Chapter Fourteen

~ Luca ~

I hung up the phone and then dropped my head back and closed my eyes, just breathing. That had been one of the worst phone calls I'd ever had to make since becoming the head of the Sabatino family.

"What did he say?" my grandfather asked.

I opened my eyes and glanced at the man. "Vito has a lot on his plate right now. His Uncle Carmine is helping him, but still, they have fifty funerals to plan for and that's just the family members. On top of that, he has to arrange for new security since they lost thirty guards in the bombing."

"Well," Grandfather started as he stood, "if we learn anything, we can turn it over to them and let them decide what they want to do with that information."

"I suppose that is the least we can do," I said. "I still want to keep security up until we know who did this. I don't know if this attack was aimed only at the D'Angelo family or if it was something more."

"Sounds good."

My grandfather started to leave my study, but before he could reach the door, it slammed open. My hand automatically went to my gun until I saw Nico rushing into the room, his face as red as a beacon.

"Nico?" I caught him as he ran across the room and threw himself in my arms, burying his face in my neck. "What's wrong, cuore mio ?"

Nico shook his head.

I frowned as I glanced up to Stefano. "What happened?"

"I happened," my grandmother said as she walked into the room.

" Nonna ?"

"It's nothing, Luca," she said. "Nicolas and I met when he came for breakfast and got to talking. He didn't realize it was me right away and I think he's a little embarrassed."

Nico shuddered and said, "I said so many things to her."

"Ah, love." I threaded my fingers through Nico's hair and rubbed his back with the other. "I'm sure it's fine."

Nico vehemently shook his head.

I chuckled as I gently tugged at his hair. "Can you look at me, Nico?"

He shook his head again.

"Please?"

Nico's lower lip was trembling when he lifted his head and looked at me.

"Nico." I rubbed the pad of my thumb over Nico's lip. " Cuore mio, can I have a smile?"

Nico's lips spread into a smile, but it didn't shine in his eyes.

It was not a real smile.

"Nico."

Nico huffed, but smiled for real this time, his eyes winkling.

I returned his smile before pressing a kiss to his forehead. "That's better. I only want real smiles from you, okay?"

Nico's brow furrowed. "How did you know that wasn't a real smile?"

"Your eyes." I gently stroked the skin at the corner of Nico's eye. "They sparkle when you smile for real."

Nico's eyes crinkled at the corners as his smile grew bigger, amusement clear on his face. "My eyes sparkle? Seriously?"

"They do," I insisted.

When Nico tossed back his head, his laughter filling the study, all I could do was stare. I was mesmerized by the sight, captivated. If I died right this second, I'd die a happy man.

Luckily, I was very much alive and so was Nico. I got to experience this joy for the rest of my life.

When Nico settled against my chest again, I smiled down at him. I heard a soft gasp and glanced up to see my grandmother staring at me with wide eyes. "Nonna?"

She shook her head as she pressed her hand to her mouth.

My grandfather wrapped an arm around her. "I told you Nico was Luca's light."

Nonna patted her husband's arm. "You were right, dear. He's such a good boy."

I had no idea what they were talking about.

I frowned as I looked down at him. This was not the outfit I had picked out for him. "Nico, why are you covered in flour?"

Nico's eyes rounded. "Uh..."

"We were making bread," Nonna stated.

So, he decided to wear it?

When my cell phone rang, I glanced at the name on the screen and then picked it up. "What's up, Vinnie."

"Bad news, I'm afraid," Vinnie replied. "The police are demanding that they meet Nico in person."

My jaw clenched.

"You need to bring Nico back to New York."

"Can't they come here?" I asked.

"No, they need to verify that Nico isn't being coerced."

"Can't they get in touch with the Polizia di Stato and have them verify that he isn't being coerced?" I asked. I really didn't want to take Nico back to New York City.

"I'm actually not sure," Vinnie replied.

"Luca," my grandfather said. "Now would be a good chance to take away that power and money."

I clenched my hand around my cell phone, my nostrils flaring as I tried to reign in my anger. "Vinnie, you have connections in New York City. Can you do a deep dive into Nico's parents?"

"I have a few connections," Vinnie replied, "so yeah, I can do that. Any reason why?"

"I've been keeping an eye on them for a few years and I have a lot of information on them, but nothing that will really work in my favor. I want to take their power away from them. To do that, I need to take their money away from them. My grandfather suggested I ruin his business."

"Oh, I see," Vinnie said. "Yeah, I have some people that I can ask to look into them. If there is something there, they will find it."

"Can you do that and get back to me?" I glanced at Nico, wincing at the concern I could see on his pale face. "I need to talk to my husband."

"I'll call you as soon as I have something."

I hung up with Vinnie and set my phone off to one side before glancing at my grandparents. "Can you excuse us? I need to talk to Nico."

"Of course, dear," my grandmother said before turning to walk out of the room.

My grandfather closed the door as he walked out.

I lifted Nico up and set him on my desk in front of me. I scooted forward so I could wrap my arms around him. I was pretty sure he was going to freak after he heard what I had to say and I wanted to keep him anchored on my desk.

"Nico," I started, "if we want your parents out of our lives forever, we may have to go back to New York City and confront them."

"Why would we do that?" Nico asked in a very small voice.

"Well, the plan that has been discussed is confronting them with the police there so that if they try anything, the police can arrest them. It's been suggested that we go all out when we confront them and show them that I have the money and power to keep them away from you."

Nico grimaced, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard. "What do you think of all of this?"

