Chapter 28 Dinner #2
I stare down at the ominous message on the phone, not sure why that message was sent to me.
Placing the phone down, I look around the restaurant.
Is he here? Does he think I’m out on a date with this man?
I notice the restaurant is even more vacant than before.
I look over at the bar and Jake is no longer there. My heart pounds. Something is wrong.
“I have to go,” I say, pushing my chair back.
“What?” Ezra asks, concern creasing his brow.
“Look, Ezra, I need to go. If your sister and her friends aren’t coming, I don’t need to be here.”
Ezra reaches across the table and places his hand on top of mine. “Relax, Tiffany. Everything is alright.”
Both Ezra and I look to our left when the vacant chair between us is pulled out. My mouth opens but goes immediately dry when the dark brown eyes of my husband stare back at me.
“Hope I’m not interrupting.” He takes a seat down beside me.
Ezra quickly removes his hand from over mine.
My gaze scans the restaurant. The entire place is empty. When did everyone leave? The only people here are Ezra, myself, Nico, Julian, Roc, and Jake. I turn my attention back to the table, not feeling good about this situation.
Ezra tugs at his collar and clears his throat. “Mr. Basille, it’s so very—”
“You can call me Saint.”
My heart pounds double time, sounding like a bass drum in my ears. Ezra probably has no idea how terrifying what Nico just said is. The way Ezra’s gaze narrows as if he’s trying to think hard about something tells me he doesn’t.
“O..kay..” he sings, stretching the two syllables out. “Well, Saint, it’s nice of you to join us. My sister and her friends should be here soon.”
There is a beat of thick silence that floats between the table.
“Sister and friends.” Nico repeats, sitting back in his seat. He places his left foot on top of his right knee.
“Yes,” Ezra says calmly.
“They were supposed to—” my words are cut off when Nico lifts a hand to stop me from talking. He doesn’t even look at me when he does it. His attention is on a calm Ezra. Any other time, I’d have something to say about that rude gesture, but I’m smart enough to know now is not the time.
“Funny, when you made the reservations, you never mentioned a sister and friends.”
My neck nearly snaps when I turn to look at Ezra. What is Nico talking about? We were here waiting for his sister.
“What is he talking about, Ezra?”
Ezra squirms in his seat, that calm and collected vibe completely gone. His forehead beads with sweat.
“I…uhhh. Plans changed,” he says the words as if he’s pulling them out the air as they float by. “I knew how important this meeting was for Tiffany, so I didn’t want to reschedule it. I was going to go over the plans for their house with her.”
I hear what he’s saying, but until right now Ezra told me his sister and her friends were still coming. Part of me wants to point that out, but I don’t think it’s wise given the tension.
“I see.” Nico nods his head as he leans back in his seat.
Before I knew it, Julian has a gun out and pressed to the back of Ezra’s head. I gasp, covering my mouth.
“You think I’m an idiot?” Nico asks a terrified Ezra.
“No, I…” Ezra’s words are cut off when Julian slams the gun into the back of his head.
I scream, but Nico’s dark brown eyes flashing to me immediately shuts me up.
He turns back to a whimpering Ezra.
“What did I tell you the last time I spoke to you?” The calmness in his tone has me shivering. It’s in such a juxtaposition to what’s going on around him.
When Ezra doesn’t answer fast enough, Julian taps the gun against his temple gently.
“What. Did. I. Say?”
“You said to stay away from your wife.”
This, of course, is news to me, but it would explain why for a short time before we went to St. Croix, Ezra was MIA.
Nico nods. “And you didn’t listen.”
“Please,” Ezra begs.
“The time for reasoning has passed. You should’ve heeded my warning.”
Ezra starts crying.
“Not only did you set my wife up for this bullshit date, but you lied to my face. You called my brother’s establishment to take my wife out and thought I wasn’t going to know?”
“I didn’t mean it. I swear,” Ezra pleads.
I know that if I don’t speak up now, things will get out of hand.
“Nico, you can’t—”
“Jake.” Nico cuts those furious eyes over to me. “Take my wife home.”
Anything else I was going to say dies on my tongue.
Jake appears out of nowhere. I stay seated as I try to figure out what I should do.
I know that if I leave, Nico will kill this man.
Yeah, it was shitty of Ezra to trick me into coming here thinking we were having a business meeting when really it was just the two of us. But I didn’t want him to die over it.
Plus, people saw him here with me. If he turns up missing or dead, the police are going to come looking for my husband. His sister and brother-in-law will not let his death go unsolved.
