Chapter 39
NICO
Life settled down, and all chatter of more takeover attacks had stopped. A knock on my office door made me look up as my sisters-in-law opened my office door. “Can we speak to you?” Alessia and Gianna walked through the door and closed it behind them.
“Of course, take a seat,” I said, smiling at them, but they didn’t smile back.
“We are aware that a lot goes down in this life, but we haven’t been given a straight answer about who took out our father.” Alessia folded her hands in her lap, and her knuckles were white as she clenched her hands together.
“Nico, all we want is to know the truth. We’ve been protected our entire lives, and it’s gotten us nowhere. We know what happens in this life, and we refuse to be left out anymore.” Gianna’s words were more forceful. At nineteen, maybe I’d underestimated her.
Leaning back in my chair, I searched my brain for the right words. “Where’s Emilia?”
“We didn’t think she needed to relive that night again,” Alessia said, straightening her posture.
“Well, ladies, I refuse to discuss issues that concern my wife without her present.” I stood from my chair and headed for the office door. I knew she was in the kitchen; it was Camilla’s day off, and she had been desperate to bake some cookies. Apparently, the baby was craving them.
“Nico, no. She’s been through too much.” Gianna pleaded as I walked down the stairs to the main floor.
“Emilia, do you have a minute?” I said, marching into the kitchen. She turned, wearing an apron, with some flour smearing across her face.
“Hi, sexy.” She grinned and then turned red when she saw her sisters behind me.
“Sorry. I think we need to start announcing who’s in the room when people enter.
” She turned back to the oven and pulled out cookies.
“I can spare a few minutes.” She sat down on the stool beside her, and we sat around the island.
“Your sisters would like to know who took out your father.” There was no easy way to break the question.
“Oh, this is a serious discussion.” She grabbed the towel beside her and wiped her cheek before she looked at her sisters.
She sat straighter and folded her hands out in front of her.
It was as if I watched her turn into the dona before my very eyes.
“You’re both sure you can handle the knowledge that Nico and I carry every day? ”
“Yes.” They said in unison. Closing my eyes, I couldn’t help but shake my head. This was going to be trouble, and as much as I didn’t want to think of what would need to be done, I was ready.
“I did.” She said with no emotion, and her sisters gasped.
“No,” Gianna whispered.
“Are you covering for him?” Alessia looked at me, sneering, like she would try to take me out. But I would drop her before she had time to act, much less think how to do it.
“No, I did it. I won’t tell you how it played out; I’m the only one who needs to see that in my dreams. But I killed our father.” There were no tears in her eyes, and she didn’t even blink as she waited. Her sisters ran from the room, and then her shoulders slumped.
“You need to get back to bed.” My words were quiet, and she shook her head.
“I need to finish these cookies.”
“Camilla can finish them tomorrow; you need to rest.” I held my hand out to her, and I was surprised she took it without more arguing. “They’ll come round, it’s a shock and even as much as they think they know this life, they don’t have a flying fuck what’s actually done.” I held Emilia close.
“Do you think they’ll cause problems?”
“Who would they go to amore? I’m one of the heads of the Italian mafia; they have no idea who to go to for the Irish, and neither one of them has the balls to go to the Russians.”
“We have enemies in the Italian families, Nico. Some aren’t happy that we’re aligned." She took the stairs slowly, and I instantly regretted letting this conversation happen.
“We have more allies and gain more daily.” Reaching for the door to our room, I opened it and led Emilia to the bed.
She didn’t even fight it, just crawled onto the bed and lay down.
She fell asleep almost immediately. Now I had things to make clear.
Pulling the door closed quietly, I went and found my sisters-in-law.
Closing the door to the den with a slam, they jumped.
“Let’s get one thing clear, she might not want you to know what happened to keep your memories of your good-for-nothing father intact, but I could give two shits.
” Unplugging the television, I made sure their full attention was on me.
“He beat her, the black eye, his closed fist. The stab wound on her abdomen? Your grandfather’s knife, wielded by your father.
The broken hand, he stomped on it. So, when my men and I breached his fortress and killed every coward around him, my gun never wavered from the place between his eyes.
He’d had your sister tied to a chair, just like Marco used to do to her, and he was ready to continue torturing her.
Do you know what jumper cables do?” They both shook their heads no.
“You’ll have to Google it; it’ll be enlightening. ”
I paced the floor in front of them, their tears once again streaming down their faces, but this time it wasn’t for their father.
It was for the woman who’d kept them safe.
“When I got Emilia free, she took my gun and held it to your father’s head and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The man who’d beaten her all her life, the man who traded her life for my favour, the man who was supposed to protect her like she protected both of you, crumpled to the floor in front of her.
She stepped over him and never looked back.
Your sister, my wife, the mother of my children, did something no person should ever have to do.
Would you like to know where her head went after telling you both?
” What I was about to say would have crossed the line, but they needed to know their places.
“She asked if you two would cause problems. To which I assured her you wouldn’t because if you do, do you know what will happen?
” They both frantically shook their heads.
“She will take you out too. Because at the end of the day, she’s a Venosa.
Her loyalty is to me, my family name and our baby that somehow survived the nightmare she was subjected to.
So, for your sakes, you’d better not forget that.
And think long and hard about the sacrifices she’s made to keep you safe.
You’re both leaving for Italy tomorrow, and your Uncle Edoardo is expecting you.
I will not have you two upsetting my wife.
” I couldn’t look at them anymore. I left the room only to find my wife leaning against the door.
“You faked going to sleep?” She nodded as a smirk lit her face up. “They needed to know,” I said as I cleared the distance between us.
“I know.” She nodded, slumped against the door. In one quick motion, I scooped her up and carried her back to bed.
“Sleep, my love, you’re working too hard.”
“I’m not doing anything, Nico.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, you’re healing and growing our child.
Rest.” I kissed her gently. Her contented sigh filled my heart with joy, the same joy I’d feel when I slid my ring onto her finger, spoke vows and created a life with her.
All this time I’d waited for the love my parents had, and now I knew I’d found it.