Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
THREE DAYS LATER
NICO
We are currently guests in Ilaria Lazio’s home. After murdering Elio and the majority of his direct bloodline, Rosa mentioned that without the weight of some sort of support from the other Italian mafia families, they might decide to turn on her.
Rosalia is setting a very dangerous precedent, and the families may not want any of their children to get any bright ideas to take over.
Planning the murders of one family is difficult enough.
Having to fight on multiple fronts may prove to be impossible.
Savannah’s political affiliations vary in this city, and since I don’t have any influence here outside of having a knot and being married to her, all I can do is throw my weight behind my wife.
While we waited for Ilaria to approve an audience with us, we continued to pick off Accetta family members. A male cousin snatched from the crowd by my men here, an enforcer for Don Accetta there. It’s been a quiet unraveling of his empire, but it’s time to get loud now.
“We are declaring war on my family for reparations unbecoming of a father,” Rosa says primly in the drawing room across from Ilaria.
“You’re a twenty-one year old bambina, a child!” Ilaria waves her hand dismissively in my wife’s direction while I struggle not to stiffen. “What do you know about reparations?”
“Do you need a list, a video, or do you honestly think I’m a whiny woman who didn’t get enough love as a child?
” Rosa snorts. “I have been burying bodies for my father since before adulthood, and was his secret weapon to manipulate others for him. I am here as both a courtesy and for support as I’m not backing down, Donna Ilaria. ”
While Ilaria’s son runs the businesses in their family, his mother runs the social aspect. Rosa has told me stories of how ruthless she is, but the Accetta family has always been more affluent due to their sheer size.
“My wife is culling the family, Donna Ilaria,” I say smoothly. “Her complaints against her father are things no daughter should endure.”
“Most would simply kill themselves,” she sniffs. “Instead, you’re making a nuisance of yourself, Rosalia.”
“It’s difficult to kill yourself when your life is tied to others,” I drawl.
“As long as I live, I will fight for Rosalia. I’ll allow her to borrow my strength when she doesn’t think she has any more, and any manpower she needs is hers.
My wife isn’t fucking going anywhere. All we are asking is that you not get in the way of what’s happening. ”
“Your father arranged this marriage, Rosalia,” the old woman says, ignoring me. I rather feel like a six year old put in their place. Apparently, I can be seen but not heard. Rosa pats my knee, her lips twitching in amusement. I’ll let her take this one.
I need her within my sight today. My stomach cramps if I go longer than twenty minutes without seeing her.
I timed it while I was clearing the bedrooms of Elio’s home.
I was stupid and ignored it. By the thirty-minute mark, my body felt like jello, and I puked in the toilet of one of the bedrooms after putting a bullet in a sleeping woman’s brain.
I still have no idea who she was, and I don’t fucking care. The lines are drawn in the sand, and anyone with the Accetta family is against us. It’s just that simple.
“That’s correct. My father wants something from my husband, but due to my mistreatment, he has lost those things,” Rosa shrugs. “Papa also broke an important clause in all marriage contracts.”
“Please, do tell. I don’t have all day,” Donna Ilaria groans. “You’re an insufferable child playing adult games you don’t understand.”
“Brides are to be intact and completely innocent,” Rosa says, breathing deeply.
Please don’t throw yourself under the bus here, baby.
It’s true that if I had known about the rapes before the wedding, I could have refused to marry her.
I was promised an untouched virgin, and Don Renzo took that from her.
Despite how he spun it for his men, he still ripped away pieces of his daughter.
“Don Renzo did something to change that,” I add, ignoring my wife’s glance. “No, Rosa. It’s true.”
“My father and I argued over the wedding when he told me about it,” she sighs.
“And what?” Donna Ilaria asks, openly rolling her eyes. “Spit it out already!”
“My father incapacitated me through an alpha bark and then threw me to his men to brutally rape every one of my holes but the one that will bear children. You know who he employs, Ilaria,” Rosa grunts, her eyes on the old woman’s shrewd, gray gaze.
“I’m related to a fair number of them. Now, please tell me I fucking deserved it.
Tell me I should have been a better daughter. I dare you.”
Donna Ilaria is barely breathing as the fight begins to leave her body. “Your father loves you,” she whispers. “You’re his pride and joy.”
“Is that how we treat the people we love? I know how he treats those he hates. The bar doesn’t seem to be properly set.”
Donna Ilaria’s gaze flicks to me, and I make sure she watches as I cover Rosa’s hand with mine.
