Chapter 30 Divorce
chapter Thirty
Divorce
Tiffany
Ipace my living room once again. I have shed so many tears in the last two days that I don’t think I have any more in my body.
“We’ve checked every location we know about. I have crew members all over the area checking for any sign of him.”
The fact that I’m having a conversation with Julian should let you know how messed up I am. After receiving that disgusting picture of a journal entry, Nico has been missing. No one has been able to find him. Despite his brothers and Julian looking everywhere for him.
My heart is breaking. I can only imagine what he is feeling.
To have something like that sent out to people.
This Horseman had no right to do what he did.
Yes, it gives me a better idea of what Nico was hiding and where his trauma stemmed from, but it was my husband’s secret to tell.
Not some asshole that wanted to hurt him.
“And you went by his parent’s cemetery plot?”
Julian nods. “I have someone watching the cemetery. I promise, Boss lady, we are doing everything we can to bring him home.”
The one thing that has come from all of this is how much Julian cares for my husband. Their relationship wasn’t just of an employer and employee. He’s just as distraught as Salv, Kaz, and Mason. I think he saw Nico as a brother.
Speaking of Nico’s brothers, they have been devastated. Apparently, Mason knew about the abuse Nico faced in that boy’s home. He said he didn’t know the full extent, but he knew something had happened to Nico. Salvito and Kazimir had no idea. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Salv so angry.
“Sweet pea, come eat something.” Ms. Rose appears in the doorway, her hands on her hips.
I swear the best decision we ever made was hiring this woman. She has been a godsend for the last two days. Whether it’s forcing me to put something on my stomach, watching Noah while I pace the floor, or just holding me as I cry over my missing husband.
“I’m not hungry.”
Her lips turn down at my remark. I’ve said those same three words so much the last few days they make up damn near 80% of my vocabulary.
“Sweet pea, you haven’t eaten all day. It’s dinnertime. At least try something.”
I turn to tell her again that I’m not hungry. I couldn’t even think of food while my husband was out there somewhere. Before I can open my mouth, a deep voice from behind me speaks.
“Go eat, Tiffany,” Mason demands.
Mason, Salv, Kazimir, and a tall dark-skinned man are standing in my living room.
“Have you found him?” I ask immediately. Another one of those word combinations I’ve said so much lately.
“No,” Mason says. “But starving yourself won’t help us find him any faster.”
As curt as Mason was, he’s right. Starving myself won’t help and would only make Nico mad if he knew I was doing it.
My heart aches at the thought of him. I know he’s out there somewhere, hurting and feeling alone. I just want him to come home. I want him to know that he is loved and what that horrible man did to him isn’t his fault.
“Have a seat,” Ms. Rose says. “I’ll bring you a sandwich.”
I followed her advice and flopped down on the couch. Salvito comes over and takes a seat beside me. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into him. I lay my head on his shoulder, and despite thinking I had run out, tears fall down my face.
“We’re going to find him, sis. I promise you we will find him.”
Kaz hands me a handkerchief and takes a seat on the arm of the couch beside me.
“I just don’t know why he would hide from us.”
“Because he thinks we’ll see him how he sees himself,” Mason says in that tone that sounds as if he’s bored, but it’s just the way he talks.
“And how does he see himself?”
“As tarnished, disgusting, flawed.”
With each description Mason calls out, I feel a sinking feeling in my gut. How could Nico think that? How could he ever believe that we would think that?
“That’s not what I feel at all.”
“It’s not what any of us feel,” Kaz says, shaking his head.
“I’m more pissed at myself.” Salv’s voice is barely louder than a whisper.
A heavy silence floats between the guys.
It’s almost as if they are communicating silently.
If this were some werewolf or alien super soldier book, I’d say that they were.
I still wouldn’t put it past them. Dealing with the stuff they’ve dealt with has undeniably formed a bond stronger than anything I could imagine.
“We all had our horrors at the boy’s home,” Mason goes on to say. “Blaming yourself for not noticing someone else’s issues isn’t going to help.”
Salv nods, but I can tell he is still upset with himself. I grab his hand in between mine and rub it. Those gorgeous hazel eyes look over at me. I give him a reassuring smile. Some of the guilt seeps from his face.
“What about that sick guy?” I ask, turning back to Mason. “The one who wrote the journal entry. Is he still around? Can we—”
Mason shakes his head, cutting off my words. “He is a nonfactor. Has been for a very long time.”
