Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
AURORA
T he doctor, Mathews, arrives to look at my head.
Nico helps me from the kitchen into the living room and now stands near me, almost protectively. I haven’t seen this side of him yet. Granted, I’ve only known him for two days, but in that time, I’ve come to see he’s not a monster. He’s blunt and a little cold at times and very distracted with his work, but he hasn’t pushed me for sex and has at least tried to talk to me.
And now, he’s making sure I’m physically all right.
Beatrice made him sound like he was the devil incarnate, but I’m just not sure.
“The bleeding has already stopped,” Mathews tells me. “I’ll clean the wound for you.” He takes out an alcohol wipe from his bag and dabs my head. It stings, and I can’t help but wince.
Nico shifts on his feet, frowning. “Will she be all right?”
“The cut is small. The head tends to bleed a lot. But I’ll have to take her with me to my office to get a head scan. I need to make sure nothing’s wrong internally.”
Could I be seriously hurt? And before I even get the chance to find out the truth about what happened to my father.
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Andrew says dismissively. “I think this is all unnecessary.”
“I’m going to listen to the doctor,” Nico says, throwing a glare in Andrew’s direction. Interesting. He doesn’t like that Andrew clearly doesn’t like me. That’s good to know. Nico is already on my side.
I can’t do anything to screw that up.
A thought occurs to me. This is my chance to get Nico to care for me even more.
I fall back on the couch, moaning softly. “It hurts.”
Nico rushes to my side. “Mathews, we need to get her to your office.” The doctor nods, motioning for us to follow. Without having to ask, Nico scoops me into his arms and carries me out the door. The feeling of his strong arms around me makes me feel … safe.
The last thing I see is Andrew glaring at me before the door shuts.
The head scan reveals nothing wrong. No internal bleeding. No bruising or swelling.
“You have a concussion,” Mathews says. “But, otherwise, you’re fine. Just spend the day resting and take the next couple of days easy. All right?”
“Thank you.”
Nico drives us back to his house. “I’m glad you’re all right. Now, can you tell me what happened? Why did you faint in the first place?”
Because Andrew was accusing me of being a liar and telling me he looked into my father. He’s going to find the truth of why I’m here, which means I need to find out if Nico really did kill my father or not before then.
“Andrew … intimidates me,” I admit.
“He isn’t exactly the kindest of men.” Nico glances at me. “Did he say something to you?”
“No. Everything is still so new for me. I just got overwhelmed and passed out.”
“Oh. Well … try not to do that again. I just married you. I wouldn’t want to find another wife right away.”
I stare at him until he flashes a small smile in my direction. He’s joking. Some of the tension leaves my body. “Nico, you seemed really worried for me. Why was that?”
“I know I have a reputation. Big scary Mafia man. But I don’t like to see people get hurt who don’t need to. You’re my wife now, Aurora. We married for practical reasons, not love. But you’re still my wife, and I don’t want you to get hurt. Is that hard to believe?”
“No,” I whisper, realizing I mean it. “It’s not hard to believe at all.” Nico may still be a stranger, and possibly the murderer of my father, but from what I’ve seen of him so far, he’s not a monster.
Nico helps me into bed, even going so far as to pull the covers over me.
“I’m not an invalid,” I tell him.
“I know. But I can’t help but feel a little bad. I’ve been busy with work, and you got hurt.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
He gets into bed beside me. The feel of him next to me at night is getting easier. Becoming more … comfortable.
It’s because of that comfort I decide to ask, “Nico, would you tell me more about what you do?”
“I can’t. It’s for everyone’s safety. The less people know, the better. If the police came around asking you questions, you’d have to lie. At least this way, you wouldn’t have to lie.”
“About the missing man you mentioned.”
He looks at me and doesn’t say a word.
“Fine,” I whisper. “But can I ask you something else? Do you ever travel for your work?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I was just curious. I haven’t traveled much. My father kept me pretty sheltered back in LA.”
“I’ve been a lot of places, LA being one of them. Sometimes my work takes me out there.”
“Maybe we could have met there.”
He smiles. “Maybe.”
My heart is pounding fast. Nico admitted he’s been to LA, but that doesn’t mean he killed my father. And there’s no way to ask him more about that without him getting incredibly suspicious.
I need to talk to Beatrice again and demand she find proof if I’m going to continue.
Because right now, as Nico smiles at me, a flutter forms in my heart. I’m supposed to make Nico fall in love with me, but I think it might easy for me to fall in love with him if I’m not careful.
And that’s the most dangerous part of this all.
Enzo comes with me to see Beatrice again. Once more, Nico is at work, and I’m left to my own devices. I’m so grateful I’m not a prisoner and that I can go where I want.
It just isn’t fun with Enzo breathing down my neck.
“Privacy,” I remind him once I reach Beatrice’s door and she lets me inside. Enzo nods, stationing himself against the wall beside the door. I hurry into Beatrice’s room and shut the door, locking it for good measure. Beatrice stuffs a towel under the door, muffling our voices in case Enzo listens in.
“I need proof,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes and plops onto the bed. “We’ve been over this. I know Nico is responsible.”
“No, you don’t. Not for a fact. And I need proof that he did it, or … I won’t kill him.”
“Why are you talking like this? You want justice for your father, yes?”
“Of course, I do, but not if Nico is the wrong man.”
Beatrice is silent as she stands up and slowly approaches me. I don’t like how she scrutinizes me like I’m a bug under a microscope. “You like him.”
“No,” I scoff. “I don’t know him. But I won’t murder a man who didn’t murder my father.”
“No, you’re starting to like him. Already. That’s a problem, Aurora. You’re supposed to make him fall in love with you. Not the other way around.”
