The Italian Dom by N.J. Adel

CHAPTER 1

Nicky

 

In all my twenty-one years, I’d held two babies. Lina, my sister, and her baby boy, Niccolino—Nick as I liked to call him. She insisted on naming him after me.

I’d never thought, not once in my life, my only sister who was two years younger than I was would become a mother at nineteen, and I’d carry her babies before I even finished college.

She was supposed to finish school, get a scholarship to become a violinist like she’d always wanted, like she’d deserved. She was the academy prodigy and the best violinist in town. But no, Tino Bellomo had to have her all for himself, owning every part of her, even her music, planting his seed inside her so she’d never be free.

I looked at the little crapper. He was the spitting image of his dad, except he had Lina’s eyes. Beautiful green instead of the bottomless dark blue. I hoped he’d look more like her as he grew up. At least, on the inside. We’d learned the hard way how crappy the offspring of Tino Bellomo could turn out to be.

Leo Bellomo was the devil’s son. A psycho creep like his father but worse. The fucking bastard that tried to—

The nursery door opened, and Lina dashed from her seat toward it, throwing herself into her husband’s arms. They kissed with urgent passion, as if they hadn’t seen each other in weeks when he was right here this morning.

As he finished devouring my sister’s mouth, he tilted his head at me. “Nicole. I didn’t know you were here.”

Of course he knew; Don Bellomo knew everything. Not that it’d have made any difference. Having me in the same room wouldn’t have stopped him from fucking my sister’s mouth with his tongue. It’d probably make him do more. Ten months and the territorial wolf was still making his claim; he wanted me to know Lina belonged to him now.

I put the baby in his crib. “I was just leaving.”

“Leaving? Christmas is two days away,” he said.

“So?”

“So you gotta stay. Spend the holidays here with us, your family.”

Family? The only family I had left was Lina, and he took that away, too. I spun to face him. “Don Bellomo, if you hadn’t knocked up my sister two months before your wedding, and Lina’s pregnancy and child birth hadn’t been exactly easy ones that she needed my constant help till today, I wouldn’t have been coming here as often as I have. I wouldn’t have been coming here at all, let alone stay for days.”

“Nicky…” Lina sighed.

I kissed Nick goodbye and headed for the door. “Good to see you, Sis.”

As I reached the stairs, something grabbed my arm. I twisted, and the dark blue eyes hit me. “This ridiculous feud needs to end,” Tino said.

I jerked my arm out of his grip. “I don’t like to be touched.”

He stared at me in disbelief. “Even by me? Nicole, I’ve looked after you for years. You’ve always been like a daughter to me, and now you’re my sister-in-law. What have I ever done to you to hate me this much?”

A classic psychopath. Oblivious to his crimes. “Why do you care?”

“What did I just say? You’re the daughter I never had. I don’t want you to hate me. I want to be there for you, give you the best, just like I do for Angel.”

Angel. We all called her Lina, but he called her Angel. His Angel. I despised that name he called my sister as much as I despised him. “The best?” I snorted. “My sister and I are totally different. Your charms and mind tricks somehow worked on her, but I’d never fall for those, Don Bellomo.”

He rolled his eyes. “First of all, call me Tino. I’m your family. It’s a fact even if you don’t want to admit it. Second of all, yes, I’ve given her the best, and I’ll continue to do so as long as I’m alive. What Angel and I have is real and pure and strong, more than you can understand. More than anyone can. But you don’t have to understand to believe. Look Angel in the eye and ask yourself one question. Is your sister happy?”

She was delusional like he was. He’d convinced her that his sick obsession with her was bigger than love, and all the awful things he’d done to get her were justified, and she believed him. Yes, he treated her like a queen, and he protected her and Nick with his life, and I had to admit he’d always looked after me, too, but he was still the psycho stalker murderer fuck who killed, maimed, stalked, kidnapped and God knew what else in the name of his obsession with her. How could she fucking love or trust him? “Is there a third of all?”

He exhaled roughly. “Yeah. Your sister is crying because you won’t spend Christmas with her. It’s the first year ever you two won’t be together during the holidays. I don’t want her to be sad, especially at this time of the year. Can we put our differences aside for one fucking week? For Angel?”

Emotional blackmail. Trying to win a point on my expense, Don Bellomo? He, the caring husband who was trying to do everything he could to make his wife happy, and I, the evil bitch that wouldn’t suck it up for a week to be with her sister on the holidays.

No. I wasn’t gonna let him win.

My own heart was torn that I wasn’t gonna be with her on Christmas for the first time ever. Before this man, we were inseparable. The Baldi sisters versus the world. Leaving her was one of the hardest things I had to deal with, and God knew how much shit had been thrown at me, at the both of us.

I lifted my chin, my eyes daring. “Sure we can. For Lina.”

He smirked. “Bellisimo. I’ll send Michele to your apartment to get your things.”

The idea of his bodyguard rummaging through my apartment wasn’t acceptable. Enough that Tino still sent him after me everywhere—like he used to send him after us before he married Lina—keeping taps. “No, thanks. Keep your hound where he belongs. I’ll go get them myself. Will be back in an hour or two.”

“As you like.” He strode back to the nursery.

I climbed down the stairs and stalked outside, calling an Uber as I headed for the gates.

A car cruised in. But then it stopped, and the windows rolled down. “Nicky?”

I squinted at the man in the backseat, and irritation bubbled up the second I recognized his face. What the fuck was Domenico Lanza doing here?

“Nice to see you again,” he drawled in his stupid accent.

“Is it?”

He chuckled. “Where are you going?”

“None of your business.”

“That happens to be on my way. Hop in. I’ll give you a ride.”

I rolled my eyes. The jerk loved to get on my nerves. “No thanks, and by the way, you’re not funny. What the hell are you doing here anyway? It’s Christmas. Shouldn’t you be with your family in San Francisco?”

“The whole family will be here for the holidays.”

“What? Why?”

“Tino invited us all to spend the holidays in his mansion, and Enzio, our capo, accepted.” He winked at me. “Fantastico, eh?”