“What do you feel like eating?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer. On her late days, she grabbed a to-go salad because she didn’t like to go to sleep with a full tummy.
She looked over at me as I started the car. “They have great salads at the Deli on the corner of Demount and Spruce.”
“Okay.” I backed up and pulled out of the parking spot and drove towards Demount. I wasn’t hungry, but I didn’t want Mia to feel uncomfortable eating by herself. Once we got her a salad and me a chicken salad sandwich, we headed to my place where shit was going to get settled once and for all.
Chapter 6
Mia~
The Mob sure wasn’t hurting for money.
Granted, I knew that much from the way I was raised, but Nico’s condo was proof that my brother and I weren’t special. Michael’s apartment was just as classy and exquisite as Nico’s, not to mention, I was able to go to college without any financial burdens. I knew the Made Men in the Benetti Family did very well for themselves, I just never wanted to think too much about the things they had to do to get ‘promotions’ and pull down the amount of money they made.
The condo was an open-floor plan, and spacious as hell. Then I inwardly winced when it occurred to me that the place needed to be spacious in case he had to lay out bodies side by side or something. I had to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, carrying our food to the kitchen table. The kitchen was spacious enough to have a table and an island with a bar that rounded the island. It was a pretty neat design. His house was also colorful, with surprised me. I expected simple masculine blacks and whites like Michael’s place.
“Honestly?”
Nico placed the food on the table and looked up at me as I strolled into the kitchen. “I insist on nothing else,” he replied coolly.
I grinned. “I was thinking your condo was so spacious because you needed the extra room to lay out bodies that might be in need of disposing.” Nico blinked at me, and then he threw his head back in a genuine, heartfelt laugh. I sat down and just enjoyed the sight.
God, he was beautiful.
Once he got himself under control, he started taking our food containers out of the bag and setting up dinner. He had a stunning smile, and that dimple was to die for. “For the record, no, that is not why I like the space. However, that’s something to consider should the occasion ever call for it.”
“So, no laying out bodies?”
“Not here,” he replied wryly.
He sat down and we started eating in silence. It was eerily comfortable. I knew I should be experiencing feelings of betrayal and violation to my privacy, but, oddly enough, I wasn’t. I was shocked, but not entirely surprised to know someone watched out for me. It would have been naïve to think that after years of knowing my every move, Michael suddenly didn’t feel the need to watch me constantly anymore. Especially, considering why he felt that way in the first place. My mother had sold me for drugs when I was eight. The night her boyfriend and buyer, was showing up to collect, Ciro Mancini and a few of his men had shown up first. When they caught Michael stealing a gun from a Benetti shipment, they had questioned him and found out he had stolen the gun to protect me.
That night, the Mafia had saved both me and my brother, and have continued to look after us. I should have known there was a Nico of some sort or other in my life.
“So, I know that you were assigned to me when you were only fourteen,” I started. “And I know I’m a permanent assignment for you now. But I want to know everything in between.”
He set his sandwich aside and lasered those sexy grey eyes my way. “There’s not much more to it, Mia,” he said. “Luca approached me when I was fourteen, knowing that I could use the money, like most kids in the neighborhood. He said all I had to do was keep an eye on you when your brother wasn’t able to.” Nico shrugged a shoulder. “Since Michael was with you as much as he could be, it hadn’t been a hard job.”
“Was it ever?” I joked. I’ve always led a relatively boring life.
“Not hard, per se,” he grimaced. “But once you hit your teen years, the shopping and girl time was pretty dreadful.”
I laughed. I couldn’t imagine how boring it must have been for Nico to sit in the shadows listening to a bunch of girls talk about fashion, makeup, and boys. “That bad?”
“Some of it was rough,” he admitted. “But it wasn’t all bad.”
And then a horrible, embarrassing thought occurred to me. I withered in my chair as I asked, “Did you…were you around when…did you see…”
A dark brow rose. “Did I see you making out with your boyfriends when you were in high school?”
I knew my face was turning beet red. “Oh, God…” I groaned miserably.
Nico shook his head. “Not often,” he admitted. “Your love life was Michael’s domain. It was usually him in the shadows in case he had to kill someone.”
“What did you do when you weren’t watching me?” The question had started out innocently enough, but my voice suddenly turned husky. Nico has probably watched me in some very intimate moments in my life. I had this gorgeous man watching me from the shadows and there was something dark and sexy in knowing that. Maybe it was because he wasn’t a creep, and he was approved by my brother, but violated was the last thing I felt around this man.
He must have noticed the change in my tone because the cocky sonofabitch smirked. “I did whatever the Benettis needed me to do, Mia,” he
