Page 48 of The Tempted

“Look things can happen on the road and I want you both to be prepared. You could be stopped by the cops on the highway or followed by someone. The reality of the situation is that people from the other family will be looking for you they are going to try to use you to get to me for that reason alone I need you both to stick to the story. You are newlyweds driving down to Florida to visit your grandmother and share the happy news of your wedding with her,” Victor said dictating our story.

“So we’re going to Florida,” Nikki said, trying to make sense of it all. “Are we really going to visit grandma?”

“Yes, Aunt Gina is expecting you guys,” he said. “The car out back is all yours. You can stop along the way down to get yourself clothes and whatever else you might need. I don’t know how long it’ll be before this is all straightened out, but hang tight.”

I could barely keep my dick in my pants as it was and now I had to go on the run with mobsters after us pretending to be Nikki’s husband. I was going to die a slow death I was convinced. I placed the wedding bands along with the envelope that held the contents of our new fictional life on the coffee table and rose to my full height.

“I need air,” I said, sounding as if I was choking on my words. This was entirely too much for me to process. I tried to wrap my head around the fact that just weeks ago I was in Pennsylvania minding my own fucking business and now I was about to go on the lam with Nikki.

I stepped outside the cabin slamming the door behind me. I could handle going on the run that was just going to be temporary. However, what I was having a hard time with was that I had this aching feeling in my gut that Nikki’s life was now my responsibility that while we were hiding out in Florida it was my job to protect the mobster’s daughter. Me the fuck up with no experience whatsoever with this shit. I started to think it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if someone were to shoot me right at that moment putting me out of my misery and all that.

My body flinched at the sound of the door slamming and I glanced at my father taking in his tired features wondering if it was possible for a person to age a decade in twenty-four hours because that’s exactly how my father looked.

“Daddy, there’s something I need to tell you,” I said feeling remorseful.

“What is it, sweetheart?” he said, rubbing his eyes.

“Before they shot up Temptations last night I went to the sound booth to see Rico. He was there with another guy and some girl…,” I swallowed, trying to find the courage to confess that this whole mess was my fault because I had misjudged the man I let into my life and the lives of the people I loved. “They were doing drugs.”

My father’s face became stone cold his eyes flickered with something I had never seen before.

“They didn’t know I saw them and they continued to talk to one another. I heard Rico ask if everything was set to go down and then he told the girl to get out of there before whatever it was he was talking about went down.”

My dad looked over his shoulder at Jimmy, who simply shook his head. I did notice though that neither one of them looked very surprised by my words.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I don’t know what his part in any of this was or what his motive was…,” I shook my head as my thoughts trailed off. I didn’t express to my father that I feared Rico had just used me to get to my dad because I didn’t understand any of it. There was a missing piece of the puzzle that linked Rico to my dad.

“I know you thought Rico was a good guy,” my father began taking a seat beside me; he brushed away the contents of the envelope Mikey had poured onto the coffee table and picked up the newspaper. “You seemed happy enough, so I tried to turn off my gut feeling telling myself I was just being an overprotective father but I should’ve known better. My experiences in life have trained me to see through a person’s exterior to see passed the facade that they want you to see and uncover the grit of who they truly are. I turned my cheek because I didn’t want to lose you like I’ve lost Adrianna,” he said softly. “I failed you because I was too much of a coward.”

I shook my head putting my hand on his arm.

“No Daddy, it’s my fault. I should’ve seen through his charms and realized he was just like any other guy who has toyed with me to gain something from you,” I laughed sarcastically. “It’s a vicious cycle that I can’t escape. The shitty thing is I really cared about him at one point. I really thought he was different. I guess the jokes on me.”

“Nikki…,”

My eyes found his, and I saw the struggle in them, he was keeping something from me. He was trying to protect me from something. His hands toyed with the newspaper in his lap.

“What is it?” I asked. “There is something you’re not telling me it’s written all over your face,” I chanced a glance at Jimmy who was staring down at the floor. “Dad?”

He took a deep breath, his gaze fixated on the newspaper. What was with that fucking paper? I snatched it from his hands forcing him to tear his attention from it and focus it on me. I don’t know what made me look down at the paper, but I did the headline causing me to gasp.

“The Night The Music Died."

Beneath the bold headline was a photo of Temptations the perimeter wrapped in yellow crime scene tape and there was an inset picture of Rico in the right-hand corner. I diverted my eyes to the fine print below his picture not believing my own eyes.

“New York’s hottest disc jockey dead at 24. The young man well known for turning tables and mixing beats was discovered cutting drugs and peddling them in reputed mob boss Victor Pastore’s night club.”

I dropped the newspaper and looked at my father.

“Rico’s dead?” I choked. I hated myself for the tears that welled in my eyes. I shouldn’t have cared I should’ve been mad, I should hate him, but I felt none of that. I did care and so I let the tears fall cursing myself as they did. I told myself it was okay to cry it was okay to grieve the man I had called my boyfriend because I hadn’t yet had a chance to process him as the enemy. He was just the guy who used to tell me he loved me. The guy I once thought I was going to spend my whole life with. I mourned the Rico I had known and loved he may not have been real and it may have all been an act, but it was the only reality I had truly known. Until now.

My father wrapped his arms around me bringing my head to his chest, caressing my hair as I cried. I tried not to ever harp on the things my dad did for a living. It was none of my business, but at that moment, I couldn’t help but wonder if the man comforting me over the loss of Rico was the one who had actually murdered him. The thought that Rico’s blood was on my own father’s hands appalled me. It wasn’t rational, and I had to remind myself that Rico was a bad guy that he was probably using me to get to my father. Rico never felt a goddamn thing for me that didn’t mean I wanted him dead. I definitely didn’t like the idea of my father being responsible for his death. I was torn between the right and wrong society set and the right and wrong the mob lived.

I pushed away from my father rising to my feet, wiping at my cheeks with the backs of my hands.

“Did you, do it?” I asked, knowing I was disobeying a covert rule in asking my father to admit if he committed murder. You learn something as the daughter of a mob boss something drummed into your head from a very tender young age. Admit nothing. People legitimately connected to the mafia never proclaimed they were and they sure as hell didn’t confess to any of their crimes.

I stared at my father, his face concealing any emotion or reaction to my question. He sat there like a fucking statue. He didn’t have to respond verbally to my question in order for him to answer it. His body language was all the response I needed to know that he had in fact killed Rico. I had lived twenty-one years surmising what my father was capable, but always hoping that someone else had executed his crimes, but right there in that moment, I learned the ugly truth.

I shook my head in disgust. It wasn’t just learning what he was capable of, I conceded it was also knowing that the life he chose made us all susceptible to his crimes that we all suffered being a part of his lifestyle. My sister and I now had to drop our lives and go into hiding because my father couldn’t be a nine-to-five guy and instead had chosen to be a thug.

“You really are a monster,” I whispered grimly.

My father remained mute and perfectly still granting me no reaction at all. I couldn’t stand to look at him anymore and escaped to the bedroom, slamming the door behind me leaving my father to battle his conscience that’s providing he had one at all.

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