Wounded Redemption by Brook Wilder
Chapter 11
Rory
The next few days were tense. I found myself unable to believe that Elias had been murdered and that Nico had been the one to make sure it happened. He had avenged Harper’s death, and while I should have felt bad about the whole eye-for-an-eye scenario, I didn’t.
I couldn’t. Elias had done horrible things to not only Nico but to Angelica and Harper. He had gotten a woman pregnant under the worst possible circumstances and then stashed her away so that my husband would carry around the guilt of what he thought he had done to Angelica.
Now there was a woman who had lost everything in her life, her parents, her youth, her innocence, and she had a son that didn’t know anything but violence.
That was why I couldn’t feel bad about what Nico had done.
Nico, too, was feeling the strain. I could see it in his eyes, how he stayed close to the penthouse whenever possible, even conducting some of his business there. He was worried about the backlash of what he had ordered to be carried out, and I didn’t know how to help him.
I also didn’t push him to do anything else. I didn’t ask to go anywhere, a little bit afraid, too, of what I might find once I stepped outside. Carmine was biding his time for his strike, and I was afraid for all of us.
It also didn’t help that as we learned more about Preston’s death, it wasn’t going to be hard for the NYPD to figure out who to blame. His death had made the headlines as he was a district attorney, and night after night, I sat in bed, curled up next to Nico as we watched the information unfold. Nico had already told me that it would give the police yet another reason to crack down on the D’Agostino Mafia and not to be surprised if they came to visit.
Which they did. Two detectives came to speak to Nico and me a few days later, asking all sorts of questions. Apparently there had been rumors about Preston not only helping me but also that he had a confrontation with me at Harper’s funeral, and they wanted to know about it.
Nico did most of the talking, and I was amazed at the way my husband placated them so quickly. Yes, I had been working with the DA, but it was to find out information for the paper, not to do any digging on my new family’s dirty laundry. He also told them that since Harper had published the article, Preston had informed me that he felt obligated to come to the funeral to pay his respects.
Lies, all of them, but the detectives seemed to take it in stride and departed not too long after.
I felt like they weren’t done, which meant we needed to end this business with Carmine and move on. It was painfully obvious that the truce was off, especially after Elias was murdered, and we had to get a leg up on the Mafia don if we wanted to survive.
Our plan had to be executed well, with no room for error.
I just wasn’t 100 percent sure what the plan was.
One night, after a week had passed since Elias’s death, Nico and I were on the sofa, watching the evening news. The stories were about some police officer in Minneapolis that had potentially killed this guy named George Floyd during an arrest, and now the city was bracing for violence. “How horrible,” I murmured as Nico played with my hair, my head resting on his chest. “I hope they don’t let him get away with it.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Nico responded, his voice full of worry. “It’s only a matter of time before violence breaks out about this. I mean, look at the past incidents of police-involved killings. People aren’t just going to stand around and let this one off the hook.”
I sat up. “It will be chaos here,” I told him, a thought forming in my mind. “The police will be busy with the protests if they come.”
Nico eyed me. “So, you are saying now’s the time to strike against my father.”
“I’m tired of waiting around for him to do so,” I said, a familiar anxiety creeping into my bones. “We are literally sitting around waiting for Carmine to show his face. Why do we need to do so? Why can’t we be first?”
“I did that with Elias,” Nico said slowly. “I sent a message.”
“We need a bigger one, “I interrupted. “He’s still not taking us seriously. I think he believes we will cave at any moment, and he will win.” I felt that wholeheartedly. Carmine was going to push us until we gave up for the sake of our family, but who was to say that we had to let him do so? He was just a person, not some god that was untouchable. “If we take the body of the snake, then the head is useless.”
Nico blew out a breath, running a hand through his hair. “You’re asking me to wage war on a man that I know I can’t beat.”
“That’s the thing,” I interrupted again, taking his face in my hands. “I know you can beat him. We can beat him together. You have your violent ways, and I have everything else.”
“So, you only know me for my violent ways?”
I rolled my eyes, his slight undertone warming my body. “You know what I mean. I can hit at him with words.” I had attempted to do so before, to ruin his reputation, and it hadn’t gone so well, but now I felt like I could do it.
Nico leaned forward, pressing our foreheads together. “I’m so fucking worried, Rory. He’s going to come after you and Anthony.”
“I think he’s going after Angelica first,” I answered softly, hearing the fear in his voice. “She’s a loose end he needs to tie up, and he can’t afford for her to tell her story. It will be the end of him.” But if I could get her to talk, then we could put something together while protecting the young woman from his clutches. The familiar flare of excitement started to spread throughout my body, a feeling that I usually got whenever I was on a story that was going to make the front page.
Now I controlled what went on the front page, and it was going to be epic to paint Carmine into a corner that he wouldn’t be able to get out of it. “Besides,” I continued. “We need to get the heat off of you.” I was scared to death that Nico would be ripped away from me at any moment, that the cops would come back and arrest him for Preston’s death, leaving me to fight Carmine alone.
We needed to go at him as a unit. Nico let out a ragged sigh. “Fine. I will look into where to attack first, but we make no moves unless each other knows. I won’t be fucking blindsided again.”
I pulled back so he could see my eyes. “I’m not going to do that again. You will know everything I do.”
“Fuck, Rory, you are coming over to the dark side,” he said, his eyes burning with intensity. “And I’m fucking hard as a rock.”
I looked down to confirm that indeed he had a tent in his joggers. “Well,” I said, reaching out to grip him through his joggers. “You better get used to it, or at least until we defeat your father. I’m not giving up, Nico. I’m not backing down.”
He pushed me back on the sofa before covering his body with mine. “Well then, Mrs. D’Agostino,” he grinned, grinding his body against mine. “I think that I’m going to enjoy this side of you for the time being.”
I reached up and pulled him down into a kiss, allowing myself to forget for a while. What I hadn’t told Nico was that I would do anything it took to keep my family safe. Nico could have his plans, but I was going to have mine, and we would take his father down together.
Otherwise, Carmine could use this chaos of the summer to kill us all.
