Chapter Nineteen

~ Nico ~

I sucked in a shaky breath as consciousness came back to me in a flash. I groaned as I lifted my head and glanced around. Even if the light was low, I still blinked as they adjusted.

I didn't recognize the room I was in. The walls were tall and made of faded brick. The floor was cement. There was a large industrial light hanging from a beam overhead.

I think I was in some sort of warehouse.

I tried to remember what had happened, but everything was a complete blank. I remember the lunch at that fancy French restaurant and going to the bathroom. Stefano had gone into clear the bathroom. I had heard someone behind me and turned.

Everything had gone dark after that until now.

I was not enthused in the least to find myself here, especially since my hands were tied down. On the upside, I was sitting in a chair and not lying on the cold hard concrete. Downside, my hands were tied to the arms of the chair, my ankles to the legs.

I wasn't going anywhere.

When I saw the door start to open, I dropped my head forward and closed my eyes. I tried to slow my breathing as best as I could and not give any sign that I had woken up.

"I thought he'd be awake by now."

I swallowed tightly, barely keeping myself from shuddering at the sound of my mother's voice.

At least I now knew who was behind all of this.

"Did you give him too much?"

Oh, my father was here, too.

Yippee.

"I gave him what was in the syringe, sir."

That voice made me shudder. Nothing could have prevented it. I could have gone my entire life without running into Steve again.

"What time are we supposed to meet, Mr. Thomas?" my mother asked.

"Three hours," my father replied. "Do you think he'll be awake by then?"

"If he's not, I have something I can give him to counteract it."

"Why not just give that to him now?" my father asked.

"Because he can't be drugged up when he marries Genevieve, you idiot. It could invalidate the ceremony."

Seriously?

They still intended to marry me off to Gena?

Were they insane?

"Watch him," my mother ordered, "and come tell us when he wakes up. His bride is waiting for him and, apparently, he needs a reminder about his duty to this family."

"Oh, don't worry, Mrs. Rossi," Steve stated. "I won't take my eyes off of him."

Oh, hell no!

"You touch me," I snapped as I raised my head and opened my eyes, "and my husband will kill you."

"I knew you were faking it," my mother said. "You could never fool me."

Want to bet?

"Hello, Isabella. Still trying to sell me off, I see."

I refused to call her my mother anymore. She had never been a mother to me.

My mother smirked. "You are worth a whole lot of money."

"Slavery is against the law."

"Which is why you are going to marry Genevieve. Marriage is legal."

"Ah, too bad for you, I'm already married."

As much money as she had spent over the years on her looks, it was amazing to me how bad she looked when she glared at me.

"You think I'd believe your lies?"

"Doesn't matter to me," I replied. "I'm sure my husband will explain it to you when he gets here."

I knew mentioning that probably wasn't in my best interest, but I was tired of my parents treating me like crap and ignoring my choices in life.

"Husband!" my mother sputtered. "You are not married to a man."

"Pretty sure I am."

"I won't allow it!"

I shrugged. "Not my problem."

I wanted to say I regretted saying that when my mother backhanded me, but I really didn't. I had pretty much spent my entire life under my mother's thumb.

I was done.

"You will divorce him this instant and marry the woman we have picked out for you."

"Yeah, no." It was fun watching my mother's jaw drop. "I'm twenty-five years old, a legal adult. You have no say in what I do with my life anymore and I am going to stay married to my husband. I refuse to marry Gena and you can't make me."

My face whipped around from the force of her smack. I gingerly licked the blood from the corner of my mouth and then glared up at her. "My husband will make you pay for every mark you put on me, so I'd stop now if you don't want to die in complete agony."

I knew Luca would take her apart the second he saw my swollen lip.

I was almost looking forward to it.

"And just who is this idiot you married?" my mother snapped.

"I believe that idiot would be me."

I gasped as I looked toward the doorway. "Luca."

I knew he would come for me.

He strolled casually across the room as if my parents and Steve weren't standing there. "Hello, cuore mio. How are you? Did they hurt you?"

"My mother smacked me a couple of times, but other than that I'm okay. A little groggy from whatever drug my mother gave me." I whimpered when Luca gently touched the corner of my mouth with his thumb. "It's just a cut. I'll be okay."

Luca pulled a knife out of his pocket and flicked it open, cutting at the ropes tying me to the chair. Once my arms were free, he crouched down and went to work on my ankles.

"Luca!" I screamed when I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eyes.

A shot rang out just as Luca grabbed me and swung me out of the way. I gasped as I stared at the hole between Steve's eyes and the small trickle of blood trailing down his face right before he fell back and hit the concrete floor.

