Chapter Twenty

~ Luca ~

I couldn't be prouder of Nico. He was finally standing up to his bitch of a mother. I knew how hard it was for him, which made this all that much better. Nico was learning to be brave.

"You've pissed off a lot of people, Isabella."

She snorted. "Like I care what you think."

"You should," Vinnie stated. "Luca's sister is married to my cousin, and that makes us family."

"I don't care about that either."

"Again, you should." Vinnie waved his hand around the room, indicating all the people standing there. "Everyone here stands fully on Nico and Luca's side."

Isabella's eyes rolled as she huffed, clearly not affected by what Vinnie was saying. I doubted a sledgehammer could have made her see her precarious position.

"You have the heads of the five boroughs standing here, plus major captains of industry, telling you that you're over and you don't care, do you?" I asked. "Are you an idiot?"

Isabella's face muddled with rage. "You can't talk to me like that!"

"I can talk to you any damn way I please, Isabella, and there is nothing you can do about it. There is nothing you can do to me, not anymore. This time, I'm more powerful than you."

Isabella snorted. "Like I'd believe a word that came out of your mouth. You're nothing but a criminal that has turned my son into a perverted degenerate."

I let out a little chuckle. "Okay, apparently your position isn't clear to you." I gestured to Franco, who hurried over with a briefcase. When he popped it open, he pulled out a stack of papers, handing them to me.

I grabbed the top page, stared at it for a moment and then tossed it at Isabella's feet. "I now own your company."

"What?"

"I put your husband's company out of business and then bought it for cheap when it went under. I own it lock, stock, and illegal imports."

"Illegal imports?" Isabella's eyebrows drew together, creating a massive wrinkle between their eyebrows. "What illegal imports? What are you talking about?"

"Your husband didn't tell you?" King asked. "He had a deal with Kirby O'Donnell to import illegal goods. That's where most of the money you toss around comes from. Of course, that deal was with O'Donnell and he's gone and I am in charge of Queens now, so the deal is off."

Nico's father gasped and stepped forward, speaking for the first time. "You can't do that. I had a contract."

King snorted.

"I'll take you to court."

"Really? You'll take me to court for breaking a contract to import illegal goods?" King started laughing. "I'd actually love to see that so please, do that. It would be worth the attorney fees just to see your face when they arrest you and toss your ass in jail for importing illegal goods."

"They'd toss you in jail, too," Victor insisted.

"Why?" King asked. "My name isn't on that contract."

"But...you took over his business."

"I did, but that doesn't change the fact that my name is not on that contract. The courts won't do anything to me. But I'm sure you can take it up with Kirby. He's in Ireland now under guard for fucking up, but you might want to hurry. Ireland is pretty pissed at him. I honestly not sure how much longer he'll be breathing."

"So, your business is gone," Luca said, "And so is your money. You are done."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Isabella shrieked.

"You know that bank account you had in the Cayman Islands?" I asked, but it was more of a statement than a question. "I had some friends of mine drain it. There's not even a single penny left. So, yes, your money is all gone."

"You...You can't do that," Victor sputtered. "That's our money."

"I can do that, and I did, but feel free to report us for stealing if you feel the need. I'm sure the police would be interested to hear how you earned all those millions."

"Your company is gone," Nico stated. "Your money is gone. Your power is gone. Everything is gone, including me. You will never force me to do something I don't want to do again. I hope you live a long, miserable life together because you won't be living with me."

"You are our son!" Victor raged. "It's your duty to take care of us."

"Yeah, no, I mean, the villa I live in with Luca in Italy is the size of a city block and probably has more rooms than I could count, but you wouldn't be comfortable there. All those crystal chandeliers, silk linens, and limousines, not to mention the staff?" Nico shook his head. "I wouldn't want to do that to you."

"You live in a villa?' his mother asked.

"I do." Nico beamed. "It's beautiful, right on the beach, too. Luca and I have our own suite of rooms with a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Ocean. Nonno and Nonna live there with us, too. They are so nice to me. Nonna even baked me cookies."

"If your villa is so big, surely there is room for us," Isabella said. "You want to live with your loving mother and father, don't you?"

Nico's snort was glorious.

"Not a chance in hell."

"But—"

Nico's sudden step forward wasn't as astonishing as the rage I heard in his voice when he spit out, "You took Luca from me. You made him spend four years in that horrible prison all so you could keep me under your thumb and marry me off to whoever gave you the most money. News flash, Mother, I'm not a piece of property you can sell. I'm a real live person with my own thoughts and opinions."

I wanted to clap. Nico was finally standing up to his parents. I knew he was terrified, but he was still doing it. I wanted to hug him so much right now, but I knew needed to let him have his moment.

"After tonight, you will never see me again. If you step one foot in front of me"—Nico pointed to the dead body on the floor—"I will ensure that a bullet between your eyes is the least of your worries."