I turn to say all this to Nico, but his next words shut me up.
“Your delay is only making it worse, Angel.”
Swallowing the knot in my throat, I glance at Ezra. His blue eyes are shimmering with tears and fear.
“Come on, Boss lady,” Jake says, holding out a hand.
Shutting my eyes, I ignore Jake. I can’t let my husband do this. I won’t be able to live with this on my conscience.
“I love you, Nico. And if you love me, please don’t kill him.”
When I open my eyes, Nico’s dark brown ones are staring at me intently. In that gaze, I can see so much. I see his anger at Ezra, and probably me as well. I see the frustration with the situation and the desire to kill. But most importantly, I see his love for me.
He twists his neck from side to side before turning to Ezra.
“You’re in luck.” His tone is jovial, as if he’s a car salesman about to make a deal. “My wife has vouched for your life. And she knows whatever she wants, she gets.” That last comment was directed toward me.
“Thank you.” Ezra let’s out a deep sigh. His entire body seems to relax. “I promise you won’t have to worry about me again.”
I start to feel better about the situation. At least there will be no bloodshed or dead bodies.
Nico chuckles. The sound of the dry laugh sends a rush of fear down my back.
“Jake,” my husband calls out. “Which hand did Ezra touch my wife with?”
Ezra’s brow pinches. My heart rate kicks up.
“Right hand, Boss.”
Nico holds out a hand. Roc walks over and places a huge hunting knife in Nico’s open palm.
“What are you doing?” I ask as my heart nearly leaps out throat.
Nico turns to me. “Giving you what you asked for.”
I watch in abject horror as Roc grabs Ezra’s wrist and pins his hand down on the table. Before anything could come out of my mouth, Nico drives the blade down into the back of Ezra’s hand. I scream at the same time as Ezra. The knife is so deep in his hand that it goes into the table.
Ezra shakes and cries, causing the table and the dishes to rattle. I cover a hand over my mouth.
“My wife spared your life, but nobody touches her without consequences.” Nico turns to Roc and Julian as he stands and buttons his suit jacket. “See to it our guest gets cleaned up and returned home.”
“Let’s go, Tiffany.” He holds out his hand for me to take. I stare at a writhing Ezra and then down at the blade in his palm. I don’t want to move, and I damn sure don’t want to go home with this man.
His arm around my bicep doesn’t give me an option as he pulls me out of my seat. The moment I’m upright, I snatch away from him. There is a warning in his glare, but he doesn’t grab hold of me again. I quickly gathered my jacket and head out the restaurant.
The heavy footfalls behind me lets me know my husband is following. My G-Wagon is parked right at the entrance. Jake steps around me and opens the door for me to climb in. I climb in and slide to the opposite side. Nico gets in and takes his seat. The moment the door is shut, I turn to him.
“How could you….”
“Trust me,” his voice is a low growl. “You’re going to want me to calm down before you speak.”
He turns to glare at me, his dark brown eyes blazing with fire.
There is no fear that my husband would ever hit me. I won’t even pretend that crosses my mind. However, I know enough about him to know when he needs time to cool off. So, I shut my mouth, sit back in my seat and face the window.
When we get home, the house is silent. It’s still early, and my father and Ms. Rose aren’t expected back for another two hours.
Stomping up the stairs, I make my way into my bedroom, kicking off my heels.
The entire ride home was completely silent.
I gave him his time to cool off, now I was ready to talk.
I spin around as he enters the room.
“You can’t just go around—”
“On your knees, Tiffany.”
My mouth shuts as I stare at him. I know he doesn’t think we are going to have sex after what he did.
“We need to talk about tonight.”
He unbuttons his jacket as he walks over to the bed. Once he removes the coat, he tosses it on the bench at the foot of the bed. Slowly, he undoes his cuff links and tosses them down with the coat. He then rolls up his sleeves.
“Tonight, I found my wife out to dinner with another man. A man whom I warned to stay away from her. A man my wife did not tell me she was going to meet.” He snatches the necktie from around his neck.
“A man I let live because my wife begged me for his fucking life. There is nothing to discuss. On your got damn knees.”
My heart is knocking against my chest, my mouth is so dry you could light a match inside it. I lick my lips. I understand how he thought I lied to him, but I needed him to understand that in no way was I trying to be sneaky or could ever cheat on him.
“There was nothing going on, Nico. I honestly thought his sister and her friends were coming. You know I would never disrespect you like that, right? Tell me you know that?”