Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
AURORA
“ L ower the gun,” Nico growls, wrapping his arm around my waist.
“I don’t think so,” Andrew responds. “You’re going to go back to the police and confess to everything. That you killed Giovanni. You’re going to jail. Or I’m going to kill your wife.”
Nico’s arm tightens around me. “Not unless I kill you first.”
“Too bad you’re outnumbered.”
Enzo walks into the house, holding a gun of his own.
“You fired Enzo when he did nothing wrong,” Andrew says. “He wants justice for that.”
“Nico, what do we do?” I whisper.
Andrew laughs. “He can’t answer you because he knows he can’t win this. I spent years working for you. I did everything for you. And you repaid me by marrying a woman who wanted to kill you. You put her first. I’m not going down for Giovanni’s murder. You are.”
“Fine,” Nico grits out. “I’ll go to the police. But if you kill Aurora, all fucking bets are off.”
“Deal,” Andrew says.
“Nico, you can’t.” I grip his arms, drawing him closer to me. “They’ll put you away for murder.”
“I got out once. I can do it again.” Even though I can tell he means what he says, I don’t believe it’ll be that easy. Because Nico escaped once, the police won’t be too keen on him escaping again.
The police are probably already on their way to our house right now.
If we don’t stop Andrew and Enzo, I’ll lose Nico forever, and then I’ll truly be alone.
But both Andrew and Enzo have guns on us. There’s nothing we can do but listen to what they say.
“I’ll go,” Nico says, pushing me gently away. “Don’t hurt her.”
“I won’t,” Andrew replies though I know it’s a bunch of bullshit.
Nico slowly approaches Enzo’s side. “I’ll admit, Enzo, I shouldn’t have fired you over a lie. I’m sorry.”
Enzo’s stance softens just slightly. It’s a small movement, but he lowers his gun just the tiniest bit.
And Nico moves.
He grabs Enzo’s arm, knocks the gun out of his hand, and aims it at Enzo’s head. “But I was always better than you,” Nico says.
Before I can react, Andrew runs over to me, pointing his gun at my head. “If you kill Enzo, I’ll kill Aurora. I’m still in charge here, Nico. Do as I say.”
Nico shakes his head once. “No.” Then he shoots Enzo in the head. The blood splatters to the wall, and Enzo’s body is loud as he thuds to the floor.
Andrew is distracted by this, and during his distraction, I reach for his gun. He turns back to me with a snarl. We fight over the gun as Nico runs over and tackles Andrew to the ground.
Somehow, I’m left with Andrew’s gun in my hand.
The sound of police sirens ring out in the night. Nico and I need to get out of here.
“Give me the gun,” Nico pants, holding Andrew down. “Aurora, I don’t want you going down for murder.”
“I’m already a murderer.” I set my eyes onto Andrew. “And he tried to murder me.” I pull the trigger, and the bullet lands in Andrew’s skull.
Nico backs up and grabs the gun from me, stuffing it in his jacket pocket. “We have to run. Now!” He pushes me forward, and we sprint to the backdoor.
We make it to the backyard as police swarm through the front door.
“This way,” Nico says, leading me through the back gate and onto the road. “We don’t have a car. We’ll need to steal one. Come on. I have a safehouse no one knows about. If we get there, we’ll be safe.”
It dawns on me as I run by Nico’s side that if we’re both caught, we both go down for murder.
Nico is truly the only one I can count on now. The only one who truly understands me, and I understand him. This world is a dark and dangerous place. I know that now. My father died in it.
I’ve killed within it.
Nico finds a nondescript white car and breaks into it, hotwiring it to start the engine. We dive inside and drive away before the police can find us.
An hour later, we arrive at Nico’s safehouse. It’s a simple ranch house that blends in with every other house on the street. It’s hugely different from his mansion, but none of that matters. All that matters now is that we’re both safe.
Andrew’s blood covers my hands from when I shot him. I’ve killed two people now, and it doesn’t even bother me.
Before my father died, I never imagined taking a life.
Look at me now.
Nico helps me inside and gets me cleaned up. It’s only when he’s washing my hands for me do I realize I’m shaking.
“Hold me,” I whisper. Nico doesn’t hesitate to pull me into his arms. By some miracle, he’s forgiven me for my betrayal, and I’ll be forever grateful to him.
“Come here.” Picking me up, he carries me into the bedroom. We lie down on the bed together.
I know it’s wrong. I know I probably shouldn’t be feeling this after everything we went through, but I want Nico. I want to know he still wants me.
That he needs me as much as I need him.
“Kiss me,” I say.
Nico holds my gaze for a moment before doing as I ask. Our lips meet in a tender kiss that quickly turns passionate. He rolls me onto my back, his hands moving down to my hips to squeeze them.
“Are you ok with this?” he asks in his low, deep voice that I love so much.
“I need you, Nico. I need to forget.”
His eyes tell me he completely understands. He holds my gaze as he gently strips my dress off me. I can’t hold back, and I kiss him with everything inside me. Nico wraps his arms around me and lowers me back down. Our bodies are pressed together perfectly. Every inch of him fits within every nook of me.
We kiss as we take each other’s clothes off, and once we’re naked, Nico settles on top of me. We haven’t had sex since I lost the baby. My body is ready for this. And even if Nico and I can never have biological children, I still want to be with him.
He didn’t kill my father. I think I knew that deep down all along. It’s why I was so hesitant to hurt him. Nico has only ever shown me kindness. What happened in the basement was because of Andrew. He’s gone now, and it’s just Nico and me left.
When he slips inside me, we groan and hold onto each other. It doesn’t take long for my body to be fully on fire from my desire for Nico. He’s the man I never knew I needed.
Our hips rock together a Nico wraps his arms around me, bringing us chest to chest and lips to lips so there’s no space between us. I want to stay like this forever with him.
We kiss deeply as our bodies move as one. This is the most tender lovemaking we’ve ever done.
And soon, we’re both shuddering and trembling in each other’s arms as we come together.
Nico doesn’t pull out of me right away. We lock eyes, and he caresses my face, filling me with so much love I can barely breathe.
I love this man.
Nico and I will have to move on from this safehouse eventually. We’ll need new identities, given we’ve both killed people. And there’s still the matter of the detectives who’ll be hunting us down.
But I know Nico and I can make it work. We’ve chosen to trust each other.
And that’s true love in my eyes.