Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(10)

“Cazzo!” Even more volatile than usual, Tony reached for the weapon holstered at his side, and Santo held up a hand.

“Stand down. Charlie Nails is old and slow, and Nico is maybe upset that you have stolen his woman. But he understands that this is a sacrifice that must be made for la famiglia.”

Nico’s stomach tightened at the thought of his crazy cousin married to Mia, the girl he’d once held, trembling in his arms, who had become a beautiful woman who stirred a longing in him he had long thought dead. Did her father, Don Cordano, understand the risk? The danger she was in? “Did she agree to this?”

Santo laughed. “Don Cordano assures me she will do her duty to her family. That’s all we care about. Just as Tony will do his duty to ours to ensure the Toscanis are never without a boss of the pure Toscani bloodline. We are meeting them at Vincenzo’s Trattoria on Thursday night to finalize everything, and they will be wed as soon as we can get it arranged.”

“She’s a fucking hot piece of tail.” Tony made a lewd pumping gesture with his fist. “Not gonna be hard to knock her up and keep the Toscani line going.”

The implication was clear. Santo was never going to step down. He had just declared Tony his successor to head the family, and if Tony had a son, Nico would lose control of the family forever. Not only that, once Santo allied with the Cordanos, he would no longer need the kickbacks from Nico’s vast commercial operations. He would no longer need Nico—the illegitimate son of the man killed by the very family he now sought as any ally.

Which meant in the next few days, Don Toscani’s associates would be taking Nico for a ride from which he would never come back, and Mia would be left to the mercy of a cruel, vicious man and a family who saw her as nothing but a means to an end. He wouldn’t wish that fate on any woman, but especially not the woman he had connected with so long ago—a woman who made him feel felt worthy in the way a bastard son had never hoped to be.

“The pure Toscani line.” Tony repeated his father’s cruel words, as if reading Nico’s thoughts.

“If we’re done here…” Nico didn’t wait for a response. He stood, and gave the barest nod of respect to Charlie Nails and his uncle. He had learned as a child not to rise to Tony’s bait, but he could not tolerate any disrespect of his dead mother. A quick exit was the only alternative to a fight that would likely end with one of them dead. His mother had been the love of his father’s life, but they had never been able to marry. To honor his family, Nico’s father had gone through with a political marriage, just as Nico would do in the coming months. Nico could only hope his new wife would bear him sons so that no son of his goomah—mistress—would bear the stigma he did.

“We’ll announce the wedding after church at Nonna Maria’s house this Sunday,” Santo called after him. “You can be the best man.”





THREE

Benito “Benny” Romano parked his white Chrysler 300 outside a small run-down bungalow at the edge of Sunrise, a small community on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Across the street, a drug deal was going down between two boys, no more than fourteen, and a dealer who was only a year or two older. A mangy dog lay on the grass in front of the house, and a beaten-up pick-up truck was parked in the driveway.

Fuck. Gabe was here. He was never here on Tuesdays. Had he lost another fucking job?

He closed and locked the door and made his way through the overgrown weeds and up the sidewalk, stopping to move Daisy’s broken tricycle and pick up Mr. Tickles who had been abandoned in the dirt. Christ. He gave Ginger enough money every month to afford a decent place for her and their daughter, Daisy, in a nice area of town. But, of course, with Gabe around, she’d have other plans for that money.

“Daddy!” The screen door banged open, and Daisy flew into his arms, her long blond hair a tangled mess, and her six-year-old hands sticky with sweets.

“Hey, baby. What are you doing up so late?” He scooped her up and gave her a hug, careful not to bruise her. She was too thin, but it seemed no matter how much money he gave Ginger, Daisy never filled out.

“Are you finished catching bad guys today? Did you bring something to eat?” She wrapped her skinny arms around his neck and bounced against him. “There was only beans in the cupboard for dinner today and I had them three times already this week for dinner.”

“Ginger.” He shouted her name, both out of anger and because he knew she’d be in the bedroom with Gabe and he didn’t want that train wreck of a relationship in his face. “I got a sandwich in my bag. Daddy’ll feed you good.”

He only ever regretted his career choices when it came to Daisy. He’d been undercover with the mob four years when he met Ginger in a bar and took her home for the night. The nature of his undercover police work meant he couldn’t have a normal relationship so he lived for his one-night stands. He hadn’t expected that one night to lead to a lifelong commitment in the form of a little girl.

“Yeah.” Ginger stepped out onto the porch, and crossed her arms beneath her generous breasts, almost busting out of her hot pink tank top. Those breasts were how he’d wound up in her bed in the first place. Daisy was how he wound up in her life.

“What the fuck did you do with the money I gave you last week? Daisy says you’re only feeding her beans.”