Page 39 of Taming Nikki

“Fucking brat!”

ChapterEighteen

LEO

I hadno intention of chasing her down. I was a fucking don. Instead, I called my cousins and sent them to find her. I wasn’t lying. If I found some dude tattooing her tits, I was going to kill him. Maybe then she’d realize I was serious.

I marched back up the stairs to Morelli’s office. There were a few things I needed to finish before I left to deal with my fiancée. I could hear shouting from inside. Viola was on a rampage. Pushing the door open, I tried not to grimace at the shrill screaming from Morelli’s wife.

“I can’t believe you! You should stop her! Send Gino to go get her!”

Morelli looked bored, his focus on the paperwork in front of him. I dropped into my seat and took the papers he handed me without acknowledging the woman. He seemed content to ignore his wife until she threatened to handle Nicole herself.

“Fine! Since I’m the only one who cares about our family’s reputation, I’ll do it. I’m calling Gino, and we are finally going to get that girl in line.”

“You will do no such thing,” Morelli growled. Viola froze and glared at him. “Gino and DiAngelo are not allowed around Nicole. If you have a problem with her behavior, take it up with her fiancé.” He gestured to me. “If he wants to let her get away with that shit, that’s entirely up to him. We already signed the paperwork, she’s his problem now.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he didn’t bother to look my way. His focus was on Viola, whose face was turning dark red as she fought to keep herself under control.

“Of course you’d say that. You’ve always spoiled her. You let her get away with anything and everything. She taunts my daughters, she wrecks my dishware, she blatantly disrespects me and you don’t even bat an eye. I’m sure if Bianca or Valeria ever tried to do what Nicole does, you’d lose your mind. You have a double standard with her.”

Morelli was losing his patience, his lips pressed together tightly. His wife was not only questioning his decision making, she was embarrassing him in front of another don. That shit wouldn’t fly with me, not even for Nicole. It made him look weak. She was the third member of his family who seemed like they weren't under his control.

“Whether or not you acknowledge it, Nicole is a representative of our family. Her actions reflect on you. Her covering her body in disgusting tattoos shows the world that you can’t control your own daughter. She needs to start acting more like her sisters. And since she won’t listen to me when I try to speak rationally with her, you need to handle it. I don’t care if you have to beat it into her. I am tired of the way she treats me and this family.”

“Viola, enough!” Morelli snapped. “You are not the head of this family. You do not get to question my decisions. I’ve had enough of you. Since you are so fixed on people learning their place, perhaps I need to remind you of yours! Now get out!”

Viola’s mouth gaped open. It was obvious that Morelli didn’t feel the need to yell at her often. He shot her a dirty look and her jaw clicked closed as she spun on her heel and fled the room. Morelli scrubbed his hands over his face, frustrated.

“If it weren’t for this deal, I would warn you against getting married. Women cause nothing but trouble. This drama between her and Nicole has been going on since the day she was brought to us.”

I offered him a cigarette, and we both sat in silence for a moment as we let the nicotine do its job. Once he seemed to relax a bit, he regarded me.

“What’s your plan with Nicole and her new fascination with body art?”

I looked at the paperwork in my hand, trying not to get riled again at the thought of Nicole’s new tattoo.

“First, I need to find her. Then I’ll deal with her.”

“Try asking her cousins. They follow her around like puppies, doing her bidding. I’ve tried more than once to put them on the street. Nicole will pay another family member extra to do the jobs I assigned those two and steal them back.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “So when you said I had my work cut out for me?”

He chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. “I was upfront with you, Vitale. No going back now. She’s fierce and brazen and a giant pain in my ass. I’m not taking her back.”

I smirked. He wasn’t wrong. He was upfront with me from the start. I just underestimated how much of a challenge she would be.

I had just finished up the meeting with Morelli when I remembered something Nicole said in the kitchen.

“When is Nicole’s birthday?”

He grunted. “Saturday. She goes out every year with that pissant half brother of hers. Manipulated her way into going without security this year, too.”

I frowned. “Where the hell is she going?”

“Baseball game. Her brother is in the major leagues. I may not be sending her with security directly, but I figured out where she’d be. I planned on making her cousins watch the park from the outside so she won’t notice them.”

That wasn’t good enough. Half Italian or not, Nicole was Morelli’s daughter and people would do anything to have leverage against him. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll go with her.”

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