“Good.Give me two more colors.”
“Olive green,” I say, staring at the soap dispenser, “and pink.”The soap is an ugly shade of neon pink.
A smile quirks at the corner of her lips.“Therapy taught me to work on grounding myself when things get—overwhelming,” she says.She shuts off the sink that’s been running the entire time in the background.
There’s a prominent knock on the bathroom door.
“We’re fine, Moreno,” Nikki shouts to him through the thick door.
“Just checking.”I can imagine him grumbling and returning back to his seat at the table.
“Is there anything else bothering you?”Nikki asks.
Now is the time to tell her the truth about the boy from last night.The child locked inside a cage in the basement.
I glance up, meet her stare, but the words don’t come.
She’s Dante’s wife, and I want to trust her, but I’m not sure she’d even be able to help me if I tried.Moreno is waiting for us.
Besides, she has to know what he’s involved in; there’s no way a woman as smart as Nikki isn’t privy to what’s happening under her roof.
We were kicked out of the house last night when I’m assuming they brought the child inside to the prison basement.I doubt they kicked her out of her own home.
Does she know about him?
She doesn’t strike me as the type to get involved with the mafia.From first impressions, she seems like a decent mother, worried about her son, wanting to know why we’re jumping into marriage after barely knowing one another.
But I’m reluctant to trust her.
She’s married to him.She must know something.You don’t live in a house with dozens of men patrolling the property without asking questions.
Or, in my case, snooping around.
Not that I was intending to sneak around and look for anything, other than the whimpering puppy I thought I heard.I guess the Ricci’s don’t have a family pet.
“Anything at all?”Nikki asks again, releasing her grasp on me now that I’m steady, grounded, and feeling better.“It’s just the two of us.”
It is just the two of us, but I can’t trust her unless she trusts me first.
She hasn’t given me any indication that she feels her life is in danger.She’s not telling me to get away, to protect myself or Luca.I want to trust her, but I wonder if it’s foolish hopefulness driving me to open my lips.
No words come.
Maybe it’s better that way.
The fear making me silent, keeping me from trusting his mother.
I can’t help but realize when I left today with Nikki, our entire afternoon was already planned.From the restaurant to our spa day, which I’m now beginning to regret.
Dante made sure I wouldn’t be going anywhere without a mafia thug following me.
I was never asked where I wanted to eat or what type of food I’d like to grab.Moreno made the decision for us, or perhaps Dante had made it prior to us leaving.
Is that what it will be like on campus?
Moreno or another one of Dante’s men making decisions for me, following me around, my constant unavoidable shadow?
“Do you think you’re ready to go back out to the table?”Nikki asks when she’s met with my silence.
