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“Seriously, Mr. DeLuca—”
“I’ve known you longer than I’ve known Niko. When we’re alone, you know to call me Antonio.”
He nods. “Emilia is hurting. The pain of losing her father hit her extra hard last night. Emilia was screaming out for him and when I found her, she was on the floor, sobbing. I picked her up and held her until she cried herself to sleep. The way I have it figured she hasn’t slept in days, so I let her rest. There was no way I was going to wake her up.
“That sounds completely normal,” I murmur.
I watch as Victorio pops his neck and shoulders, obviously hurting from lying on the sofa. Being a bodyguard isn’t the kindest occupation to your body.
“Glad you think so,” he grumbles.
“I do. Well, except for the fact that you’re in love with her.”
He freezes and looks at me, shaking his head and instantly denying what I said. “It’s not like that. She reminds me of my sister, but whatever I feel for Emilia, she’ll never know.”
I frown, “Is she aware of what happened to your sister?”
He shakes his head no. “No one does, Antonio. I wouldn’t have told you if I hadn’t needed some time away.”
His answer is expected, but I find myself hurting for him. He and I are a lot alike. We’ve both been alone more than is probably healthy. I had the death of my father to deal with, but Victorio? He has had to deal with much more. “Go sleep, old friend. I know you didn’t last night while watching over your charge.”
“I’ll clean up. I’d like to go with you. Today will be another hard day for her.”
I start to tell him no. It might be better if I do, but I can’t make myself. As he starts to walk away, I do stop him. “No one will fault you if you want to step away and take some time to sort things out.”
“I appreciate your concern,” he says, sounding annoyed. “It’s unwarranted though. I’m fine.”
“Okay, but if Niko comes out of this, he won’t like walking in on what I just witnessed, old friend.”
“If Niko wakes up, it won’t be an issue because Emilia loves him.”
“And if he doesn’t?” I can’t help but push.
“Then nothing will stop me from being here for her.”
I watch as he walks out of the room, shaking my head. This is a complication that could quickly get out of hand. I find myself going over to Niko and putting my hand on his shoulder. He looks the same as he did yesterday.Lifeless.The thing is, I know the man is in there and if he’s going to come back, he needs to do it soon.
“I’ve always liked you, Niko. I would have moved you up in this organization even without Maxwell’s urgings. Still, Maxwell thought of you as the son he never had. You need to come back and help me avenge his death and find the son of a bitch who did this.” An alarm goes off and I look up to see that Niko’s heart rate is speeding up. I give his shoulder a squeeze. “You’re still in there somewhere aren’t you, Niko. Keep fighting.You need to. Besides avenging Max, you, my friend, need to return to your Emilia before you lose her to Victorio. They’re growing closer and although I believe her heart belongs to you, our boy is definitely in love with your woman.”
Niko’s arm jerks and I feel his muscles move beneath my touch. I grin, for the first time I feel hope. “Good job, my brother. Come back to the land of the living.”
I step away and decide to walk out and wait for Emilia. Niko will be awake soon. I’ve made a living gambling with big choices and high stakes, and I’d absolutely bet on him now. I’d even feel comfortable enough to say that Niko waking up is a sure thing.
CHAPTER38
Niko
I’m lying down. I can tell that much. I get this sensation more and more, but there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it. I want to talk, to move, but I can’t seem to make it happen. All I can do is lie here in the darkness and listen to the noises around me. It never lasts long before the darkness swallows me again, but itishappening more and more.
Most of the time, I feel like I’m underwater. There’s this roaring in my head and no matter how much I want to, I can’t open my eyes. To make matters worse, even though I can hear words and conversations around me, I can’t grasp the words. They don’t seem to make sense. Once, I could have sworn I heard Emilia talking to me, begging me to come back to her. She seemed to be crying and she was begging me to come back because she needed me.
I don’t know if I imagined it. I truly have no idea. I wanted to talk to her to be there for her—that much I do know. I just couldn’t. I don’t know why. Fuck, I’d move heaven and earth to make sure Emilia was okay. I wanted to then because there was a sadness in her voice that hurt me. Yet, no matter how much I fought it, the darkness swallowed me again.
I don’t hear her now, though. I can’t smell her either. Before Emilia’s scent would always bring me comfort. I’m about let myself go back under, surrender to inky darkness that always wants to swallow me up. I know I shouldn’t, but the truth is I’m so tired of struggling to pull myself out of here. Just as I’m about to relax, I hear the voice again. It’s not my woman’s but it is familiar.
DeLuca.
He’s talking to me, but again I can’t seem to make sense of the words. The only one that I can hold onto isrevenge.That confuses me. Has he declared war on Dracos? What’s going on? Did the Greeks do something else? Or was it the Irish?
