Chapter 13 Nicolas
NICOLAS
Being at this warehouse was the last thing I wanted to do, but when Aria, the eldest of my sisters, called and said they caught one of the Mancini soldiers trying to break into one of the warehouses where most of our supplies were stored, I couldn't let her handle it on her own.
Not that she wasn't capable, but I tried shielding her as much as possible, even if she wanted to kill me just for thinking that.
But she was my sister, and whether she liked it or not, I would always want to protect her no matter how capable she was.
Aria worked hard to prove herself and worked even harder to be where she's at right now, but that didn't mean I wasn't scared for her.
Hence, why I was coming here, even though I wanted to spend the rest of the day with Ajla.
"What do we know?" I asked as soon as I walked inside the small office Aria used as her mini base. She looked up from the papers scattered on the table, her dark eyes narrowing at me.
"I told you I could handle this."
"And I told you I was coming. So why don't you tell me what's going on and how I can help."
Aria hated being told what to do, and she hated even more the fact that I was so protective, but I promised my father I would take care of her, Clara and our mother and I was planning on keeping that promise.
"Aria, we don't have time for this whole standoff between the two of us," I said when she kept looking at me, no doubt planning different ways to kill me. "Just tell me, and then I will get out of your hair."
I would never tell her this, but she was the best enforcer we've had.
I hated the fact that so many men from other mafia families couldn't see how valuable she was, and how valuable our women were, and not just for staying home and pretending they didn't know anything.
They were smart, cunning, soft when the situation needed them to be, and tougher than any men I knew when they needed to be.
Aria and my mother were proof that there was nothing men could do that women couldn't do in our world. But it was tough trying to change the opinions of dinosaurs who were set in their old ways.
"Fine," she huffed, letting her arms fall and refocusing on the papers in front of her. "I've been gaining intel from our inside man for quite some time, and truth be told, I have no idea what's happening inside Mancini ranks."
Walking closer to her, I looked down at the papers on the table. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," her eyes clashed with mine, "the old Mancini seems to be making decisions that absolutely make no sense.
People are talking, and I have no idea if it's old age or if he had snapped, but they don't agree with him.
He's been sending his soldiers on wild chases, literally tracking ghosts.
He has it in his mind that we would take everything from him, and guess what? "
"What?"
"He's convinced our father is alive and is planning to kill him."
Talk about crazy.
The old Mancini was the one who had ordered a hit on our father.
He was the reason I had to take reins so soon and why we were in this shitshow in the first place.
Before he betrayed us, our families were friends.
Hell, I used to play with his son, and dare I say, we were almost best friends before he destroyed everything.
Clara and Aria had spent days at their house when we were younger, playing together, and the betrayal from the old Mancini was not something any of us could predict.
Hell, ever since my father died, Enzo, Don Mancini's son, had disappeared without a trace. At first, I thought he was in hiding because he was the one who killed my father, but something wasn't adding up.
"Has anyone spotted Enzo?" I asked Aria, because I knew she'd been looking for him as well. Aria used to admire him when she was younger, and she was also the one who told me he wasn't involved.
"No," she grumbled. "But if these reports I'm getting are anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised if something more sinister is at play, Nico. Enzo wouldn't just disappear like that. Hell, he was your best friend. He was my friend."
She was right, but I couldn't see it before.
The Enzo I knew would never betray us. Not like this.
So where was he?
"I'll find him, I'm sure of it," Aria said. "But we have a bigger fish to fry right now." She pulled one of the papers on the top, and I quickly realized what I was looking at. "Seems familiar?"
"Those are the plans for my house." I picked the paper up, looking at the drawings that were made once we had finalized everything. "How the fuck did they get this?"
Aria shrugged, but I didn't miss the fury in her eyes. "I have no fucking idea, but I'm about to find out." I followed her line of sight and saw one of our soldiers walking toward her office, visible through the windows surrounding us.
"Boss," he knocked, looking directly at Aria. "Capo," he nodded at me before turning back to her. "He's awake."
"Brilliant," she chuckled, bypassing me as she went toward the door. "You coming or what? We left one of them alive. For now." Her smile almost seemed soft, but I could see the viciousness hiding behind it.
Shaking my head, I walked toward her and dropped the plans back onto the table, following her out of the office and toward the open space in the warehouse.
A man, probably not much older than me, sat tied to a chair with a bloodied face and one eye completely swollen shut.
