“I’m sure of that, but, at some point, when you’re done teaching her your lesson and restored your fucking pride, you’ll have to win her over. It’s gonna be tough. Marrying a woman with no cats is no picnic.”
“No cats?”
“No cats to save, break or kill. You can’t save Nicole from her father because I’ve already done it. You can’t break her because she’s already broken. You can’t take her life because you have no reason compelling enough to stop you from wanting her, and you can’t threaten to kill someone she loves because she has no one but her sister, and that’s a territory you can’t even think about breeching without getting your fucking sorry ass burned alive.” A wolfish grin stretched his mouth. “Taming a girl like Nicole, making her yours isn’t gonna be easy. I don’t envy you, Dom.”
I wished I could have told him to fuck off or that he hadn’t known her as well as he’d claimed or that he’d been exaggerating for no reason. As much as I hated it, he knew her better than I did. He’d been taking care of her for years, watching in the dark, not missing a thing, pulling her strings, knowing all her keys. He knew my woman as a real father who knew his child.
If Il Lupo went through all that trouble to make sure things remained working in his favor, it meant he wasn’t exaggerating about Nicky. She tried to fool me once. She’d try to do it again.
“Think fast or there will be no wedding either way,” he said, yanking me out of my thoughts.
My head jerked toward him. “What do you mean?”
“Do I have your fucking word?”
“Jesus, Tino. Do you have my fucking word that I’ll take your side over my wife’s? No. Do you have my fucking word that I’ll never betray an ally, a friend or my own capo and family, even for my wife? Fuck yes. Happy?”
He grunted. “As long as you keep that in mind all the time, I’ll be happy, and in return you can trust no one will have to know what really happened between you and her last night…or the full story behind that ridiculous name Giovanni Lanza gave you. It’ll kind of ruin your plansdiscipliningmy girl, and the last thing I want is mess that up.”
My jaws clenched so hard it fucking hurt. “Thanks. I’ll never forget. Now what the fuck do you mean there will be no wedding either way?”
“It means we have somewhere to go as fast as possible. Pants are required for our little surprise trip, and preferably a coat. The weather is a bitch this time of the year in Chicago.”
CHAPTER 20
Nicky
“I swear my mind is a mush these days.” Lina rummaged through Nick’s room, looking for hergift, while I just stood there, my heart thundering, unable to grasp what I thought she meant with that gift. “Where did I leave it?
She stumbled against the crib and groaned. Then she felt her ear. “Damn, I dropped my earring, too.”
Nick stirred in his nap as she went on her knees and cocked her head under the crib. I dragged my feet and went to help her, even though I didn’t hear anything fall. I strained my eyes in the very little light down here, but all I could see was a duffle bag.
“We don’t have so much time,” she started, whispering. “There are clothes, a burner phone, your passport and enough money to get you going for a couple of months. Drop the nanny cam before you take the secret elevator. It’ll buy you some time.”
Stunned, I tried to speak but I choked on my tears. My sister, the one I doubted and called brainwashed, the one I thought I’d lost to the beast, was helping me escape the lair. “Lina…”
She squeezed my arm, tears flooding her face. “Don’t say anything. Just don’t get caught.”
Her palms pressed against the floor as she was about to get up. “No. What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Come with me,” I urged. “Take Nick and let’s leave together.”
She smiled, wiping her face. “I’m not being held against my will here, Nicky. I’ve been trying to tell you for months that I am exactly where I want to be. I love Tino with all his darkness. I was born to be with him. It’s you that don’t belong here anymore.”
She got to her feet before I could say anything else. “Found it!”
I stared at the duffle bag and then up at her. Leaving my sister was something that never crossed my mind, not even when my life was at stake. It’d always been the Baldi sisters versus the world for me, even when I’d thought that changed for her. How could I just take off, not knowing when I’d ever see her again?
She touched her ear, as if putting back that lost earring on, and strode across the room. “But where the hell did I keep that gift? God, I’m such a klutz today.”
I joined her in the fake search, many words jumping to my tongue I couldn’t release, my eyes overflowing with tears.
“Maybe I left it in my room. I’m gonna go check,” she said.
My heart contracted with real, physical pain, and I gasped as she headed for the door. This could be the last time I ever see my sister.
