Page 79 of Fatal Sloth

Nico's eyes flash with fury, his fists clenching tightly at his sides. "You still don’t get it, do you, Seb? I never cared to be the don," he admits, his voice thick with bitterness. "I only wanted the position so I could get what was promised to me, what belongs to me. All I ever wanted was Mia. And I’ll do whatever it takes to get her, even if that means getting rid of you."

"This is about Mia? About you wanting my wife?" I ask in shock. My heart twists at his words, guilt gnawing at my insides. I had no clue Nico harbors such intense feelings for Mia––feelings that border on obsession. Before I can process his confession, Nico's following words cut through me. "Dad and Peter arranged our marriage when Mia was first born––even signed a contract to seal the deal," he says with resentment.

"I never wanted to be the don––I just wanted to be with her," he repeats, pulling out a weathered piece of paper. As he turns it over, a marriage contract that must be around twenty years old comes into my view, signed by both Peter and Uncle Gino.

My mind is spinning, trying to process this all.

I had no idea Nico resented me so much, seeing me as just an obstacle to his happiness. But as the truth dawns on me, a wave of regret washes over me.

"I'm sorry, Nico," I whisper, barely above a whisper. "I had no idea."

"Don't play stupid, you knew. I've been in love with her since sixth grade," he spits out. "You use to make fun of me because I went to her recitals. You told me to stop wasting time on one woman."

I never realized that the skinny little girl from grade school was Mia Russo. I do remember Nico having a crush on a girl when we were kids, but I didn't realize that his crush had been ongoing for so long.

“I’m giving you one last chance to walk away, Seb,” Nico says, but he doesn’t realize that I can’t walk away.

From the second la piccola ballerina walked into my life, everything changed. She started seeping into my mind, and then she began consuming my every waking thought and even my dreams. Mia has become a constant presence that I can’t ignore, breaking down walls that I didn’t know I built. And before I knew it, she made her way to my heart. This wasn’t something that we planned, but now that I have her, I’ll never let her go.

“I can’t walk away. I love her,” I finally confess the words that I never thought I was capable of saying or feeling.

“You don’t know what love is. I’ve loved her longer and will make her happy once you’re gone,” Nico barks.

"Love has to work both ways," Mia interjects, looking at Nico.

Rinna grips Mia’s arm, pulling her to her feet and starts walking down the stairs, her gun clutched tightly in her hand. Rinna stops in front of us, standing to Nico's left, with Mia to her left.

"You ruined everything, Mia!" she screams, her voice filled with rage as she digs the gun into Mia's head. "If Sebastiano hadn't fallen in love with you, none of this would have happened!"

Tears stream down Mia's cheeks as her eyes lock onto mine. "I love him too," she declares, her words piercing through my heart.

"What's there to love? We did everything to make him look bad," Nico says with a smirk, his words dripping with disgust.

He doesn’t realize that Mia doesn't care about any of that, she loves me for me, and nothing will change that. But before she can answer him, I ask, "What did you do?"

"Well, I originally messed up the shipments to show the commission you can't be trusted. I knew that if you kept messing up, Don Antonio wouldn't let you take over," Roman says from the top step, as calm as ever.

The pussy is afraid to say this to my face. He has to hide upstairs.

My fists clench with fury. "I trusted you. Why’d you kill Diego?" I demand.

"Wrong place, wrong time—he saw something he shouldn't have," Roman says, his words only add to me rage. "He had the chance to side with me, and he made his choice. But it played into our favor with the police disrupting the imports," he says, and I have to swallow the urge to lunge at the bastard. "But when the old fucker swore you would do well, I planted the marriage bullshit in his ear. I've been watching you for years. I didn't think you'd actually get married," Roman says with a sneer.

"And I never thought Antonio would actually honor Peter's agreement for Mia––my Mia," Nico interjects.

My eyes stay glued on Mia, who just stands there, listening to all of this with a gun to her head. I make a mental note to kill anyone who has ever wronged her, including the bitch who has a gun to her head right now and her pezzo di merda father.

"Originally, it was my idea to add the baby stipulation on the contract," Nico continues. "And now that the commission has your ceremony in place, and you got my girl pregnant. Now I need to take back what belongs to me. And Mia is mine."

"No, she's not yours," I say, my voice seething with rage. "She's a fucking person. She doesn't belong to anyone, you stupido pezzo di merda," I snarl.

"I should have tried harder," Nico mumbles, more to himself. He takes a step back, running a hand through his hair. His pacing intensifies, circling like he's about to lose his mind. "Do you know how hard it is to befriend the son of your father's killer?" Nico yells, his voice filled with frustration and anger.

"Petra? That was you?" I ask, dumbfounded.

"I wanted it to look like you were doing business with them," Nico says, his tone dripping with malice. "He was dumb enough to agree. I don't even feel bad he's dead," he adds with an evil smile.

"Only Orlov didn't kill Gino," Roman interjects.

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