Page 82 of Nico (Belles & Mobsters 2)

“How could you let me believe he ended it?” I rasped.

His throat moved as he swallowed hard. “I didn’t find out until he got really sick. You were already out of your mind, and it seemed pointless to tell you.”

“How did you find out?”

“That woman, Jenna, called me to ask about you. I told her William was on his deathbed, and I threatened her that if she called again, I’d tell her husband.” My best friend and he kept such a secret from me. William lied to me, though when he told me it was over, I had a gut feeling he wasn’t telling me everything. I ignored it, coughing it up to my stress levels. Dad kept a big secret from me, and I didn’t want my imagination to assume secrets were being kept by my husband too. How did I miss so much?

What’s done is done.My father used to say that all the time. It seemed appropriate in this situation. After all, it wasn’t as if I could confront William. Yet it was hard to overlook the betrayal. So much deceit.

Our last week together, in the hospital, flashed in my mind - the memory heart wrenching and now tainted. Was any of it true?

“Bianca,” William’s voice was weak, the smell of the hospital overwhelming and a constant reminder of what was coming. “Don’t cry.”

Words stuck in my throat, invisible hands choking me, taking everything.

“Bianca, look at me.”

William’s voice was firm; it was the first time in weeks that I heard his voice so determined. Our eyes met, my heart hurting so bad, I was sure I had to be bleeding somewhere on the inside. I could barely see his frail hand through tears in my eyes. It took all his strength to raise his arm, reaching for me. Taking his hand in my palm, I placed my cheek against it. “I had more than most men in their entire life… your love. You and the girls made me the happiest man. I’m dying a happy man.”

A sob I had been trying so hard to hold back whimpered through my mouth and my lungs constricted. It was the first time we both acknowledged that he was dying. We lost the fight. Everything we tried failed. I didn’t care any longer that he hadn’t been faithful to me. I just needed him here. With me. With our girls.

“Please, William.” I placed my forehead against his. I wasn’t sure what I was pleading for. I wanted him to stay, but he had no say in it anymore. His strength was failing, his organs were failing. The doctors were amazed he was still holding on.

“Promise me,” his loving face was a shadow of what it used to be. “Promise you’ll move on. You deserve more.”

I couldn’t even think about moving on back then, but now I wondered whether he had moved on already. That was his last goodbye. He was gone forever the next day.

My eyes gravitated towards Nico. He knew William cheated. I meant my words to him yesterday. I didn’t believe in cheating. Nico agreed, but now I wasn’t sure what I believed or didn’t believe. Not that it mattered. I wouldn’t be around very long.

It would seem my new husband and I both had agendas. Yet his agenda could destroy me. Benito getting his hands on my girls or me would doom us. He had sucked the life out of my mother already; I refused to let him have more of our family.

And Nico… well, whatever the hell his agenda was, he could find another way to get revenge.

I had to be smart. Trusting him was out of the question.

Mom said she wanted to have coffee in a few weeks. That meant I only had a few weeks to run. Not much time to get my shit together. It would be harder with Nico and his guards around.

A marriage contract for two years. Yeah, right!I snickered in my head. His promises of protection… it was all bullshit. I must be the biggest idiot on this planet to have believed his word. The word of a fucking mobster.

That’s okay though. I’d play along, until I found my window to take my girls and run. Hopefully, the opportunity came sooner rather than later. I had our passports tucked in a secret pocket inside my purse. It wasn’t smart to go around with passports, but it became necessary. My grandmother insisted on that little act when I turned eighteen. She pulled my passport out of her own purse and handed it to me, requesting I keep it on me at all times. Just like my driver license, she’d said. I didn’t know why until Dad’s deathbed confession.

My eyes absorbed the leftover party. Grace, Ella, Nancy, and I hung around on the back patio. Most of the guests left. Luciano was still around, of course. Grace, Ella, Luciano, and Massimo would stay the night. Nancy was still here too. I was pissed off with her son, and she knew it, but both of us steered away from that topic. I decided I liked her very much, so we kept to neutral subjects. She didn’t seem to want to go home so I offered her a room, if she wanted to spend the night.

Cassio and Luca still hung around, glancing my way every so often. Probably debating how to kill me for slapping Luca.

What. A. Fucking. Asshole.

I just couldn’t get away from the King family. Albeit, I have to admit to myself that other than Luca’s badmouthing my mother, I didn’t mind those two. They were nothing like their father, but brothers or not, I wouldn't allow either one of them to talk about my mother like that.

My mother had sacrificed herself for me.

A mistake.

One night with the wrong stranger.

A lifetime of regret.

She didn’t know about the debt owed to the King family - one belle every other generation. It wasn’t her generation to pay; it would have been her child’s. My debt to pay. But unfortunately, Grandma thought she was sparing my mother when she kept that secret. When Benito King saw her, he knew Sofia Catalano wasn’t part of the agreement. He knew exactly who she was, but he wanted her so he came up with a plan.

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