Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(83)

He finished with a flourish, mocking a bow. Nico took note of which capos laughed, and which sat in stony silence, already planning how to direct his bid for leadership.

Luca shot Nico a quizzical glance, and Nico gave the slightest shake of his head. Tony had no idea how much money he really made. Nico had been careful to keep most of his high-performing rackets off the record, paying up only enough to Santo each week to keep him from becoming suspicious.

“And you know who agrees with me?” The consummate actor, Tony paused for effect. “Don Cordano. I had a meeting with him after he flew in from New York this morning. We agreed that there has been too much bloodshed, and the war between the Cordanos and the Toscanis must end. And the only way to do that is to honor the old agreements that were made before my father died. After your marriage is annulled, I will take your bride.”

“You’re crazy.” Mia looked from Tony to Nico and back to Tony. “It can’t be annulled without my consent and I won’t give it.”

“It can happen if one party agrees to the annulment, and I think Nico will.” Tony gave them a sly smile, and Nico braced himself for the big reveal.

“After all,” Tony continued. “Who wants to be married to a woman who would take you to the man who killed your father, a man you had been waiting ten years to destroy, the target of a vendetta that you were honor-bound to fulfill, and stand there and watch as you shook his hand?”

Dante.

Nico felt as if the floor had just dropped from under him. All these years, plotting and planning, frustrated because his requests to avenge his father were refused again and again, and he had been after the wrong man. No wonder the New York bosses had turned him down. They must have known.

Just as Mia knew.

One glance at her guilty expression was all the answer he needed, and her betrayal hurt more than the knowledge that vengeance had been close at hand.

“I don’t think the New York bosses will refuse your request to whack your father’s real killer,” Tony said to Nico. “After all, he wasn’t a made man when he shot your father in the back, and you have waited a very long time.”

Nico forced back the emotion that welled in his chest, smoothed his face to an expressionless mask. He wouldn’t give Tony the satisfaction of knowing how deep his blade had gone. He would show no weakness. No anger. No fear. Even though this charade with Mia was done, no one would see his pain. He would leave them with the impression he knew about Dante, and that nothing could tear Mia from his side. He would make them believe he had a master plan even though he had shattered inside.

“Come, bella. We are done here.” For the very last time, Nico clasped the hand of the woman who had been his wife for a few, short, glorious days. The woman who had opened his heart.

The woman who had betrayed him.





TWENTY-TWO

“Where the fuck is he?” Nico thudded his fist on the hood of his SUV. He’d pulled out the larger vehicle to accommodate all the men and weapons he could carry after hearing that fucking Dante was the man he wanted. After signing the damn annulment papers ending his marriage to Mia, he had driven around the city with Frankie and Mikey Muscles looking for Dante. But so far they hadn’t found their man.

His man. The end of his quest for vengeance. The fucking bastard who had shaken his hand.

Something niggled at the back of Nico’s mind. How the fuck did Tony know he had shaken hands with Dante? It wasn’t the traditional greeting a man would give to a new brother-in-law. Maybe Dante passed the details of the meeting to Don Cordano who passed them on to Tony. Maybe Tony had a spy in the Cordano house. Or maybe Mia’s betrayal went even deeper than he had thought.

“What the fuck is taking Luca so long?” They had been waiting for ten minutes in the parking lot outside a bar Dante was rumored to frequent for its high-stakes back-room gambling, but so far Dante hadn’t shown.

“There he is.” Mikey Muscles pointed to Luca’s black 300C.

Luca pulled up beside them, and Nico raged as soon as Luca opened the door.

“Christ. You drive like a nonna. Go with Mikey Muscles and see if he’s in there.” This was the sixth tip they’d had about Dante’s favorite haunts, and so far, they’d struck out five times.

“On our way.” Luca gave him a thumbs up before joining Mikey Muscles in a jog across the gravel.

Nico pulled out his phone and checked his messages while Frankie lit a cigarette. “Where is Big Joe? Why isn’t he coming in? The whole fucking world is going to shit. The one person who is always on time, never misses a fucking call, is not there when I need him.”

“He’s guarding Kat,” Frankie reminded him. “He can’t be in two places at once.”

“Tell him to take her home or to Mia’s place or wherever she wants. We’re done with the fucking Toscanis. And tell him to get his ass down to the clubhouse when he’s finished. We’ll meet him there.”

He had no responsibility toward Kat any more. As soon as Mia signed her papers, the annulment would go through in one to three days, and he wouldn’t have a sister-in-law in need of protecting. Nor would he have a wife.

Nico thudded his foot into a wooden fence bordering the parking lot. He hadn’t spoken to Mia since leaving his nonna’s house except to tell her he intended to get the marriage annulled before sending her home with Luca. He hadn’t asked for an explanation, and she hadn’t offered him one. It was clear why she’d kept quiet about Dante. She wanted to protect him from Nico’s wrath. But she’d made the wrong fucking choice because Dante was a marked man from the moment he pulled the trigger. And now that Nico knew the truth, there was nowhere Dante could run, no where he could hide. Nico was going to hunt the bastard down and put a bullet through his brain.