Before I knew it, Vinnie was helping me and Luca to our feet and a lot of people were filling up the room, some I knew, but many I had never met before.

I edged closer to Luca.

He wrapped an arm around me and turned until we were facing my parents. "Do you recognize me, Isabella?"

My mother snorted and looked away.

"You should," Luca said. "You falsely accused me of raping my husband ten years ago and forced me go to prison."

Isabella's eyes widened. "You're his husband?"

"I am," Luca replied. "Nico and I got married the day after he eloped with me, which reminds me. We've spoken to the police and they have closed the case on his alleged kidnapping."

"He was kidnapped," my mother insisted.

"He escaped," Luca countered. "He escaped you and your abuse of him."

"I never abused him!"

Luca gently grabbed my jaw and turned my face toward my mother. "That fat lip on Nico's face says otherwise."

"I was simply disciplining him," she said. "That is not abuse."

"I'm a lawyer," Miles stated as he walked into the room with Jake. "And I can tell you, that is definitely abuse."

"Who are you?" my mother asked.

"Oh, my apologies. My name is Miles Cranston. I'm a lawyer in Mr. D'Amato's company."

"D'Amato?"

Jake raised his hand and waved. "Jakue D'Amato. I'm sure you've heard of me."

"Bragging, Jake?" a man with pure black hair and steel blue eyes asked as he walked up and stopped next to Jake. There was another man with him, one with long black hair and Asian features.

As close as the two men stood, I was pretty sure they were involved with each other in some manner, but they sure were dressed differently. One in an expensive suit, the other in jeans and a motorcycle jacket.

"Not all of us have billion dollar portfolios, Lucas," Jake said. "Some of us have to brag so people know who we are."

"Who are you?" my mother shouted.

"Oh, my bad," Lucas said. "I'm Lucas Kincaid." he gestured to the man at his side. "And this is my husband Kyue."

"I'm Syros Aetós," another man stated. "CEO of Seriphap Enterprises."

The long dark haired man in the motorcycle jacket standing next to Lucas raised his hand. "Which is my company."

"Why are you all here?" Isabella asked.

"Oh, we came to keep our friends company."

"Your friends?"

"That would be us," Vinnie said as he and some other men stepped forward. "I'm Vinnie Borelli. I run Manhattan."

"Dmitri Petrov, the Bronx."

"Angus King, Queens."

"Alejandro Díaz, Brooklyn."

"I guess that just leaves me," a fifth man said as he stepped into the light. "I'm Hu Kenji Zisheng, Staten Island."

The others seemed surprise to see him here.

"We weren't expecting you, Hu," Vinnie stated.

The Asian man shrugged. "I was bored and heard you were having a party so I thought I'd crash it. So, what's going on here?"

He glanced around the room, his eyes settling on me and then Luca. He squinted for a moment. "Nico, Luca, it's been a long time."

I stared back for a moment, but the instant a smile crossed his face, I knew him. I doubted I would ever forget that smile. "Kenji?"

For two years when we were growing up, we had been the three musketeers, playing together, getting into trouble together, and just generally hanging out together. And then one day when I'd been about thirteen, his family had moved away and I had never seen him again.

"I see the two of you finally got together," Kenji stated. "I thought it would never happen."

"It almost didn't," I stated, "We got married a couple of weeks ago, but my parents kept us apart for the last ten years. They even sent Luca to prison for raping me when he just kissed me." I grimaced as I nodded to the body on the floor. "He's the one that tried to rape me."

"A fitting end to him then."

I had kind of hoping for castration, but a bullet between the eyes worked, too.

"You two know each other?" Vinnie asked.

"Kenji lived next door to us for about two years when we were growing up," I said. "The three of us used to play together all the time."

Kenji snorted. "You mean I got to stand there like an idiot watching the two of you making googly eyes at each other."

My face flushed when I heard Luca's low chuckle.

"Am I late?" Gena Thomas asked in a bubbly voice as she walked into the room, her father at her side.

"Gena, darling." My mother rushed to her side, grabbing her arm with one hand and pointing to Luca with the other. "Tell that man that you are engaged to my son so they can't be married."

"Why on earth would I do that when I worked so hard to get them married?" Gena shook my mother's hand off and walked over to give Vinnie a kiss on the cheek.

"Why are you here?' Vinnie asked in an exasperated tone. "This isn't the place for you."

"Oh, please." Gena rolled her eyes. "I've seen worse than this getting my nails done."

My mother stomped her foot and screamed, "What is going on here?"

"It's very simple," I replied. "Your life as you know it is about to end."

Her reign of terror was over, whether she knew it or not, and I couldn't be happier about that.