I hugged my sisters goodnight, and Trixie walked them up to their room. “I want a guard at the door all night.” Nico’s hushed voice made me frown, but I knew it needed to happen.
Placing gifts and filling stockings took us over an hour of non-stop work. “What about your sisters?” He asked as we stood, looking at the now-stuffed room.
Smiling, I looked up and pointed to the fireplace where I’d hung their stockings. “I have gifts under the tree for them too, because I was hoping I’d see them at some point.” Wrapping my arms around him, I sighed. This was the first Christmas I hadn’t dreaded, and it was because of him.
“Go to bed, I’ll turn everything off down here and be right up.” He kissed the side of my head, and I nodded, a little reluctant to let him go. “Go and I’ll give you a merry Christmas.” He winked, then grinned a cheesy grin. Rolling my eyes, I let him go and headed for the stairs.
CHAPTER 29
EMILIA
With the holidaysover and life starting to settle down, I was realizing what my new life consisted of, my husband willing to deal with every need I had, a comfortable working relationship with him and not as many committees as I’d originally dreaded. Score one for having to help run the Chicago mafia.
My cell phone rang in my purse, and I stopped wandering through the store to find it. “Why is it always at the bottom?” I muttered to myself. Finally getting it out of my bag, I smiled when I saw Nico’s name. Would there ever be a time when even his name didn’t send butterflies through my stomach?
“Hello, handsome.” My voice was light as I flipped through the rack of dresses.
“Where are you?” His words were tense.
“Just at a boutique downtown. I’d find a dress to wear to your mother’s engagement party.” I smiled when I thought of Lorenzo finally asking Cecilia to marry him.
“Is Hector with you? I need you to come home.” If his words were tense before, they were almost livid now.
“Yes, he’s with me. Nico, what’s wrong?” Putting the dress back on the rack, I turned and moved toward the door. Mybodyguard, Hector, accompanied me whenever I left the house alone. He was a big man who made Nico look small, and people turned the other way when they saw him.
“There’s some issues I need to talk to you about.”
“I’ll be there as quickly as I can.” As I ended the call, the pit in my stomach was growing larger by the second. “Home, Hector.” I walked beside him as we headed down the sidewalk to where the car was parked.
Hector was focused, and he’d moved closer to me, making sure nobody would be able to get to me. Reaching the car, I climbed in and breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed. Nobody could get to me in here; Nico had made sure my car was higher than the security standards of his own. It was a little over the top, seeing as I could protect myself, but I let him do this to keep his mind at ease. If he wasn’t worrying about me while I was out, he could focus on business.
The drive home seemed to take less time, and even though I didn’t know what was going on, I breathed a sigh of relief as the gates closed behind me.
Pulling to a stop in front of the house, I waited for Hector to open my door. “Thank you, I won’t be leaving again, so you’re off the clock. Go kiss that new baby for me.” I smiled up at the man and watched his eyes sparkle when I mentioned the little boy he and his wife had just had.
“I will. And thank you for the meals you’ve been sending over. It’s made things so much easier for Natalie.” His smile made him look almost approachable.
“As long as she wants them, I’m happy to send them. Let me know if she needs anything else, and I will make sure it’s there.” I patted his arm and walked up the stairs into my home. This was how I wanted my family to run; taking care of the people who risked their lives to keep us safe was the least I could do. It waswhat set Nico apart from my father. He had always taken care of his staff, and they were loyal.
My father’s men were constantly looking for better pay and more job security, and it showed. The personnel turnover at the Carminatti organization was at an all-time high, given the number of applications in my inbox. I hated deleting them, but I couldn’t trust anyone who’d worked for my father.
“Husband, I’m here. Why did you summon me? This morning wasn’t enough for you; you need me on your desk?” I stopped dead in my tracks, and then I saw the eyes of four other men staring at me. “Oh, hello.” I smiled and took in the faces of the heads of the Cosa Nostra.
When I finally looked at Nico, he was covering his grin with his hand. “No, Emilia, not at the moment,” he said as he stifled a laugh. Glancing back at the other men, they were trying very hard not to break out in fits of laughter. As much comedic relief as I brought to this moment, I knew it wouldn’t last.
“Well, since you five are all together, I suspect it’s nothing good.” There was a free chair between the four men, and I assumed it was for me, so I took it. Having these men in our home for a meal had been one thing; being surrounded by them like I was in an interrogation room was another.
“In the last few months, trafficking in the city has risen from almost nothing to higher than it has been in almost three years. Do you know who’s leading that charge?” Nico’s eyes were laser-focused on mine.
Squaring my shoulders and sitting straighter as if a metal rod had been slipped along my spine, I nodded. “My father.” Two words I didn’t want to say, but they were the truth.
“Care to explain?” Romolo Barbieri’s New York accent cut through the dead silence in Nico’s office.
Shifting in my chair, I turned to look at the man. “When I took over, it was the first thing I ended. Not only is it inhumaneand barbaric, but I also couldn’t stomach it as a woman. So, I suppose that was the weakness you were all expecting to find.” I turned back to face my husband.
“When I realized how many women, and girls my father was dealing in, I was outraged, also knowing that if he would do it to them, he’d do it to me. And I suppose that’s exactly what he did.” Arching my brow, I waited for Nico’s reaction, but it never came. He was stone-faced and gave nothing away. Was this it? The moment the spell was broken, and he’d realized that I truly am just a Carminatti, who wasn’t worth the time of day?
“Of course, it ruffled the feathers of the other families, but I wasn’t worried. It would take them too long to figure out who was making the changes after I blamed it on my father’s grief.” Folding my hands in my lap, I waited, but nobody made a move to speak.
