Chapter Twelve

~ Luca ~

I hated leaving Nico before he opened his eyes, but he needed his sleep. It had been a rough night for him. I knew I should have let him rest, but I hadn't been able to stop myself from reaching for him two more times in the night.

Still, morning was here and I needed to speak with my grandfather, call Vinnie, and then decide if I was going to call Vittorio Antonelli to offer my services. He was the acting head of the D'Angelo family.

I tucked the blankets under Nico's chin and then leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead before heading for my dressing room. I dressed in one of my usual dark suits, complete with gun and holster.

Before leaving the dressing room, I grabbed the box I'd had sitting on my dresser for the longest time and carried it back into the bedroom. I set it on the nightstand.

Luckily, it had Nico's name on it so he'd know it was his when he saw it. As a last gesture, I grabbed a red rose out of one of the vases in the living room and set it across the box.

I stared down at him for a moment, soaking up his warmth. I knew the moment I stepped outside of our suite, I'd have to be the hard man that I had been all these years.

Knowing I couldn't put it off any longer, I turned and walked out of our suite. Stefano was standing right outside the door. "Keep him safe."

Stefano nodded. "Yes, sir."

"He's sleeping right now," I told him "Let me know when he wakes up."

"I will, sir."

I walked away, my face turning into a stone mask I showed to everyone in the world except for one man. My strides were purposeful. I wanted to get business done and out of the way so I could get back to Nico. If I timed it just right, I might even be able to have breakfast with him. Kind of depended on when he woke up.

Franco was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

"Report."

"The night shift said everything was calm last night. I've touched base with a few of our businesses just to be sure and they all report the same, although Dura did say that he's having a bit of trouble. Seems someone in his neighborhood is trying to run an underground gambling house without permission. I sent a couple guys down to deal with it."

"Find out who is doing it and get back to me."

"Yes, sir."

I didn't have a real problem if people wanted to gamble. It was a great way to make money. What I had a problem I had was when someone was doing it in my territory without getting my permission or giving me a share of the action.

"A report of all activities plus a breakdown of current accounts is on your desk," Franco continued. "The numbers are a little low at the marina, but two of the fishing boats are down for repairs. Once they are fixed, I expect the numbers to go back up."

"Keep an eye on it." I squinted as our conversation turned into a thought. "Have our boat mechanic go and check all the boats and make sure they are in good repair. If not, tell him to fix them."

I owned a fleet of fishing boats. The men that worked on them technically worked for me even if that ownership was buried deep in shell corporations. If those boats weren't working, I wasn't making any money.

"Where is my grandfather?" I asked.

"He's waiting for you in your study."

I continued my walk in that direction. The man might have stepped down, but I was glad that he hadn't taken off to tour the world or something like that. He and my grandmother might travel a bit here and there, but he was always just a phone call away.

I opened the door to my study and stepped inside. My grandfather was sitting in one of the chairs by the veranda doors drinking a cup of coffee as he glanced at something on the tablet in his hand. I was always amazed how up-to-date he stayed with technology.

"Good morning, Nonno ."

"Luca," he said as he glanced up. "How is your boy this morning?"

A smile cracked my stone mask. "Sleeping."

"Good, good," my grandfather replied. "He needs the rest. He also needs a few hearty meals. He's too skinny. Your grandmother is going to have a fit when she sees him."

Yeah, probably.

"Nico hasn't mentioned it, but I think his parents used food to punish him."

"To punish him?"

"He says he was never physically abused by his parents except for the other night when his mother shot him up with some drug that paralyzed him, but the emotional and mental abuse was pretty heavy."

My grandfather waved me to the seat across from him. "Have you worked out a plan for them?"

I nodded. "It's in the works now. In fact, I'm supposed to call Vinnie this morning and get an update."

"Why don't you go ahead and do that?" my grandfather asked. "I'd like to hear what he has to say. Those disgusting people need to pay for what they did to you and your boy."

I took a seat across from my grandfather and pulled my cell phone out, dialing Vinnie and then putting it on speaker. I had no problem with my grandfather listening in on the call. He had decades of experience and could give me some good advice on how to handle things with Nico's parents.

"Good morning, Luca," Vinnie said when he answered.

"Morning, Vinnie," I replied. "I have you on speaker with my grandfather." It was polite to let him know.

"Ah, well, good morning, Mr. Sabatino."

"Mr. Borelli," my grandfather said. "Please, call me Alessio. I'm not in charge anymore."

"And please, call me Vinnie."

"I wanted to get an update on Nico's parents," I stated. "Are they still insisting that Nico was kidnapped?"

"They are and it's rather nauseating," Vinnie replied. "If I have to hear that woman scream one more time that her precious little baby has been kidnapped, I'm going to put a bullet in her head."

"Precious little baby?" I snapped. "Seriously?"

That woman had never treated Nico like he was even human let alone precious. He was a commodity to her, something she could trade for a luxurious lifestyle.

"I showed the marriage license to that detective," Vinnie said. "I also told him that Nico eloped with you, but he wants to hear it directly from Nico so we need to set up a video call or something. I worry that they might force Nico to come back and speak to them in person, and that would expose Nico to the risk of his parents getting their hands on him again."

