Page 15 of Texting My Mafia Savior

He’s my uncle. Even if he wasn’t, I’ve got plans for the future that don’t involve finding a relationship at this point in my life. He’s twice my age. I don’t really know him.

Okay, that’s true. I don’t. But I want to get to know him. Every part of him. That’s the problem.

CHAPTER 8

NICO

I’m finishing some pro bono work when I get a call from Don Caruso—not Enzo, the so-called mafia prince. This is Dominic Caruso, the king, the man who wanted to use and abuse my wife before I stepped in and ‘made her mine.’ He’s the reason I’ve spent so long living a lie. We never talk these days. Leaving the mob life in one piece without ratting is a rare thing, a miracle, and I pulled it off by working and paying my way free.

I can’t ignore the call. “Hello,” I say, answering.

“Nico, my boy,” Dominic says. He’s using his fake nice-guy voice, the one that’s fooled far too many. They always seem so shocked when the sadist emerges.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” I say, kicking back in my desk chair, forcing a smile to my face so that I hopefully sound good-natured with my tone.

“Can’t a man check in with old friends?” As if I’m buying that. “I understand you met with my son two days ago.”

Two days since the meeting, since I slipped up, since the texting with Arria that night. So far, we’ve been avoiding texting each other. But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been in my thoughts, hounding me, tempting me.

“Yes, I did,” I reply.

“That’s good,” Dominic says. “I’ve been thinking about the old days recently, Nico.”

“Oh, right?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened with me, you and Lucia. It was a classic story of unrequited love, wasn’t it? I’d fallen for her, and I’m sure, had she not already given her heart to another, she might’ve fallen for me too. But, alas, she had given her devotion to Nico the Nightmare. There was nothing I could do, no course of action I could take that would cause a favorable outcome for me. I was stuck, so I did the reasonable thing and made the appropriate business decision. You see, Nico, that’s what I value above everything. Honesty. Business. I believe people can do great things when they combine honesty and business. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I swallow, nerves gripping me. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like this. Adrenaline pumps through my body. I haven’t missed the ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction. I used to live in this state constantly, a never-ending cycle of it.

“You did the right thing,” he continues when I don’t reply immediately. “Your arrival and honesty were both appreciated. You told me you and Lucia were already involved in a serious relationship but that you had kept secret for obvious reasons. You told me you wanted to buy your way out of the life. I would’ve laughed at you, but you offered me a fee so absurd, sooutlandish, that I had to accept. In truth, Nico, I never thought you’d be able to pay it.”

It had taken three years of sleeping three or four hours a night, taking every job I could get, legal and illegal. I did it without compromising my morals, and I’ll always be proud of that.

“I respected you for offering me that deal, Dominic,” I tell him. “I was one of your most effective enforcers?—”

“You werethemost effective,” Dominic cuts in. “If I wanted some civilian intimidated, a woman scared, I’d send the others. But if I needed a big fish caught—the Cartel, other families, men who could actually fight back—I’d send in Nico the Nightmare.”

“I always preferred those jobs,” I tell him honestly. “The risk was higher, but it left my conscience cleaner.”

“I always respected that about you. Your moral compass. Again—your honesty. If you wantmytruth, Nico, it was your honesty that saved you many, many times. I detest liars. So many have lied to me in my life, lied directly to my face, and expected me to swallow their shit. But you always told me the truth. If I offered you a job you didn’t like, you told me straight,no, I won’t do that. It simplified things.”

I swallow. It’s clear that something’s wrong, but as usual, he’s dancing around it. He’s making me sweat. “You deserved the truth.”

“Did I?” he snaps.

“Yes,” I tell him. “I never wanted to deceive you.”

That part is true. I already knew Lucy because she moved in mob circles, promoting her art galleries. She was a fixture at parties and functions. When she learned Dominic had taken anobsessive interest in her, who did she immediately think to come to for help? The Nightmare. That was my nickname back then, notThe Savior. Some people said it as a joke—others considered it deadly serious.

Lucy was in the serious group. She came to me and begged me for help. I was a sucker for a helpless woman or child, still am. I had to be honest with her from the start. It was either to leave the city and her life forever or build a lie from which we could never waver. Build alifeto which we stubbornly had to adhere. Over the years, we have become friends, even best friends, but there’s been no romance. There’s never even been a hint, not that I ever hoped for anything; it just wasn’t on my radar.

“You never wanted to,” Dominic says. “That’s an interesting way to phrase it.”

“Is something wrong, Dominic?”

“Why would something be wrong?” he snaps.

“We haven’t spoken for a long time, that’s all.”

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