“You know what happened to her. Yet, you married her, and you sit here to what…?” she asks.
“Are you going senile in your old age?” I ask. “Or worse yet, deaf? I am here because my wife has my heart and my sword. Whatever she wants is hers in my world. Are you going to fall in with that narrative, or make this difficult?”
“Nico,” Rosa murmurs. Okay, I got a little passionate.
I’m still not sorry. “I’m not here to ruffle your feathers, but you are clearly upsetting my husband.
Whether you believe me or not isn’t up for debate.
You asked why I am seeking reparations, and I told you.
Papa will never let me live my life until he’s dead. ”
“And his brothers won’t allow you to live once you end it,” Ilaria mutters. “You’ve painted yourself into a corner, Rosalia.”
“Not particularly,” she smiles. “Did you hear what happened to dear Uncle Elio and his family?”
“There was a fire,” Ilaria says dismissively.
“That’s what the papers are saying,” I say, smirking. “The mayor really runs a tight ship in this town, huh?”
“So does the police commissioner and the press,” Rosa whispers.
“This isn’t funny!” Ilaria yells.
“Mama, what are you yelling about?” Giorgio strides into the room, worry painted into the wrinkles of his face. “Hello Rosalia. Congratulations on your marriage.”
“Thank you, Giorgio,” she replies. He’s in his mid-forties and is a good businessman. However, his mother is where the answers I seek lie.
“It’s nothing, son,” his mother says softly. “Will you tell Camila I need some tea, please? We’re just fine. You know I’m prone to theatrics.”
Giorgio stares at Ilaria for a long moment, because it’s obvious she’s prone to no such thing.
“If you say so, Mama. Rosalia, it’s good to see you.”
We all wait until he leaves the room before Ilaria takes a deep breath.
“If I was you, I would also be burning everything to ash,” she says softly. “I know you don’t need my blessing, but you have it. My family will stay out of your way, and I’ll urge the others to do the same.”
“So I don’t need to have this awkward conversation with anyone else?” Rosa asks, wincing.
“No. They’ll be cruel and try to pull more information out of you than is needed. If I tell them to stay out of it, they will,” she says.
“Thank you. This will be messy enough as it is, I don’t want to fight over multiple fronts because of some misplaced loyalty someone has to my father.”
“Does this mean you’ll be the new leader of the Accetta’s?” Ilaria asks. “You’re so young…”
“You can’t rule over something that’s dead,” Rosa murmurs. “I don’t want to lead anything. The entire family is rotten, Donna Ilaria. You know better than anyone that rot spreads.”
“It does. So what will you rule?”
“My wife is a Domino now, as such she rules with me,” I say. “We are planning to put down roots in Savannah. I hope we’ll be welcomed.”
“Rosalia is a child of Savannah. I’m glad to see she won’t be uprooted from the only home she knows.”
While that’s not exactly an ideal agreement, she didn’t tell me to fuck off either. When Rosa stands, I move with her, my hand moving to her back. Surprisingly, Ilaria grabs her cane and pushes herself to her feet, her eyes on me.
“Nico, come closer.” The words don’t suggest I have the option to refuse, and so I walk closer to her, curious to see what she wants. “Your eyes are a very unusual color. Are you bonded to Rosalia?”
“I am. Though the marriage was arranged by her father and I, she is my scent match,” I explain, my fingers twitching nervously.
Telling her this could be a mistake. Ilaria could easily decide to put a bullet in my brain and let Rosalia die of a broken heart.
What is the old bag up to?
“Then the joke is on him,” Ilaria chuckles.
“I won’t pry anymore. Go about your day, and know I’ll begin setting up lunch dates with some of the other matriarchs.
Rosalia, I always thought Renzo would give his empire to you when he died.
This city has always known you had the stones for it.
Italian families are meant to be led by women.
Men don’t have the intelligence for it. They rule by force, not the understanding that a woman’s ire will affect generations to come. ”
“Thank you,” Rosalia says, taking my hand as we leave. Neither of us breathe until the sun is hitting our faces as we walk out the front door and down the stairs. “I really didn’t know which way that was going to go.”
“I think you did,” I chuckle, walking back toward our home.
It’s a nice day, and there’s a breeze today.
Soon, the cooler weather will settle in, and Rosalia won’t be able to wear the pretty sundresses she enjoys wearing without a coat.
“The second she realized the severity of things, her attitude began to change. God, I hate the way people think. The traditions are so outdated.”