Page 89 of Taming Nikki

Which meant this entire thing was started for nothing. Nikki broke into my office to prevent me from telling her papa something he already knew. When she found out, she was going to be pissed.

Morelli got up, pouring us both a drink before he sat down again.

“I assume you’re here because she broke the deal.” With a sigh, he shook his head. “She’s not going to change, Vitale. If you force her to marry you, she’ll probably get worse just to spite you. Even if I sign the papers for her, she’s going to keep fighting it.”

I knew that. And while I was pissed off before, I had no actual intention of forcing her. That wasn’t what I wanted. Not with her.

“I’m not here for that.”

He frowned. “You aren’t here to back out of our deal, are you?”

I shook my head, taking a drink. Morelli watched me carefully, his eyes narrowed before his eyebrows went up, finally realizing my intentions.

“You’re going to let her go.”

I didn’t have any other choice. The more I pushed her, the harder she’d fight back. If I wanted a chance at keeping her, I needed to back the hell off. I hated it. It wasn’t the way I worked, but I made her a deal. And I never back out on my deals.

“So we go back to Frankie and Amara, then? They get along well. It shouldn’t be an issue.” I raised an eyebrow at him and he grimaced. “Nikki is going to make it an issue, isn’t she?”

I had no doubt. If she wasn’t willing to go through with an arranged marriage, she sure as shit wasn’t going to let her sister get forced into one.

Morelli made an irritated sound, scowling at the wall. “That girl will be the death of me. And with that business of hers booming like it is, she’ll stop worrying about loyalty eventually and come after me.”

“You need to let her go, too.”

He frowned at me, but I cut him off before he could argue.

“To stop her from going after the asshole who attacked her sisters, I made her a promise. If she let me handle it, I’d set her free. I don’t back out on my deals.”

With a heavy sigh, he nodded. “I figured I’d have to eventually. She’s proven with you that she can’t be trusted being part of one of my deals. And there’s no point in making her stay. But are you sure you’re willing to walk away?”

I took a healthy swallow of whiskey, which made him smirk.

“Well, I guess I can’t really argue with that. She’s a force to be reckoned with. We’ll need to draw up new paperwork, but for now, I think we can take that section out and keep it simple. If you wait too long, she’ll be gone before you have a chance to tell her how you feel.”

I shot him a dirty look. Morelli may be soft on his daughters but if he started that ‘fatherly’ bullshit with me he’d regret it.

After signing the paperwork, I went looking for Nikki. She should’ve had enough time by now to cool off so I could talk to her. I blew out a breath, knocking on her door. She didn’t answer, which wasn’t surprising, but I called through the door anyway.

“Nikki, open up. We need to talk.”

Still nothing. I tried the handle, and surprisingly, it opened, but Nikki wasn’t inside. Her bedroom window was open, the breeze drifting through the curtains. And I knew at that moment, she wouldn’t be coming back.

ChapterForty

NIKKI

“Yo, Nikki. You up here?”

It had been over a week since I left my papa’s house for good. I showed up at Nino’s, heartbroken and pissed as hell. I thought for a second when Leo promised to drop the deal that we could move past it and maybe have a real shot. But just like before, he showed his true colors in the end. There was no way I was letting him force me to marry him, so I took off while he was still meeting with my papa about it.

He’d tried calling, but I never answered. What was there to say? He could bitch and complain all he wanted, but I wasn’t ever going to let him go through with it, so there wasn’t a point in talking to him.

Nino was more than happy to let me stay for a while, but I already had my eye on an apartment not far from him. A couple of big jobs and I’d probably be able to buy my own condo by the end of the year. I’d have to hire some new people. Papa wasn’t going to just let me steal my cousins away from the fold. He hadn’t stopped them for now, but I was preparing for it anyway. He hadn’t done much of anything, which was still a little shocking. Maybe he finally wised up that he couldn’t control me like he controlled my sisters.

“I’m here. What’s up?”

Marco jogged up the stairs, shooting me a grin. “We’ve got a few big ones looking to make contact. I got like four cards last night.”

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