Page 68 of Nico (Belles & Mobsters 2)

She scoffed. “You try and I’ll kick your ass,” she muttered under her breath. We were getting closer to my parents. “My parents never laid their hands on me. I certainly won’t let you spank me.”

I leaned over and gently bit into her earlobe. “You might enjoy it.” She instantly blushed blood red.

Straightening up, I ended the conversation. My parents were just a few feet away.

“Nico, I’m so sorry we are late,” my mother said, her voice slightly drawn. She was drunk already. “I thought the wedding was at noon.”

It was a set up. This morning I called them up right before the ceremony began, to let them know the wedding was at noon. I made sure I spoke to my mother since due to her drinking she often mixed up her dates. If it wasn’t for my mother, I wouldn’t have bothered telling my father, but my mother at least deserved to be here for the wedding reception.

My father grunted, pissed off. “Of course you couldn’t get the time right.”

He was pissed off. Because I suspected he would call Benito King to let him know I was marrying his asset. It was my traitorous father who also participated in a few of the Belles and Mobsters’ bids. My father was one of the silent bidders on Bianca, but the Russian outbid him. He had crossed the line, and I intended to make him pay. But not today. Today I’d deal with Benito; he wouldn’t be far behind my parents.

“No harm done,” I deadpanned. “Meet my wife. Bianca Morrelli.” I turned to my wife, visible shock in her eyes. “Bianca, my parents. Nancy and Dominic Morrelli.”

My father’s dark eyes studied Bianca, his gaze traveling down her body, and it took all I had not to pounce on him. Unlike John, my father would never be a harmless admirer. He liked to force himself on women and my mother liked to look the other way, taking younger lovers. While women would never regularly cheat in our world, not unless they wanted to be dead, my mother wasn’t from our world. And she held a vast fortune in her name that would never pass to my father, so she was worth more to him alive than dead.

I was surprised those two managed to produce two children, considering how much animosity ran between them. My heart squeezed remembering Nicoletta. While I turned out to be a cruel and cold motherfucker, like my father, Nicoletta was the only one that remained untarnished. Until my father handed her over to Benito.

Bianca extended her hand to my mother. “Nice to meet you. I’m sorry you missed the ceremony.”

My mother reached to take her hand, but she missed it all together. She wasreallydrunk.

“Oops, I’m sorry,” my mother muttered, looking slightly embarrassed.

“No worries.”

Bianca smiled softly, not letting on to have noticed. When she would have missed my wife’s hand again, Bianca moved hers to take my mother’s drunk handshake.

After the awkward handshake, my father moved in and I stopped him.

“I don’t think so, Father.”

He was about to put his filthy hands on her, but I'd be damned if I’d let that happen. I didn’t want him in her vicinity, even less touching her. Today was just a necessity. More times than not, she wouldn’t see my parents. I regretted my mother, but unless she was willing to let go of her alcohol and gigolos, I couldn’t allow her around my wife and the girls.

Bianca sensing the danger, tucked herself closer to me. As if she tried to remedy the situation, and keep my father at bay, she extended her hand.

“Mr. Morrelli, nice to meet you.”

Truthfully, I didn’t want him even shaking her hand, but unless I was willing to stir more shit and create another scene, I’d have to allow it.

The gleam in my father’s eyes told me he knew I didn’t want him touching her. So he took her hand and held it.

“The pleasure is all mine,” he purred, licking his lips. I should just punch him in the face and get it over with. Bianca’s body stiffened in my arms, while she gently tugged on her arm, but my father held it firmly in his, rubbing his thumb over the pulse on her wrist. “Now I can see what all the fuss is about.”

I took my wife’s hand that he gripped and pulled it out of his handle. His eyes remained glued to her form, and I could only imagine what kind of things he was fantasizing about. Sick bastard!

The next time I allowed him to come around her would be at his funeral.

I let go of Bianca’s hand and noted her wiping it on her dress. She had good instincts at least. She didn’t like my father; it was written on her face.

“Nico, did you buy another place?” My mother broke the uncomfortable silence, her words stumbling over themselves. “It is kind of demure for your taste. Small and plain.”

Leave it to my mother to say something like that. She grew up surrounded by luxury. Even before she married my father, her grandparents, the Cassidy family, were wealthy. The construction boom made them one of the wealthiest families in the country. And they knew how to secure their wealth to ensure the greedy husbands or wives would never walk away with their empire.

Bianca’s uncomfortable chuckle followed.

“Ummm, no, it’s my place.” My mother winced, realizing her rudeness, but Bianca didn’t seem to take it to heart. “It was actually an old barnyard,” she continued explaining, pride in her voice. “But the location was perfect and had the biggest yard on the entire island. When I saw it, I fell in love with it. It took several years to get it completed,” Bianca’s eyes moved over the place.

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