in the room next to him when we went to get Gaby. However, I should have told you the minute we came back to New York. Although you have to admit, in some respects, it was a good thing you didn’t know. What would you have done to him when he turned up at the apartment if I had?”
I stood there for a moment, recollecting my time with Vincent that evening. As usual, Hudson was right. If I had known the full extent of what he had done to Rosa, I would have probably killed him there and then with my bare hands, and where would that have left us now?
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I know you did the right thing. If I’m honest with you, and myself, I would have done something stupid.” I walked over to him and placed my arms around him, pressing a kiss on his cheek.
“It’s okay. I understand. We can talk about this later, but right now, I think you should take Gaby home. I’m guessing she is getting extremely anxious with Gino.” He kissed me gently before stepping away.
“I’ll be home a little late, remember I have that meeting with our lawyer this afternoon. Gino can drive me home.”
I gave him one last hug and walked out of the office, ready to take Rosa home.