Page 1 of Nico (Belles & Mobsters 2)

PROLOGUE

“William, are you mad?” I hissed under my breath. “Take that money and return it. Pronto!” And in case he didn’t understand the urgency in Italian, I added in English, “Right fucking now!”

What the hell was he thinking to take a damn money bag from the mafia? It didn’t matter whether they left the bag behind by accident or not. I couldn’t comprehend how someone wouldforgeta bag full of money. Lots of money! It must have been a test. One that my husband and John, our best friend, failed. Big time!

The Morrelli family was known for their ruthlessness. Everyone feared them, despite the fact they moved in high social circles and among some of the most prestigious politicians. The fact of the matter was they ruled D.C. and Maryland with an iron fist. Dominico Morrelli was known as the Wolf for Christ’s sake. He ripped people’s throats out for crossing him. If that wasn’t something to be feared, I didn’t know what was.

“I didn’t steal it, Bianca,” my husband protested. His blonde hair was disheveled and wet from the rain. He was lucky to dock his boat without crashing against the pier. There was a storm coming, a hurricane nearing the coastlines of the Maryland shores. It was one of the only downfalls of living in this area. That and how freaking expensive it was.

My eyes darted to John who looked just as soaked. Those two found a side gig transporting people back and forth across the bay.Only once in a while, they justified it.

Except, they weren’t regular people. They were criminals. I ought to wring both of their necks. We were no match for the mafia.

“Don’t look at me like that, Bee.” John’s hands raised in surrender, his whole appearance just as disheveled as my husband’s. “Will is telling the truth. They left the bag behind. Finders, keepers.”

I wanted to smack both of them for acting so childish.

“It doesn’t work like that with the mafia,” I argued in a hushed tone. The twins were sound asleep, and the last thing I needed right now was for them to wake up. It was a long day caring for them, along with the worry for my husband weighing me down. “They will kill us. All of us. You have to return the money!”

It was late May, and it constantly rained. Things were not looking up. Even this hurricane was a freak of nature. It wasn’t even a hurricane season yet.

The rain pounded against the windows, the force of the wind howling making this whole situation even darker. I loved our house, but right now, it spooked me. We were so exposed with the French windows surrounding us. I felt like we were being watched from the bay by the underworld of Baltimore, ready to attack us.

Yes, my imagination was getting the best of me. Because nobody smart would be out on the bay in this weather. Not unless they had a death wish.

“They left the bag full of money behind.” My husband was adamant about keeping the money. “It could be their way of paying for the service.”

“William, they paid you and John already,” I pointed out the obvious to him. “That bag was forgotten. You cannot keep it.” I turned to John, who I've known as long as William. “John, those men are brutal. They won’t just kill us; they’ll kill our entire family. Everyone!”

He thought I was exaggerating, but all they had to do was read the articles in the papers and they’d realize how dangerous this was.

“If they call and bring it up, we’ll give it back,” John reasoned.

“What the hell were the two of you thinking? Getting involved with those people is a death sentence.”

“We need the money,” they both responded at the same time. “You know we need the money, babe.” My husband’s stubborn voice tried to make me see this whole situation his way. “They seem pretty decent, keeping to themselves and clean-cut suits. You should have seen Dominico Morrelli; he was in this very expensive suit. You’d never be able to tell he was a criminal.”

My heart shuddered with fear, and I exhaled shakily. Those two were in the same boat as Dominico Morrelli. They were lucky they came out of it alive. I couldn’t completely grasp the reason why these criminals were using someone else’s boat. It wasn’t as if Dominico Morrelli couldn’t afford a Grady White boat.

“Those guys don’t seem so bad,” John muttered, agreeing with my husband. Of course, he would agree even if William was wrong.

The Pope could proclaim those criminals saints and that would still not change my mind. Those mobsters were some of the worst men to walk this Earth. I had seen firsthand how they destroyed people, families.

John leaned over and pressed a kiss on my cheek. “We can talk about it all when the storm passes. I have to get to my place before it gets really bad.”

With a sigh, I nodded and walked him to the front door. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you over? Or stay the night here,” I suggested.

“Yes, positive.” He grabbed the umbrella and walked through the door, with me right behind him. “Try not to worry too much.”

He gave me one more smooch on my cheek and turned around, leaving me behind as he stepped out into the rain while opening the umbrella. He walked out into the dark, rain trickling down over the umbrella’s edges.

“Text us when you get home,” I called out to him. He didn’t turn around but just waved his hand in the air, acknowledging he would.

He lived only two streets over, but it would give us a peace of mind to know he confirmed he got home safely. Standing on the wide front stone porch, covered only by a little overhang, I watched John’s figure disappear through the rainy, dark night. As the rain poured and the wind howled, a feeling of dread slowly crept up my spine.

I didn’t have a good feeling about what they had done tonight. People didn’t just get away with taking a bag with hundreds of thousands of dollars like it was nothing.

From the corner of my eye, a light flickered over the water and my head whipped in its direction. Like a cigarette butt or a lighter. My eyes scanned the dark surface, the little drops of rain wetting my face. I saw something; I knew it wasn’t my overactive imagination. I held my breath, the sense of being watched increasing with each second. It sent fear and a shudder down my spine, sensing the dangers that lurked in the dark. Something or somebody was out there.

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