“I don’t mean in a way that’s a problem. I just… I’d like to understand. She means something to you. And you to her.”
He shifts around on his chair and turns me so our knees touch and our hands are clasped between us.
“Vivienne is…” He looks up and sighs. “Vivienne is the reason I began to talk again.”
My whole body warms, not with jealousy because she got to be that reason, but with gratitude. “How?”
“Her ex-husband used to drag her along to Atlantic City every fall and make her watch while he’d gamble, drink, take drugs, hire girls. He treated her like shit.”
I now feel terrible for assuming she was nothing more than a cold-hearted woman.
“We were similar back then. Both of us sitting in corners, watching. She was waiting for the moment when her ex would snap and drag her back to their hotel room to beat her into submission. I would wait for the moments when assholes likehim tried to screw over the house, then I’d give them my own particular brand of punishment.”
“But… didn’t you help her?”
He breathes steadily. “Not right away.” He glances down at our hands, his tone regretful.
“My job was to protect the business, not every woman whose husband couldn’t handle the drink and flew fists whenever he lost.”
My stomach twists into a painful knot.
“But one night, I was off duty and I came out of the casino for a smoke. I heard her screams coming from a side alley. I was sick to the bones of hearing that kind of sound and decided enough was enough. I rounded the corner, found him pummelling her half to death, and put a bullet in his head without even blinking.”
“Oh my God,” I whisper. “Was she okay?”
“Not at first. She left Atlantic City the next day, but a year later, she came back. That time she fucking enjoyed herself, gambling her ex’s money and sampling the cocktails. She would sit with me some nights and just talk to me, even though I never said a word back to her. Everyone else had… given up on me, I guess.”
I feel a tear roll down my cheek.
“I started to look forward to seeing her. She came to Atlantic City more often and I would cut out articles from the papers for her—pieces about poker and food and stuff I thought she’d be interested in. I suppose we became friends.”
His brow dips into a line and a heaviness falls over his shoulders.
“Then she told me I should start up business on my own. She’d been watching the dynamic between my father and I. Said that I’d saved her and now it was her turn to save me. But I didn’t listen. All I knew at that point was how to keep my mouth shut and my fists bloody. Not many businesses called for that, you know?”
He looks up with a wry smile on his lips and I want to sink into his deep, trusting eyes.
“Eventually, she lost patience trying to convince me and announced she was leaving Atlantic City—for good.”
A long pause follows and he brushes his thumb over my hand, thoughtfully.
“It felt like I was losing my mama all over again. I hadn’t realized that’s what she’d become—a mother figure. Watching her lose confidence in me and walk away felt like a stab in the chest. So I called after her…”
I tighten my grip on his hands.
“That was the first time I used my voice inyears.”
It was a long time ago and I was only in the picture as a villain everyone despised, but I would have been proud of him. Iamproud of him. He’s the most impressive man I’ve ever known.
“From that moment on, I threw myself into the club. Not this one, but the first iteration down in Jersey City. Vivienne’s been by my side the entire time. She could run this place if she wanted to, but she doesn’t. She just wants to play a role and support me and my brothers. She saw the way our father treated us and she doesn’t have kids of her own. She kind of adopted us, I guess.”
My heart suddenly explodes with love for Vivienne and I completely understand why she reacted to me the way she did for so long.
I feel Fiero’s lashes lift. “She likes you, you know.”
I blink in surprise. “She does?”
“The amount of shit she gave me when I let you leave…Jesus. Anyone would’ve thought I’d killed every member of her family.”
