“I do. I left the house in a hurry. Lord gets his orders from you.”
“Yes, he does.”
“Could you tell me,” I asked, changing the subject, “when Lord leaves town? So I can retrieve my belongings from his house.”
Nicco considered this practical request. “He’ll be in New York next Tuesday through Thursday. Business with the LaGrassa family, ironically enough.”
“Thank you,” I said, genuinely grateful for this small concession. “I’ll make arrangements to get my things.”
“I can have one of my moving trucks and a driver at your disposal,” Nicco offered unexpectedly. “It would be faster, and you’d have help with the heavy lifting.”
I blinked, surprised by the offer. “That’s generous.”
“It’s practical,” he corrected. “The sooner this situation is resolved, the better for everyone involved.”
I nodded. “I appreciate it.”
Nicco straightened, adjusting his already perfect suit jacket. “One last thing.”
I braced myself for another veiled threat. “What?”
“If Lord kills Maurizio, that will cause a problem in the family. But if Lord kills you, I will never get to fuck your sister. Please try to stay alive.”
What the fuck?
He stood and moved toward the door, then paused, turning back to me. “I never thought you would be this much trouble.”
The door opened and closed behind him. Only when I was certain he was gone did I release the breath I’d been holding, myhands trembling slightly as the full weight of our conversation settled over me.
Nicco Bregoli didn’t make threats. He made observations that became reality. And he’d just observed that my current path was a dangerous one. That wasn’t something I could simply dismiss as intimidation. In the Bregoli world, it was as good as prophecy.
I stared at the door long after he’d gone, wondering if I’d just been offered protection or warned of my impending doom. With Nicco, it was hard to tell.
The professional facade I’d maintained throughout our confrontation crumbled. My hands shook as I pressed them against my face, trying to steady my breathing. I’d just stood my ground against one of the most dangerous men in Vegas, and while I’d kept my composure in the moment, the delayed rush of fear hit me like a physical blow. What the hell had I gotten myself into?
I pushed away from my desk and stood, unable to remain still. My heels clicked against the hardwood floor as I paced the length of my office, five steps one way, five steps back. The walls felt like they were closing in on me.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I muttered under my breath. If Lord knew I was staying with Maurizio, why hadn’t he done anything? It wasn’t like him to let something like that go. The Lord I knew would have shown up at Maurizio’s door the moment he found out, demanding explanations, making threats. His silence was more terrifying than his rage.
I grabbed my phone from the desk and checked it again, turning it over and over in my hands as if the motion might summon a notification. Nothing. One full two weeks of silence. Not even a text asking where I’d gone or why I’d left.
The question that had been haunting me bubbled to the surface. Why hasn’t he called? I’d been with the man throughthick and thin. I’d moved across the country for him. I left my life in Chicago behind. I’d loved him more than any man, ever. And he’d just let me go without a word.
My breathing grew shallow. The beginnings of panic crept in at the edges of my consciousness. I forced myself to inhale slowly, counting to five, then exhaling just as deliberately. The technique had gotten me through so many stressful situations. It would get me through this too.
My mind refused to quiet. Was Lord planning something? Was he so angry he couldn’t bring himself to speak to me? Or was he simply done with me, ready to move on to Lolita or whoever else caught his eye?
I stopped at the window, staring out at the Las Vegas skyline. The desert sun beat down on the glass. This city had never felt like home to me. I’d come here for Lord, uprooted my entire life because I believed in our love and what we were building together. What a fuckin’ joke.
The truth was staring me in the face. If Lord had truly loved me, he wouldn’t have let me walk away without a fight. He wouldn’t have cheated in the first fuckin’ place. And he certainly wouldn’t have maintained his silence.
A strange calm settled over me as the realization crystallized. He didn’t love me anymore. Maybe he never had. Perhaps I’d just been a convenient piece of Black ass.
The thought should have hurt more than it did. Instead, I felt oddly liberated. If Lord no longer loved me, if he could let me go so easily, then I was right to leave his puck ass. The guilt I’d been carrying for running to Maurizio, for betraying Lord with his own cousin, eased slightly.
I’d left because I’d discovered evidence of Lord’s affair. I couldn’t bear the lies anymore. I couldn’t stand the woman I was becoming, but I still questioned my decision. I wondered if I’doverreacted. I wondered if I should have stayed and fought for what we had.
Now I knew the answer. Fuck no! There had been nothing left to fight for.
