Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“And let me guess,” he told Frankie who had just opened a trash can to toss the bag inside, “you’re also realizing that trying to figure out what it is you want to be and who you really are is also going to conflict with time spent with your father. Am I right?”
“Don’t rub it in. I feel like it’s obvious.”
He snorted. “God, these are the problems I wish I could have, I’m telling you.”
She shot him a dirty look. “Be nice.”
“Hey, I didn’t say they weren’t valid. Just...less problematic and painful.”
“Not to me.”
“Fair point. Sorry. You better get going, or you’re going to be late.”
She already beelined it to the door.
Nico headed the opposite way.
“Hey,” she called his way.
He peered back over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“Ask my dad for game details. You should come.”
A smile found him. “You want me to come?”
“I just want some people there.”
His head tilted further.
“My people,” she clarified.
•••
Once again, it seemed Nico would unintentionally interrupt someone else’s private moment for a second time that morning. He truly was on a roll.
“Thank you for agreeing to do that for her,” he heard Salvatore tell someone down the hall. Nico made it a point not to hide his oncoming footsteps, taking them a little harder with each step. “And for what she doesn’t know quite yet.”
“That’s the one I’m excited for,” came the second voice.
Fuck.
For two whole seconds, Nico forgot about his older sister. The almost two decades between them couldn’t possibly begin to explain how large the gap was where they were concerned.
“You know, we could—”
“Nope, not doing that, darling,” Salvatore suddenly muttered, a chair squeaking.
“I knew you wanted it,” Carina returned scathingly. “The opiates always do it for you.”
“Nope. We’re not doing that, either. I don’t know why you’ve always got to be looking like that whenever you bring up the worst time in my life, woman.”
Nico cleared his throat about five feet from the doorway. Something moved fast inside the office, enough to cause things to fall to the floor. A quiet shriek followed.
Salvatore simply uttered, “Come in, Nico.”
Nico walked into the office, replying, “Morning.”
He understood exactly what Salvatore had meant by saying Carina was looking like that. She covered her obviously braless chest, mostly exposed by a low-cut silk camisole, with her oversized trench coat at the sight of Nico. Her knee-high leather boot snapped against the floor.
“Goddammit, what, were you just going to let me get naked?” she hissed at Salvatore.
“I told you he was coming. I literally said that five minutes ago!”
The two glared at one another.
Nico just cleared his throat and waited.
“You’re a dirty prick,” she tossed at Sal on her way past the desk.
Nico stepped aside to let his sister pass without comment.
“Please, that’s fucking foreplay for you,” Salvatore said under his breath. “Crazy bitch.”
The man in the chair acted as if he hadn’t said a thing and gestured toward the seating area of the study. Nico found his way into a chair as Salvatore came over and did the same with the loveseat. He placed three folders onto the glass coffee table between them, and produced a few items from his pocket, laying them on the folders.
A phone. Nico’s keys. Cards. Bank and credit. His IDs.
A gun.
Nico met Salvatore’s eyes when he said, “You know, you were the only made man I knew growing up that never carried a gun.”
He always wanted to know why.
“I thought it was because you were the most dangerous one of them all for a while. Like you were their worst nightmare on a good day, and you didn’t even need one,” Nico admitted.
It earned him soft laughter from Salvatore.
“Truth is,” Salvatore replied, “in a way, I am. I can be their worst nightmare. You have to be all of that and more, or you’re just fodder to a bigger plan.”
Nico understood.
Kind of.
“I don’t make that mistake anymore,” Salvatore added after a moment. “Not carrying a gun, I mean.”
“When did that change?”
“I’ll answer that question if you’re honest about everything we’re going to discuss regarding what’s in those folders,” Salvatore told him, pointing toward the table. “Deal?”
“This again?”
“Deal?”
Nico’s gaze dropped to the folders, but also the things. It had been almost two months since he even looked at Google. Not to mention, the five hundred dollars he kept hidden in a large cross necklace just in case had come in handy to buy smokes or put gas in his Ducati. Salvatore let him leave the property and ride occasionally, but no one asked how he made it possible. Or why he always had a pack of cigarettes, for that matter.
Also, he just didn’t have a life right now. Nico might take up DIYing in the next week if he didn’t get something to fucking do, and soon.
“Deal,” he said finally.
Salvatore nodded. Leaning forward, he picked up the first folder and the cards and ID on top. “First, the Secret Service, and your father, have released your accounts. Now, here’s the caveat and some things we need to talk about.”