The way he says that sentence tells me I don’t want to ask any more questions about the abuser. It also tells me he is more than likely not among the living. If Nico did all the stuff he did to his uncle for killing his parents, I can only imagine what was done to that sick man.
Just then, Ms. Rose walks into the room with a plate with a ham sandwich in one hand and my happy baby boy in the other. The moment Noah spots his uncles, he gets excited.
Ms. Rose hands me the plate, and Salv grabs Noah. The moment he’s in his uncle’s lap, he claps with a big grin on his face.
It warms my heart to see how much they enjoy being with their nephew.
“Little Saint, I swear you’re getting bigger every day.”
Kaz reaches over me trying to grab Noah. But Salv pulls him away.
“Give him to me, Salvito. You always hold him.”
“I’m his favorite.” Salv pushes Kaz away. They both start playfully swinging at each other. The entire time, Noah is dying laughing at the antics.
“Give me my damn nephew.” Mason snatches my son out of Salv’s hands.
The moment Noah is in his uncle Mason’s arms, he lays his head on his shoulder and plays with his tie. I think it is obvious who my son loves the most.
A cellphone rings, drawing our attention to Julian.
“Hello?” he answers with his brow raised. I can tell he has good news from the way he shuts his eyes and sighs.
“They found him. He just showed up at the cemetery.”
We were all moving before he finished the sentence. Ms. Rose took my half-eaten sandwich and Noah.
“I got him. You just focus on bringing his father home,” she tells Mason.
He nods his head. I allow Salvito to usher me out of the house and to the awaiting Suburban parked out front.
The black guy climbs into the driver’s seat with Julian in the passenger.
I get in the first row, and Salvito goes to the back.
Kaz joins him, and Mason sits beside me.
Before I can get my seatbelt on, we are driving.
I wring my hands together. My fear is that we will get there and it will be too late. He will be in the wind again.
“Breathe, little sister,” Mason says beside me.
I look over at him, and although his face is stoic and his voice is calm, it’s obvious he is worried as well.
I reach between us for his hand and slide my fingers through his.
He looks down at my hand and then up at me.
He dips his chin but doesn’t remove his hand.
I’m not sure if I was borrowing his strength or lending him mine.
The moment we stop at the cemetery, I’m out of my seatbelt and opening the door. The others pile out with me.
“Let me go alone first.” I know they are just as eager to see their brother as I am. But I needed to see him first.
Looking at the faces of his brothers, I can tell they want to argue. They’ve known him longer and have more experiences between them. But it’s the slight nod from Mason that tells me he understands my request and needs.
“Go. We will wait here.”
I turn and take off for the monument I know Nico had erected for his parents. My heart is pounding and I’m out of breath, but I let out a sigh of relief when I see my husband sitting on that bench. I don’t speak as I slowly approach him from the back.
“I’m glad you came,” he says without turning to look at me.
I imagine he knew the second he stepped out of his hiding spot that we would all come for him. This wasn’t by accident.
“Are the guys here?”
“Yes, they are waiting by the car.”
He’s silent again. He won’t turn around and show me his face, and that is all I want to see. I just want to see his eyes. Seeing his eyes will tell me everything I need to know.
“Nico—”
Before I could finish, he spoke. “I talked with my lawyer.”
Weird start to this conversation, but okay.
“I have the divorce papers drawn up. You and Noah will get the house and half of all my earnings.”
My heart is now racing in my chest for another reason. My mind is working slowly; words are flying through my mind like crazed birds. I can’t catch one to make sense.
“I’ve agreed to pay you alimony for the next twenty-five years. After that, we can renegotiate.”
“Nico,” I whisper his name as I move from behind him to stand in front of him.
The moment I’m facing my husband, a pain hits my stomach.
I’ve never seen Nico like this. His beard is long, his hair unkempt, prominent dark circles are under his eyes.
He looks as if he hasn’t eaten or slept in the last two days.
His gaze remains everywhere but on me.
“Look at me.”
Slowly, those dark brown eyes I love lift to me. The pain lying behind those dark orbs nearly pulls a gasp from me. As quickly as his focus lands on me, he puts it somewhere else.
“All I ask,” he goes on to say. “Is that you allow me to see my son.”
Silence sits between us, heavy and thick. Many things go through my head. What could I have done in these last two days that would make him want to divorce me?