I could see the familiar Mancini tattoo on his neck—the letter M with a snake wrapped around it—and for the hundredth time since our father had been killed, I couldn't stop myself from thinking that snake definitely belonged as that family's emblem.
"Are you ready to talk?" Aria asked, and I had no doubt his swollen and bloodied face was her handiwork.
"Or would you like me to talk?" She knelt in front of him and pulled a knife from her boot.
"I have to be honest, darling." She stood up and took another step toward him. "I do like the way you scream."
His one barely open eye widened, and as he started thrashing in the chair, trying to break free, I remembered what a vicious beast my sister could be. Had I not known her softer side, I would be afraid of her too.
Aria trained with the best, and while my father was hard on me because I would one day inherit the empire, he was even harder on her because he knew what she would be up against one day.
I hoped against all hope that she wouldn't choose this path, but Aria was determined, and my father could never say no to his little princess.
I just wished she behaved more like a princess sometimes and less like a little psycho, but I wouldn't change a single thing about her. My wishes had more to do with the fact that I didn't want to see her hurt rather than me being threatened by her power.
And Aria Moretti was powerful. Seeing this poor bastard and his reaction to her had confirmed everything I needed to know. Aria could take care of herself, and I was only stopping her from reaching her full potential.
"So," she stepped right in front of him, pressing the tip of her knife to his cheek. "Are you going to talk, my little mouse?"
"P-Please," he trembled. "I told you everything."
"See, now I know you're lying to me. And," she looked back at one of our soldiers. "Jake, what do I usually do with liars?"
Jake visibly shuddered, covering his crotch. "You cut off their balls, ma'am."
"Ding, ding, ding," Aria laughed. "That's the correct answer." She turned back toward the trembling man. "I'm only going to ask one more time, and that's it. What were you doing trying to enter our warehouse?"
Time seemed to slow down as he looked at her, and as Aria pressed harder with her knife, he finally opened his mouth.
"It was a decoy," he whimpered. "A fucking decoy to get you all away from the house."
"The house?" I asked, moving toward them. "What house?"
It was as if he was finally seeing me, focusing on something other than Aria. And I hated the smug look on his face. I hated the fact that he knew something I didn't.
"Your house, Capo," he mocked. "Our boss had heard that your father is hiding there, and he wants to end this once and for all. He wants to kill you all for all those men of ours you have killed. He wants us to avenge Enzo."
"Enzo?" Aria asked. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"He told us," the idiot laughed. "He told us you killed Enzo. He told us you started this and then your father faked his own death. We know it all and we're ready to die for his cause."
"Then you will die for nothing," I bit out. "Your boss," I mocked this time, "had killed our father."
"That's a lie!" The maniac started laughing. "But you're too late now. You're too fucking late."
"What do you mean?" It was Aria this time, pressing the blade of the knife to his throat. "Answer me!"
"They're already at the house with the boss," he grinned. "And they're not leaving until everyone is dead."
My blood froze, and before Aria could even stab the knife through his neck, I was moving toward the exit, pulling my phone out and dialing Gio, who had stayed back at the house with Ajla.
No response.
No. Fucking. Response.
"Nico!" Aria called after me, but I couldn't slow down. "Wait up!"
She's all alone there. Yes, with Gio, but if the old Mancini had really lost his mind, he wouldn't bring just a couple of soldiers. He would bring an army, and the amount of our own security at the house wasn't enough to fight them off.
It wasn't enough.
"Jesus fuck, brother, slow down." Aria finally caught up with me, but when she stepped in front of me, when she saw my face, she quickly understood how serious the situation was. "What is it?"
"I have finally found her, Ari," I mumbled, dialing Gio again and again and fucking again, but still no response. "I found her and she's at the house and she—"
"Hey, hey." She cut off my rambling and grabbed my bicep. "Slow down, big man. Who's there? Who's she?"
But I couldn't tell her. Not yet.
"I'll tell you all about her, but I need to get back to the house. I need to make sure she's safe."
"It's suicide, Nico. You shouldn't go. You should—"
"I have to." I looked at Aria and then back at the warehouse. I hadn’t even realized we’d walked outside, but I was closer to my car now, and when Damian saw me approaching, when he saw the look on my face, he understood without a word. "I don't expect you to come with me, but if something—"
"Of course I'm coming with you, you idiot. I need to meet this mysterious woman of yours." She smiled before pulling back. "I'll gather the squad and follow you, okay?"
I could only nod before I started running toward the car. Damian opened the passenger-side door immediately before moving to the driver's seat.
I just fucking hoped we weren't too late.