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)
Nico chewed on his bottom lip, suspicion itching. “Uh-huh.”
“Giorgio took back control of your stipend from the trust, and filed new directives that you should only gain access again at twenty-five or immediately upon his death.”
Nico scoffed, falling back into the chair. “That’s fine. I used the trust to pay my speeding fines and uni. To him, that’s what I really want. The money. What a joke. So can you just destroy the card for that, then?”
“I will,” Salvatore agreed. “The trustee will contact you upon your twenty-fifth birthday—”
“Or when the asshole dies, got it.”
“Nico.”
He scowled. “Sorry. How’s the four hundred k?”
Salvatore’s brow jumped higher. “Okay, so he really doesn’t know about that, does he?”
Nico gave his warden a pointed look. “You mean my bank account? Fuck no. That had nothing to do with him anyway. Not a cent came or was made from my inheritance. I made that—”
“Hustling molly and coke through your cousin’s connection to Big Mike in New Jersey, right?” Salvatore interrupted.
Oh, okay.
Nico saw right where this would go.
He loosened up a bit, crossed his ankle onto his knee, and used the armrest as a spot to prop his elbow. His tilted head found his waiting hand, and he eyed Salvatore down.
“So what? I profited a few hundred thousand dealing drugs to university-aged students. Big deal. It wasn’t serious money, just play. And that’s exactly what I did with it. If not me, then someone else would’ve supplied. Plus, I know where that shit comes from and apparently, so do you. It’s clean, real drugs. Do you know how many of these kids are ODing on bad cuts?”
“Two things. One, I’m impressed at the profit. Second, that’s going to have to stop. At least, the way you were doing it. We’ll get back to that. Moving on.”
Salvatore tossed the folder and cards Nico’s way, keeping the one meant to be destroyed. He then reached for the second, and it’s accompanying key, fob and charms.
“Moving on?” Nico asked, confused. “What did you want to ask?”
“You answered it all. The bank account is explained, it matches what I know from the Secret Service information that came through. Simple. Moving on now.”
“Right,” he replied.
Salvatore held the keys up higher. “These are yours again.”
“Without restriction?”
The other man nodded once. “You can freely come and go, but you should know, if you are not back at the gates by three A.M., you will not be allowed inside the estate and if you are living on my property, you will be home at the time you are expected to be.”
Nico leaned forward to grab the offered keys. “Got it.”
Salvatore handed over the folder. “All paperwork for the vehicles. Something else I had to wait for from the Secret Service.”
He kept mentioning that.
Nico cringed. “So, you know?”
“I know.”
“They did get the livestream replay down within an hour,” Nico offered, hoping that helped whatever this might be. Salvatore did not look impressed. “I mean, it takes a second for a screenshot. A few for live recording a clip. How long did it take them to scrub it off the net?”
“Two weeks. Algorithms were built overnight for it, apparently.”
“Damn.”
“And even if it is gone,” Sal started to say.
Nico laughed. “It’s somewhere. Deep net. Dark web. Somewhere. People are downloading ZIP files right now of crazy shit that’s been on the internet, and I bet that clip of him tied to that bed, telling everyone he’s a rapist is at the very top.”
He swallowed the pride that edged his tone. “I should be sorry. I probably traumatized him like he did them.”
“You think?”
“Oh, definitely. Did you see it?”
“I did not,” Salvatore replied calmly. “I was advised on the contents.”
“Never saw my face on it. I might wear that mask next Halloween.”
“I can’t decide if you think it’s funny what you did, or something else.”
Nico shrugged, uncaring. “He deserved it.”
“He’ll probably never face any real penalty for what he did, though.”
“You’re wrong,” Nico returned. “Everyone that looks at him sees it now. It’s written in every line on his face. Rapist. That’s what my friend’s girlfriend wanted to do. She said it the morning she came back black and blue. Take a knife, carve it straight across. So, then everyone would know. Now they do. I did that.”
Salvatore stayed quiet.
“I know it was wrong,” he continued, “but I’d do it again.”
“You would.”
“I’m telling you.” He leaned forward, staring hard and unflinching. “I’d do it again. To anyone that needs it. Any fucking day.”
Salvatore blinked, and his chin tipped up so he could look down a bit at Nico. Study him again in that strange way. “Just...unreal.”
“What?”
“In ten years, you’re going to be the kind of man who says that sort of thing to someone, and they’re going to feel it somewhere they can’t protect. Look at them the way you did me right then and say that—say I’d do it again. And mean it the way you do. Terrifying, Nico.”