Chapter Eight
Riley
The memory of Nico saving me from Anthony’s filthy hands coursed through my mind. Nico thought he was a beast, an evil man that killed and ripped life from people. What he didn’t know was that I saw him completely different than that.
I knew he’d taken me to protect me from the destruction my father was causing. I knew that Nico wanted to protect me from everything bad in this world including himself. What he didn’t know was that I didn’t want protection from him.
I’d only been at the house for a little over a month, but I was finding out very soon that Antonio was up to no good. He was always on his phone, and every time I entered a room he would sneer at me.
I walked down the hall and into Nico’s office. I wanted to surprise him with afternoon sex, so I put on the sluttiest dress I could find, along with a pair of fuck me heels. I had just reached the door when I heard a voice that didn’t belong to Nico but instead to Antonio.
“I’m looking but I’m not finding anything.” He whispered.
My heart thundered against my ribcage as I waited just outside the door in silence wondering what was going to happen next. Why was he in Nico’s office without Nico present? Who was he talking to on the phone?
“I know. I’ll get the jewel and we can settle the debt, just be fucking patient. I’ve fucking got a shit ton going on, and if Nico or his little slut discover I’m stealing then I’ll have a bullet between my eyes. If that happens you can say goodbye to any payment that we agreed on, including your life.”
Venom-filled words hissed from Antonio’s lips, and it took me a moment to digest the words.
Antonio. Nico’s right hand is stealing from him.
I lifted my hand to stifle the half gasp that slipped out of my mouth, my back hitting the wall with a soft thud. All kinds of thoughts raced through my mind, but the biggest one was the fact that I needed to find Nico, and find him fast.
“Yeah, I’ll call when I find it. Until then don’t fucking call or text me. I don’t want Nico thinking anything. God knows he’s suspicious enough, although, he’ll never suspect that it’s me siphoning from him.”
His horrid laughter vibrated through me and I turned on my heels, scurrying down the hall. My heart beat thundered in my ears, my eyes trained on the floor as each step I took away from Nico’s office took me further away from the danger I knew I’d never be able to escape.
“Whoa, whoa…”
Nico’s warm voice filtered into my ears as his strong hands encompassed my shoulders, stopping me in my tracks, and causing my body to collide with his. Heat rolled off of him and slammed into me, calming the fear running through my veins. I licked my lips nervously, wondering if Antonio was behind me yet or not, or better yet how he is going to escape the room without Nico noticing.
“What’s wrong beautiful?”
Nico lifted my chin, forcing my eyes to meet his. Questions poured from his dark depths.
I wondered what would happen if I told him what I heard. Would he believe me, knowing I was the daughter of a liar, a cheat, and a thief? “Nothing, nothing at all. I was just looking for you.” I lie, and force a smile, praying he can’t see through my words.
He examines my face for longer than necessary before lifting his gaze to something behind me.
I can tell the second that everything changes. The air around us shifts and within seconds the warmth that usually oozes from Nico when he holds me disappears. Coldness replaces the warmth in a way I’ve never seen before.
“Lies will get you nowhere sweetness. Tell me what happened or I’ll find out what happened a different way and it won’t be pretty.”
His harsh words sent prickles of fear skittering across my skin. “You promised me you would never hurt me, and I don’t want to hurt you, so if I tell you what I just witnessed I know it’ll hurt you and I…”
Nico cuts off my words when he moves his fingers from my chin and down to my throat, each finger wrapping around my throat slowly. “Tell me Riley. Tell me so that I can protect you, because if you don’t I’ll fuck that information out of you until you do tell me.”
Desire builds from how much I crave this side of him, the side where he desires pain and blood in trade for injustice. He wants to hurt someone or something. I won’t sacrifice myself.
“Antonio…” I mumble the word, gasping as he releases his hold on me, his lips smashing against mine in seconds.
“He’s fucking dead. Tell me what happened.”
Nico’s barely restraining himself as he peppers my face with a possessive need, but I grin into his lips because he believes me.
“Boss.”
Antonio’s voice bleeds like acid rain all around me. Will Nico even believe me if I tell him what I heard Antonio doing?
“Antonio go into the dungeon, and have a seat would ya?”
Dungeon? I follow Nico’s gaze that shifts from mine and then back to Antonio’s and the darkness that is Nico lingers just below the surface begging to be set free from its chains.
Nico’s was a dangerous man and yet my longing for him was undeniable. I couldn’t let him go even if I wanted to, even if he ordered me away.
“Of course Boss. I’ll prepare the chamber.” Antonio’s voice trembled.
I knew he too was afraid of Nico who stood poised and still before us.
Antonio scurried away and down the hall, leaving both of us alone together. Fire burned in Nico’s dark depths and I wondered what was going to happen next. Maybe he didn’t believe me after all.
“Tell me what you know. I have my own suspicions but I want to know what you heard little one.”
The growl vibrated out of him and into me, causing my insides to churn. I wanted this man, this dark, dangerous, somewhat callous man to know the truth.
“Antonio’s trying to find something… a jewel. He owes someone money. That’s all I heard before I went to find you.” I wasn’t afraid, not of Nico. He’d protect me at any and all cost. It was Antonio I was afraid of, and the things he could do to Nico.
Nico rolled his hands into fists, simmering with rage. “I’m going to kill him sweetness, and as badly as I don’t want you to be there when I do it, you must be. I cannot let you out of my sight. Not when he’s willing to wage a war with me.”
Nico pulled me into his rigid body, his strong arms wrapping around my middle, and forcing me closer to his chest. His manly scent rolled over my senses, making my thoughts heated. I wanted him to fuck me right now, right in the face of danger.
How was the sane?
“I can see the desire pooling in your eyes. You’re looking at me as if you’re ready to be ravaged and as badly as I want to do that right now, we have business we must take care of first.”
He released me as if I was fire beneath his fingertips. A whimper escaped my lips as he took me by the hand, guiding us down the hall and in the direction of the Dungeon. A place I had never been to before.
“You know that I will do whatever I have to do to protect you right? That so long as I am breathing and my heart is beating, no one will hurt you.”
I swallowed around the emotion swarming me.
Was he afraid something was going to happen to me? To himself?
Fear, and confusion overwhelmed me and I clutched his hand. What would I do if Antonio shot him, or the men that he was trying to settle his debt with showed up here?
“Nothing’s going to happen to you right?” My voice wobbled giving away my fears.
Nico stopped us at the very top of the stairs, his eyes burning into mine as he cupped me by the cheek, and spoke softly against my lips.
“Your worry for my safety is sexy as fuck little one, but no, nothing will happen to me. It’s not my day to die, it’s Antonio’s.”
His hard kiss bruised my lips, and when he pulls away again I know nothing bad is going to happen. It can’t.
Not when Nico and I are so close to having our very own happy ever after.