"I hate it, Nico. I don't want them anywhere around you, but it might be the only way to fully get rid of them. As my grandfather told me, they use their power and money to hurt us. If we take that away from them, then they can no longer hurt us."

"I'm not sure I believe that."

Honestly, I didn't either.

"We have to take you back to New York to meet with the police, Nico. I don't think we can get out of that, so it makes sense to confront your parents at the same time, kill two birds with stone so to speak."

God, I was starting to sound like Vinnie.

"I get having to see the police, but why do we have to see my parents? We've already escaped them."

"Nico, you know even if the police clear this all up, your parents won't give up. They want to use you to buy their cushy lifestyle."

"So, how is confronting them going to change that?"

"Because they need to see that I have the power to fight them. I didn't have that power all those years ago. That's how they took you away from me. Now, I am more powerful than them and I have more money. They can't beat me."

"Is this what you really want me to do?"

Hell, no.

"I can't give you a firm answer about that yet. I know we might not have a choice about going back to New York City to deal with the police, but the thing with your parents is up in the air. I'm still waiting for information on your parents."

Nico dropped his eyes, his lips pressing together.

"Nico, I do have a question for you, and I need you to be honest with me, okay?"

Nico's eyes rose to mine.

"I plan on ruining your father's business. I need to know how you feel about that."

His brow furrowed. "Why?"

"Why am I going to ruin his business?"

Nico nodded.

"Your parents use their money to get what they want. If I take that money away from them, I can take their power away."

"How can you do that?"

"Well, I'm still working on that part. My plan is to find a way to end all their contracts so the business goes under. When it's bad enough, I'll use one of my shell corporations to buy it for a cheap price. That's one of the things Vinnie is looking into for me. As Vinnie says, bastards like them live in the sewer. They have to have dirt on them."

Instead of being upset, Nico frowned. "What kind of dirt?"

"Oh, uh, well, anything that would give me an advantage in ruining their business."

"Would it help to know he imports illegal goods?"

My jaw dropped.

"He's had a deal with some man named O'Donnell for years. He uses his import business to ship illegal stuff in and out of the country. The legal stuff that he shows to the public and customs makes up like a fourth of his revenue. The rest all comes from his illegal stuff. It's all in an offshore account in the Cayman islands."

I frowned. "Do you mean Kirby O'Donnell?"

"Yeah, I think that's his name. I know there was some muck up with him about a year ago. I don't know what it was, but my father was really upset about it. "

"How do you know all of this, Nico?"

Nico shrugged. "After you went to prison, my parents wouldn't allow me to go anywhere on my own. They said it was for my own safety because they didn't want someone else to rape me, but I knew it was so they could keep me under their thumb. When my mother couldn't watch me, usually because she was out shopping, my father forced me to go with him. I had to sit there with him in his office reading a book. I heard all sorts of things."

Holy shit.

I held up my hand. "Just hold on for a minute." I picked up my phone and dialed Vinnie. "Hey, Vinnie, Nico just told me that his father was using his import company to bring in illegal merchandise. Apparently, he had some sort of business deal with O'Donnell and the bulk of his money is in an account in the Caymans."

"Kirby O'Donnell?"

"Yes."

"Give me a minute. I'm going to bring Angus King in on this conversation."

I heard the phone ring.

"Hey, Vinnie," a man said. "What's up?"

"Hey, King, I have you on the line with Luca Sabatino and his husband. Do you have a business deal with a man named Victor Rossi? He's in imports."

"Give me a minute to check."

The tension as we waited was palatable.

When King came back, he said, "Yeah, it's an old deal set up with O'Donnell. I've just been letting it go for now because I have so much other stuff on my plate, but I don't intend to renew it when the contract comes to an end. Rossi wants too much of the pie. Why?"

I started to smile, but it wasn't a sweet smile for my love.

It was pure evil.

"How lucrative is this contract, King?" I asked.

"Well, it's been less lucrative in the last few years, which is one of the reasons I want to end the contract. I think that's why Rossi has been demanding a bigger cut. He hasn't been making as much recently. Barely anything in the last few months."

"He started losing money a few months ago?" Nico asked. "That was about the time my parents started insisting I marry Gena."

"Nico?" Vinnie asked.

"Yeah," Nico replied.

"King, this is Nico Sabatino, Luca's husband."

"I'm also Victor Rossi's son," Nico said.

"Oh," King replied. "Well, I suppose I could renew the contract."

"Please don't," Nico said. "We're trying to figure out how to take down my father's company, not make him more money."

King sounded so confused. "Huh?"

"Go ahead and tell him, Luca," Vinnie said. "King is trustworthy."

I quickly gave a brief rundown of our history with Nico's parents over the last ten years, including what we were hoping to do.

"So, if I ended this contract early, it wouldn't upset you?"

"Not at all," I replied. "It would actually help us a lot."

"Is this something we should get the guys on?" King asked. "I'm sure they can work their magic and drain that bank account in the Caymans. Taking Rossi's money is sure to piss him off."

I snorted. "What's he going to do? Report it to the police that his illegal money was stolen?"

That brought a few chuckles.

"I already spoke to Delancy," Vinnie said. "They are looking into digging up dirt on Rossi and his wife. I'll give him a call here in a few and talk to him about clearing out the bank account. He'll want a cut for his organization, but only like ten percent. Is that all right with you, Nico?"

"Um." Nico frowned as he looked at me. "Why wouldn't it be okay with me?"

"It's your money, Nico."

His eyebrows shot up and he looked at the phone. "My money?"

"He's right, Nico," I told him. "After everything your parents did to you, you deserve this money."

"But isn't that stealing?"