Isabella sucked in a breath, pressing her hand to her chest. "You just threatened me. I can't believe you threatened me."

"Really?" Nico asked. "You can't believe it? After everything you've done to me you can't believe I would threaten you? You're lucky I'm not killing you, you stupid money-grubbing bitch."

When Isabella leapt forward, her hand raised in the air as if she was going to slap Nico again, I started to just forward to stop her, but Nico got to her first. The slap he laid across her face echoed through the large room, stunning us all.

"You hit me," Isabella whispered as she cradled her cheek, staring at Nico like she had never seen him. "I'm your mother. How could you hit me?"

"I'm your son," Nico countered. "How could you slap me, sell me, drug me, or allow one of your thugs to sexually assault me? Is that what a loving mother does to her son? If so, I want to be an orphan."

Okay, this time I couldn't stop myself from clapping.

My husband was amazing.

"I think we're done here," Vinnie stated. "I believe we've made out point. If either you or your husband come near Nico or Luca ever again, you'll have the heads of the five families on your ass, and we have a lot of reach, so I suggest that you find some hole to hide in because I know for myself, if I ever see your ugly face again, I'm probably going to put a bullet in it."

I wrapped an arm around Nico, pulling him close to my side. "Come on, cuore mio . It's time to go home. Nonno and Nonna will want to see you. They are very worried about you."

"It'll be good to be home. I miss them, too."

"You're just going to replace us?" Isabella asked. "Just like that?"

Nico smiled at his mother. "Yep."

I started to lead Nico toward the door when I heard a commotion behind us, a lot of yelling and shouting. I started to turn when something plowed into us and we went crashing to the floor.

I wrapped myself around Nico as best as I could, cushioning him with my larger body. When we hit the floor, I heard Nico cry out. I quickly started moving my hands over him, looking for injury. It wasn't until I got to his face that I realized he must have smacked his head on the cement. There was a small trail of blood trickling down the side of his face.

"Nico, baby?"

"I'm okay."

He clearly wasn't.

I sat up, pulling Nico into my lap. I grabbed a handkerchief out of my suit pocket and dabbed at the blood on the side of his face until I could see the small cut on his cheek. It didn't look deep, but it was bleeding a lot.

I pressed the handkerchief to it. "Hold this here."

Once Nico's hand preplaced mine, I slid my hands underneath Nico and stood up, lifting him with me. I turned to find Kenji standing with his foot in the middle of Isabella's back, pinning her to the floor. A gun lay on the ground several feet from Isabella's hand.

I lifted an eyebrow. "Seems you can't give up, can you, you stupid bitch." I glanced at Nico's father, who was being restrained by some guards and shook my head. "You two deserve each other."

"What do you want me to do with them?" Kenji asked.

"I no longer care." Not that I really did in the first place. "Do what you want with them."

I turned back and carried Nico out of the warehouse. Most of the others followed, with King suggesting we take Nico to his house to see his husband about the cut on his face.

We climbed into the cars, and a rather large convoy of vehicles made their way to Queens. When we got there, King led us inside and to the back of the house where there seemed to be some sort of infirmary.

"Another one?" an incredibly young looking man asked.

"Yeah, there was a thing," King said before pressing a kiss to the man's lips. "It got a little violent. Nico got hurt while his husband was protecting him."

"Set him on the bed."

Stefano was resting in one of them so I carried Nico to the other one. After setting him down, I moved to the head of the bed, holding on to one of Nico's hands.

When King's husband snapped on some gloves and walked toward Nico with a small tray, I had to wonder if this guy knew what he was doing.

"Relax, big guy." Spencer snickered. "I'm a licensed doctor."

I glanced at King for confirmation, feeling a bit more relieved when he nodded.

I watched intently as Spencer cleaned Nico up and then treated him. Luckily, he didn't need more than a butterfly bandage for the cut. Spencer assured us it wouldn't even scar.

"How's Stefano?" Nico asked. "After my mother injected him with that drug, he collapsed. I tried to get to him, but Mother shot me up with something and had me dragged away by a couple of her guards."

"He's fine," Spencer replied. "I was able to counter the drug your mother injected him with. He just needs a bit of rest."

Tears sprouted to Nico's eyes and he leaned into me. "I was really worried about him when I saw them carrying him into the bathroom. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. Stefano is never going to forgive me."

"Baby, there was nothing you could have done," I said. "And Stefano is fine. He has nothing to forgive you for. You didn't do this."

"Yeah, but my mother—"

"How about we don't talk about that bitch anymore, huh?" I'd probably scream if we did. Isabella had actually tried to shoot Nico. I had almost lost him for real. I wanted to kill her, which is why I had walked away. I didn't want to make Nico sad by killing his mother.

"Can we go home now?"

I smiled at Nico. "Yes, cuore mio. We can go home now."

And if I had my way, we'd never come back.