21. Matilde
Matilde
“Che cosa?!” Marry me? He can’t have been serious.
Without answering, Nico pushes the button that lowers the privacy screen. I fidget in my seat, knowing Primo likely heard me getting spanked earlier at the very least. “Drive us to my parents’ home,” Nico tells him, calmly. “Matilde will be staying there tonight.”
“Why would I be staying there? You tell me to live with your mother. I am happy there, but you tell me move to your house. Now, you tell me to go back to your mother’s. And what do you mean by marry?”
His rough finger presses against my lips. “You want the very best for your sister, don’t you? You want her to be safe, right?”
“Is that a threat?”
“Just a fact, Matilde.”
His hard stare defies me to test him, so I angrily bite my tongue instead… though I accidentally-on-purpose kick his shin when I cross my legs.
And for the first time ever, Nico smiles at me. It’s more like a smirk. A damned sexy smirk. This asshole.
***
“Nico, what is going on?” Zeta asks, eyeing my little black dress with concern a half hour later.
“I’m afraid Matilde wasn’t studying for her finals tonight but busy sneaking into a nightclub.”
“Oh Matilde! Men at places like that might take advantage of a young girl like you.”
I glare at Nico as Zeta continues her gentle scolding. I hate the way he meets my gaze unperturbed. And because I love Zeta and hate disappointing her or causing her distress, my cheeks soon glow with shame even if I would really love to punch her son in the mouth for this.
“I know it can be dangerous,” I concede. I know better than she realizes about the dangers strange men might pose.
“On the bright side,” Nico continues, “Matilde has been reunited with her long lost sister, something she was apparently hoping for when she came to this country.”
“Sister?!”
“Yes. I must impose on your kindness again, Mother…”
Zeta’s cries of surprise and delight soon fill the room as I’m wrapped up in one of those motherly hugs I can’t help but adore.
“There’s other news, but I need to speak privately with Matilde first,” Nico adds for his mother.
Zeta nods rapidly, summoning a maid, and the two of them hurry off to prepare a room for my sister.
A few well-chosen words and everything just snaps into place for him, doesn’t it? Frustrated but also curious, I follow Nico up to the room where his children are sleeping.
Zeta has already bathed them and given them their nighttime bottle, but Amadeo’s bright eyes greet me.
“Buona notte, Deo,” I coo, unable to resist picking him up.
No judgy face tonight, I get a smile. He smells so sweet, and my heart swells with love for them both.
Even when the boy tugs roughly at my hair.
“Be gentle, son. We do not hurt girls,” Nico rasps, making my heart thump harder in my chest. He carefully strokes Lucia’s dark hair while I settle Amadeo back in the crib. “I need to take them home after we talk.”
“Home,” I repeat, wistfully. Will anything ever feel like home to me again?
"You dropped this." He gives me back the switchblade.
"Don't drop it again. Here.” Surprising me, he tears his suit coat off, wrapping it around my shoulders.
It smells like him and carries his body heat.
A cold, cruel man yet he warms me. “Perhaps you might take a seat,” he suggests, pointing to the loveseat.
Gingerly, I sit, but my wits scatter like dried leaves the next instant when he joins me, his muscular thigh pressing against mine, reminding me of lying in his lap earlier. He seems so composed, as if that charged encounter in the back of the limousine never happened when it’s all I can think of.
His large hands rest on his knees. He rolls his sleeves up, revealing his forearms as he sets his knife aside.
My core tightens remembering his hand touching me somewhere private and then straddling his hips.
With every breath I take, his cologne teases me, stirring things inside me I know I should not want.
He reaches into the small fridge Zeta keeps up here for nighttime bottle feeding needs and grabs a water for himself.
I watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows, wondering why I find the sight and his strong, stubbled jaw so alluring.
I can’t help admiring the way his bicep flexes under his shirt as he moves either.
As he continues to drink, he appears to admire me, too. Though his coat engulfs me, his eyes drift down to my exposed legs. “I have thirst,” I comment as he raises the bottle for the last sip. He immediately starts choking. “Oh Dio, are you okay?”
He splutters, cursing quietly as he sets the bottle down. “Fine.” He reaches into the fridge, handing me a bottle after twisting off the cap for me, visibly collecting himself again. “I apologize if what I did to Giacomo upset you and your sister.”
I shrug. “You upset Maddalena. Upset is not the word I would use for me.” He regards me curiously before rubbing his hands over his eyes and muttering under his breath. Is he exhausted? Exasperated? Still thinking about spanking me for sneaking out?
“I’d like to talk about your sister, Matilde.”
I jump to the defensive. “She is a good girl. Do not blame her.”
“I’m not blaming her for anything. How long have you been looking for her?”
“When my father died and I learned about her, I started looking.”
“So that’s why you came to America?”
“Yes. My mother… my stepmother wanted me gone.”
“Even after she raised you?”
“She raised me. She kept my father’s secret. She did not love me. Once I knew, I understood. I came to find my sister… and my real mother.”
“Elena,” he says, quietly.
“You knew her,” I say, remembering what Maddalena told me the day we met.
“Not well. She worked for us.” He gives me a questioning look, one I understand.
