Chapter 24 - Pearl

The warehouse stinks like piss and cheap weed. Nicolo leans against a wall, shattered glass at his feet, his arms crossed over his chest, and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. "Why the fuck did you want to meet here?"

"Where else was I supposed to meet you? It's not like I can just walk into a cafe and be seen with you anymore. If we're even close to the same vicinity, Maxim will kill me. And since you don't seem to give a shit about that, it's on me to protect my own life."

"Protect your own life." He takes a cigarette between his fingers, taking a long drag before blowing out the smoke, letting it curl up high in ribbons. "What do you mean to protect your own life?"

"You sent a man to kill me."

Nicolo says nothing, smirking around the edge of the cigarette.

My heart plummets to my feet, the last person I thought I could trust slowly fading away from me as I get confirmation that he was trying to kill me. I never thought that he was capable of that. Not truly, at least. There were times that I feared his anger and what he would do if I crossed him. And now, with his silence, I have confirmation.

He's been waiting for the right moment to kill me, I'm sure of it now.

Nicolo rolls his eyes, tossing the cigarette to the ground and crushing it beneath his boot. "I didn't try to kill you. There must have been some crossed lines somewhere. I sent my man to hunt down Maxim. You weren't supposed to be with him.

"You could have ordered me to kill Maxim. That was the plan. I was supposed to get close to him and I was supposed to be the one to kill him. It was my right. Why did you try to take that from me?"

He spins, grabbing me by the throat, throwing me back against the wall, and holding me in place.

He looms closer to me, the stench of cigarettes rolling off his breath. "Do you think I don't see the way you look at him? Am I supposed to believe that you didn't develop feelings for your husband? Are you going to stand here and lie to me when you ignored my command to talk to me about a plan?"

"It wasn't the right time for a plan. He's been watching me like a hawk. How the hell was I supposed to handle it when you weren't willing to give me a chance to find a good fucking time to do it?"

His fingers tighten around the side of my throat, making it harder to breathe. "You're an ungrateful little bitch. After everything I've done for you, you fall for the enemy. I never should have sent a woman to do a man's job."

I scoff, hands coming up to tear at his knuckles, trying to pull him away from me. "Let me go or I'll fucking kill you."

"You're not going to do anything. And since you didn't tell your husband that you were coming out to play with the big boys, nobody's going to come looking for you." Nicolo lets me go, taking a step back, and smiles as he tucks his hands into his pockets. "It's a good thing I don't want to kill you. However, there's going to be a punishment for disobeying me, you know that."

"How could I have disobeyed you when you never gave the order?"

"How could I give the order when sources told me that you were falling in love with him?"

I reach into my back pocket, pulling out a folded photograph from over two decades ago. The image is creased with lines from being folded and unfolded so many times.

"You're a fucking liar," I say, shoving the picture into his chest.

Nicolo takes the picture, holding it up, the corner of his mouth curling.

He chuckles and shakes his head. "I was wondering when you were going to find out about this. I should have had my people sweep that damn house better."

He hands me back the picture of my father and Maxim. They're standing next to each other, grinning, beers in their hands. Maxim has one hand on Dad's shoulder. There's a party going on in the background, balloons taped to tree and banners draped between bench branches.

"They were never enemies." My words are choked, sounding more like I've got nails in my throat as I try to speak. "You told me that Maxim is the one who killed my father, that they had been rivals. That's not true, is it?"

"I knew I should have picked a stupid woman. Would have been easier." Nicolo pulls out a box of cigarettes, shaking out another as if he doesn't have a care in the world. "Your father was a fucking traitor. Hell, death was too good for him, but I didn't have another option, Maxim was closing in around me. It was either kill his spy and put the blame on him, or I had to murder you, your father, and anybody else who might have known."

"Why did you lie to me? Why didn't you tell me the truth? You were like an uncle to me, and you let me believe that Maxim killed my father when it was you the entire time."

He puts the filter of the cigarette between his lips, lighting up the other end. "Don't you think there's a sort of poetic justice to the traitor's daughter killing the man he was working for?"

"You're a bastard. Maxim is going to kill you for this."

"Now, Pearl, I didn't raise you to hide behind men. If you want me dead, you kill me yourself. You're the one who wanted to play games. Enter the world of big boys. You thought you could handle it. You begged me for the chance to avenge your father."

"You poisoned my mind. You twisted what happened."

"You're only upset now because you decided to play detective and got your feelings hurt."

Nicolo sighs and pulls out a gun. "I didn't want to have to do this, Pearl. You worked well for me and the money you brought in was more than enough. You are good at manipulating men. It's too bad you're even better at getting manipulated."

Before his finger can wrap around the trigger, Maxim jumps through the window, slamming his fist under the side of Nicolo's head.

Nikita grabs me around the waist as he runs into the room, shoving me behind him.

More men flood into the room, guns raised, aiming at Nicolo.

Maxim stands tall and shakes his head. "This one's mine."