My hands fisted.

"No, that actually might be a good idea."

When my grandfather said that, I glared at him. "Are you insane?"

He had to be.

"Hear me out, Luca."

I clenched my jaw.

"I know you have a plan, but why drag this out? It's not good for you or Nicolas to do that. If you go back to the states together and confront his parents with the proof of your marriage, what can they do? And it would be even better if you did it in front of that detective."

"Kill two birds with one stone type of thing?" Vinnie asked.

"In a way, yes, but more that I think there should be a witness to Nicolas telling his parents he is married. It would be even better if he told them who he is married to."

"You want me to tell his parents that I am the head of a mafia family in front of a cop?" I asked. "Have you lost your mind?"

My grandfather chuckled. "No, but you could tell him that you are a businessman. Go all out, though. Take Nicolas shopping for a tailored suit, arrive in a limo, and bring your bodyguards, the works. Let them know that their money doesn't scare you anymore."

I wasn't sure how going shopping and arriving in a limo was going to prove that they didn't scare me anymore.

"Their money never scared me," I insisted. "It was just a pain because they used it to keep us apart."

"So, prove to them that you have more money."

I heard a chuckle through the phone. Glaring at it would do me no good because Vinnie wouldn't see it. My grandfather, on the other hand... "I'm not going to put Nico in that kind of danger. They'll just try and separate us again."

"I might be able to help you with that," Vinnie said. "And wouldn't it be a hoot if they did try something and we had to call the police on them this time?"

That would bring me a lot of a satisfaction, but it still wasn't safe.

"How can you help, Vinnie?" I asked.

"I have a friend that created a tracker that is inserted under the skin. It has a radius of five hundred miles and it reads vitals if you get kidnapped. Nicky has one."

"How much does something like that cost?" my grandfather asked.

"Usually, a favor to be named later, but don't worry about that too much. Jake is an upstanding guy. When he tangled with my grandfather, he kept his word, even when it probably would have benefited him if he hadn't."

"He tangled with Carlos?" my grandfather asked, his tone pure astonishment. I understood that. Not many people had the balls to tangle with the Carlos Borelli. They usually didn't survive it.

Vinnie gave us a quick rundown of what had happened between this Jake guy and his grandfather. By the time he was done, I was impressed and a little less wary.

"I'm still not convinced taking Nico back to the states is a good idea," I stated. The thought of taking him back to that hell enraged me. My sweet baby didn't deserve that type of pain.

"Why don't I call the detective on the case and see if he'd agree to a video call?" Vinnie asked. "Maybe taking him back to the states won't even be a problem."

"Yeah, do that," I said. I was a lot more in favor of a video call than I was in taking Nico back to confront his parents.

"I'll call him real quick and see what he says and then call you back."

"I'll be waiting," I said before hanging up. I picked my cell phone up and idly turned it over in my hands a couple of times. I drew in a deep breath through my nose and then let it out slowly through my mouth.

It didn't help.

"Luca."

I glanced at my grandfather.

"I know you don't want to put Nicolas in danger, but you need to think about this without emotion. Think with your head. Even if the police clear everything up, do you honestly think his parents are just going to let this go?"

"No," I admitted honestly, "but that's why I don't want to take him back there. He's their cash cow and they won't give him up until they get what they want out of him."

"You were offering them a hundred thousand dollars to get them to agree to marry Gena, right?"

I nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"Then why not give it to them?"

"If I thought they would drop this if I gave them the money, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Hell, I'd give them a million dollars, but it won't stop there. If they know that I have money, they will keep coming back for more, making Nico's life hell."

I sat forward and dropped my cell phone on the table between us. "That's why I am wary of the idea of putting on some big show for them. Once they learn I have money, they won't stop."

"Nicolas's father runs some sort of import company, doesn't he?"

I nodded.

"So, why not ruin him?"

I squinted at the man, a small bubble of hope igniting in my gut. Wouldn't it be wonderful to ruin them and pull the rug out from under their feet? To take their power away from them?

"Power isn't always about money, Luca, but sometimes it is."

"Huh?"

"They used their money and power to abuse Nicolas, to separate the two of you, and force him into a marriage he didn't want. If you take that money and power away from them, what do they have?"

They'd have nothing.

"If you just go in and confront them, they still have their money behind them and can make your life hell. If you take their money, they lose their power. So, take both, Luca. Burn their little empire to the ground."

I liked this idea.

"Mr. Rossi is the president of his company," I explained. "It's not like he'll just hand that over. What do you suggest I do?"

"We need to look into that company and find out how he makes his money. If we can get some of his contracts canceled, his revenue will dry up, and you might have the opportunity of buying him out for a cheap price."

"That might work."

I just wasn't positive of it.

"You need to find someone to do a deep dive into his life, both their lives," Nonno said. "Bastards like them live in the sewer. They have to have dirt on them."

"I've been investigating them for years," I pointed out. "I don't know if there is anything else to find."

"Pfff." My grandfather waved a dismissive hand at me. "There's always dirt. It's just a matter of finding it. I suggest asking Borelli for help. He lives over there. He probably has more contacts that you do."

I knew having my grandfather here to advise me was a good idea.