“I know what she was,” I say, flushing. “Did you ever know her that way?”
“No.” Relief washes over me. “Do you know what happened?”
His gaze is so intense I have to look away. “Maddalena said…” Growing tongue-tied, I switch to Italian. “She said one of the men she was with killed her. Horribly. She said you were there the night she died. She said the man who killed our mother was there because of you. Is that true?”
His eyes fill with guilt, and my heart sinks, not wanting to believe the worst even if I should.
But then, Nico explains, speaking Italian as well so I might understand him fully.
“The Trio had been at war with itself for a year. He was here with his father negotiating peace. He asked me where he might find entertainment in Chicago for the night. I told him The Gentleman’s Post was our best club. ”
“You did not specifically recommend my mother?”
“No. Everyone knew he was a sadist, but the Post has women who accommodate such tastes. Your mother was one of them, but I never suspected he’d take it so far or… I am sorry, Matilde. Your sister was right. It is my fault in that sense.”
My chin starts to quiver, but I fight it. “What about Maddalena?”
“I learned Elena had a daughter from the other women. I asked the widow of a soldier to be her foster mother. She agreed.”
“Mrs. Esposito?”
“Yes.”
I wonder if Nico knows Mrs. Esposito well. Her care has seemed lacking to me.
“One thing still puzzles me. If I understand things, after your abduction, you wound up in Vegas and were rescued by Alessio by coincidence. Is that correct?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Then, you were not planning revenge on his family?”
My brow furrows in confusion. “Revenge?”
“You didn’t know. Fuck.” He shakes his head before continuing. “His older brother was the man here to negotiate peace. He was the man that killed your mother.”
The blood drains from my face. Nico must see it for he scoots closer, looking worried. The puzzle my life has become clicks into place only for the pieces to be dumped onto the floor again. Nothing makes sense anymore.
And yet it does.
Sil, Jr. was the sadist who visited the brothel. He tortured and killed my mother. His father knew when he learned of my father’s secret and mine. He had collected information about the woman and her daughter because he wanted to know about them, because he lost his heir over her.
“He knew. Silvio said he would help me find her,” I whimper in Italian, wondering how many more betrayals I must endure. “He toyed with me. He didn’t care that I was hurting, that I mourned. He lied and sent me here hoping I would…”
“That you would help him work against me?” Nico prompts.
“He only wanted information."
"Information about my home? My children? Our security arrangements? What do you imagine he would've done with that?"
Tears cloud my vision, and guilt weighs heavily on my heart. "He only said he wanted information. Not anything specific. I swear I didn’t want to do it. And he died soon after, so it didn’t matter.”
My hands grip the corner of the loveseat with my world imploding all over again.
Until Nico wraps me up in a hug, dragging me into his lap and murmuring in my hair, “Tesoro mio, please don’t cry. I'm not holding it against you. He’s dead. His son is dead. They can’t hurt you ever again, and you found your sister.”
I exhale heavily as the truth tempers my sadness.
Drawing back to stare at him, I rest my hands on his broad shoulders, feeling secure in his embrace.
“It was you who killed him, Nico. Gia and Sofia told me how you killed Sil, Jr. before Caterina was promised to Alessio. You… you avenged my mother.”
His lips are pressed tightly together when he nods uncomfortably.
He is not pleased by my words. I suppose because of what it meant for Caterina.
His little sister was promised to a family that would be his enemy because of his act.
My mother was nothing but an employee. Like me. So why did he do it?
He carefully removes me from his lap and stands. “There are other things we should discuss tonight.”
“Yes. What did you mean when you mentioned marrying me earlier?” I don’t have to like you to marry you. What did he mean by that?
“Saturday night after your graduation ceremony, we’re getting married.” He said it as easily as one declares it’s raining.
“You don't want to marry me!”
“And you don't want to marry me, but it will be the best option for all four of you.”
“All four?”
“You, your sister and my children. Allow me to explain…”
Dumbstruck, I nod. Speaking Italian again, Nico tells me what a good thing this will be – a marriage of convenience.
“I will protect you and your sister. You can remain in the States this way, close to her. And my children need a mother. There’s no woman I would consider above you for that role, Matilde. They love you and you love them, don’t you?”
“Of course, I do. But…”
“Maddalena may live with us. Anything you girls wish to pursue in terms of education, hobbies or interests, as long as I can keep you all safe, I will allow. Anything that money can buy will be yours. I will give you wealth, comfort, protection, anything your heart desires.”
“Does that include love?” I ask, wondering why the answer matters to me.
He paces back and forth, glancing at the sleeping twins. “Love is not a requirement. Not in our world. But you will be safe, they will have a mother. Can’t that be enough?”
Swallowing my childish disappointment, I stand, holding out my hand. He scowls before shaking it. “Bene. I will marry you for the reasons you have given,” I declare with our hands still clasped. “I assume our marriage will not require sleeping together if it is just a matter of-”
Moving so fast I squeak, Nico drags me against his chest, his hot breath against my cheek sending shivers all through me when he murmurs, “Oh no, honey. I’m not that honorable. I’m going to bed you. There’s no way I could resist.”