Page 65 of Covert
"Later," she replies.
Axel slumps down, sitting in his work chair. His shoulders hang forward as realization hits him hard. "Nikki," he breathes out on a sigh. "Letty. Nicoletta. Nicoletta Ricci."
Nikki visibly winces, and she looks at him apologetically.
"Who the fuck is Nicoletta Ricci!?" My anger, which had seemed so distant recently, was now back in full form. My girl is getting taken away from us, and there's nothing I can do about it. And who the fuck is Nicoletta Ricci!?
"The lost mafia princess," Axel continues, looking at Nikki like he's seeing her for the very first time. She is the embodiment of regret.
"How did you find me?" she whispers. Regret and compassion spread across the leader's face.
"One of our new recruits came in for a tattoo and recognized you."
"Can I at least say goodbye?" she asks. The leader nods.
She walks to me and wraps her arms around my neck, giving me the saddest smile. "I told you I didn't get to keep you," she whispers against my lips. She holds my face tenderly as she kisses me. It feels an awful lot like a goodbye kiss, but I refuse to let her go when she tries to pull away.
"I have to go with them," she whispers to me. "Please don't follow, please don't try to find me. I don't want them to hurt you."
"This is your 'them'," I whisper back, running my thumb along her cheek to wipe away the tears. She simply nods sadly. I'm frozen. I can't fight these men. I can't steal her away. I can't stop her from leaving, and the future we had been building together crashes around us. I'm powerless as I watch her walk up to Beckett and wrap her arms around him. I slump against my table, already trying to come up with ways to get her back.
But as I watch Beckett bury his face in the crook of her neck, my heart breaks for him, too. He was finally getting better. He'd been smiling, for the first time since I first met him. She had brought him back to life, and now she's leaving. She whispers something to him, and he nods, and I swear his lower lip trembles. Fuck, I hate seeing men cry. He collapses against his chair and holds his head in his hands.
She moves to Axel next, who gives her a watery smile - one that doesn't reach his eyes. He reaches out for her and pulls her against him, getting as much body contact as possible. He threads his fingers through her hair and presses a deep, passionate kiss against her mouth.They whisper to each other, but I can't make out the words. While I don't want Nikki to leave, I need her and the mafiosos to leave so we can formulate a plan.
We watch in stunned silence as one of the men behind the leader approaches Nikki with bright pink back hostlers with small pistols and helps her put them on, before handing her another that wraps around her thigh. I can't combine these two different versions of Nikki in my mind. My sweet, sexy Nikki, with this Nicoletta, who wears weapons and apparently runs with the mafia.
She gives us all one last sad look before the bell rings above the door again, and she's gone. The eerie silence that follows is unnerving. It's not just the sound of her, it's her presence. It feels like it did before she came into our lives -- dull, grey.
I stand, anger and desperation forcing my muscles into action. "No! Fuck this. We're not letting her go." I refuse to let her go. I don't care what she said, what she wants, there's no future without her in it.
I start with Axel. "What did she say to you?" Maybe there will be clues, or something that hints that will help us get her back. I need to know everything.
Axel stares at the floor, unmoving. His stillness is eerie, but his eyes say he's lost to himself.
"She said she loved me and that she would send me her new tracker info," he whispers, almost defeated. Tracker? I'm about to ask him what he means when it dawns on me. The scar on the back of her neck. She must have dug it out herself, so they couldn't track her. My heart clenches in on itself at the thought of my sweet, brave Nikki, at fifteen, digging a knife into the back of her neck so she could be free. So shewouldn't be sold. If she's the missing mafia princess, why would her family sell her? And is she in danger of being sold again?
Fuck!
"Text Diesel. He needs to know. Maybe he can help us."
"Beckett?"
He looks up at me with such grief and sorrow, it breaks my heart all over again.
"She said she would find her way back to us. That we were worth fighting for."
That's at least good news - that she's not just resigned to leave us.
"Let's go home. We need a plan. We need to know everything there is to know about the Ricci family."
Chapter thirty-nine
Nikki
The drive back to my father's house is a silent one. I know Angelo had no choice but to find me and bring me back. I'm not mad at him. He helped me escape, and we both knew I was always on borrowed time. He and I both know what his finding me and bringing me home means. I'll be punished. Not killed, because I'm still a valuable bargaining chip. But I disobeyed Father, embarrassed him in the public eye, and made his life harder when I refused to marry Vitale. The man was fifty years older than I am. And known for abusing his wives.
I don't know if I can trust Angelo's guards, so I keep my mouth shut on the way home. I rest my head against Angelo's shoulder. I really have missed my big brother. He's only two years older than me and was my best friend up until the day he helped me escape. I'm sure he took a beating for it, too.