“I don’t love him, Beatrice. He’s still a stranger. But what I’ve seen shows me he isn’t a monster.”
She scoffs. “He is a monster.”
“You’ve never even met him. I’ve lived with him for three days now.”
“And you think that makes you an expert? Wake up, girl! You’re taken in by him. Fine. But do your duty.”
“No. Not until I know the truth. You want me to kill Nico? Then give me proof he did it.”
Her face twists into an angry sneer, but she sighs. “Fine. I’ll get proof.”
She knows she needs me. I’m her only chance, which gives me some leverage.
Maybe I’m not so powerless after all.
While I wait for proof from Beatrice, I know I need to continue my mission with Nico. I have to get him to trust me, so I need to try again with him.
I enter his office late at night. He’s busy typing away on his laptop. “Aurora.”
“You didn’t come to bed.”
“I’m busy with work.”
“I figured.” My hands play with the ends of my nightgown. It’s another slinky piece, one Beatrice made me bring.
“You look nice.”
“It’s for you,” I blurt out.
He stops his typing and faces me. “Is that so? You’re ready to have sex?”
I hesitate, and I hate that I hesitate because Nico sees it on my face.
“You’re not ready.” He dismisses me and turns back to his computer.
I’m losing my chance with him. “No, I’m ready.”
“Are you?” He leans back in his chair, spreading his legs wide. “I don’t think you are.”
“No, I am.”
“You can keep convincing yourself, Aurora, but I can smell your fear, remember?”
“I need to do this,” I whisper. Because if I don’t, I’m terrified Nico will cast me out. He doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to have sex, but at some point, he’ll want children, and if I can’t give that to him …
His eyes soften slightly. “Listen, I can tell you’re not ready. But I’ll give you a chance. If you really are ready to have sex, then get on your knees and suck my cock.”
I blanche. “What?”
“You heard me. If you’re actually ready, then you’ll have no qualms about sucking me off.”
“But I’ve never …” My palms are sweaty, and my heart beats so fast, it hurts.
“I know you haven’t. I would teach you, of course. So, what do you say?”
Can I do this? For the sake of my father’s death, I’m willing to try. Nico needs to trust me, but he can’t if there’s always a wall between us.
Slowly, I get down on my knees, my entire body shaking. Nico watches me without saying a word. I reach my hands out to touch his belt buckle when I freeze.
Tears hit my eyes and begin streaming down my face. This isn’t a romantic moment at all. Nico and I don’t love each other, and how na?ve am I to convince myself that doing this will make him love me?
He sighs and brushes my hair out of my face. “Go back to bed, Aurora.”
“Will you hate me if I’m never ready?”
“I don’t hate you. But go back to bed. You’re not ready.” Without offering me anymore comfort, he turns back to his computer and resumes his work.
I stand up, wiping my tears. One moment, he can be nice and somewhat warm, but then other times, he’s so cold, it burns my skin.
I hurry back to our bedroom and get under the covers, where I spend the next hour sobbing. Nico eventually joins me, but by then, I’ve quieted down.
He’s just as quiet as he gets into the bed. Even though we’re lying next to each other, there’s a huge cavern between us.
Nico calls me into his office the following day. It surprises me because he’s normally out of the house by now.
“Yes?” I ask, standing in the doorway.
“Lean over my desk on your stomach.”
I blink. “What?”
“Lean over my desk on your stomach.”
I want to ask why, but there’s a darkness to Nico’s eyes that makes me listen to him. I slowly approach the desk and, with a hard swallow, lean over it. It doesn’t escape my notice that my butt is in the air.
When Nico comes around the desk and stands behind me, fear courses through my body. What’s he going to do to me?
“You’re terrified,” he muses.
“I …”
“You don’t have to explain. From now on, you will not try to force yourself into having sex with me. I want you willing, Aurora. I want you to be able to lean over this desk and be vulnerable like this without being terrified. But you’re not at that point yet.”
But how can we become close without sex? I can’t exactly tell Nico my entire life story, and he’s not the most chatty of men.
Beatrice told me to seduce him to gain his trust, and I’m utterly failing at it.
“You have a beautiful body,” he tells me. “I want to touch you. Fuck, I want to. But only when you stop fearing me.”
“And how can I do that?”
“Only time will tell. Now, you may leave.”
I stand up and turn around, only to bump into him. “Oh.” He catches me, steadying my feet. Just as soon as he touches me, he lets me go. I feel the coldness in the air, and it stings my heart.
Nico steps out of my way, and I leave his office, more confused than ever before.
A week goes by without much progress. Nico spends his days working while I spend my days trying to avoid Enzo.
And I’m no closer to finding out if Nico murdered my father or not.
So, when I go to see Beatrice and she tells me she finally found something, my heart almost beats out of my chest.
“What?” I ask. “Did Nico kill my father?”
“I found the combination to his second in command’s briefcase.”
I had mentioned Andrew’s briefcase to her at our last meeting.
“How does that help me?” I ask.
“It helps you because you can dig through it the next time he’s over and see if it reveals anything.”
“So, you don’t have any actual proof.”
She sighs deeply. “Technically, no. But I’ve had some spies of mine keep an eye on Andrew, and he’s a fishy one. That’s how I discovered the combination. So, I did my job. Now, do yours.”
Enzo drives me back home from the hotel, asking me how my time with my aunt went.
And I tell him the truth. “It was enlightening.”
“How?”
I don’t tell him that. Enzo can’t force me to speak when I don’t want to.
Beatrice showed me clearly I’m on my own. She helped with the combination, which is great, but I’m the one who’ll have to risk everything getting into Andrew’s briefcase.
And I think, deep down, a part of me is terrified I’ll find something I don’t want to see.
The reality is—I don’t want Nico to be my father’s murderer.