Wounded Redemption by Brook Wilder
Chapter 3
Nico
I walked into the suite behind Rory and Anthony, waves of anxiety and worry rolling off me. I didn’t want to stay the night in my father’s home. I wanted to gather my family up and get them the hell away from the monster, but I couldn’t.
I couldn’t afford for my father to come after me right now. I didn’t know what he wanted or what his plans were. I had to keep not only Rory and our son safe but also Angelica and hers. She was depending on me to keep her away from both Carmine and Elias, and hell, I owed it to her.
I owed it to them all.
I shut the door behind me and engaged the lock. Our bags had already been delivered, and Rory was placing Anthony in the playpen set up near the sofa, tension evident on her face. She had done well against my father, but he had been able to read her like a book.
She was no match against him, and I knew deep down he was plotting to use her and Anthony both against me to get his way.
“Well,” she finally said, turning to look at me. “I don’t understand what he’s doing.”
“What happened with Preston?” I asked instead, remembering my father’s words. Rory had gone pale when he had mentioned the DA, and she had told me that nothing had happened that day.
Somehow now I didn’t believe her.
Rory smoothed her hands over her stomach. “Nico, I—”
“Just fucking tell me,” I interrupted with a growl. I wasn’t in the mood for moving around the truth. I wanted to know how slowly I needed to kill the DA. Had he put his hands on her? If he did, he would find himself without his hands first.
Maybe I did have some of the bloodthirstiness of my father after all, but when it came to my wife, nothing was off the table. She was mine.
Rory looked wounded at the sharpness of my tone, but I ignored it. “I called him,” she started, wrapping her arms around her waist. “I wanted to get Anthony out. You were being unreasonable, and I knew that if Carmine got his hands on our son, he wouldn’t hesitate to break him. I couldn’t take that, Nico. I couldn’t just stand by and watch our son, our baby boy, be sucked into this life!”
I took a step closer. “Tell me what he did.”
She looked away. “He took me to what I thought was a safe house, saying that he was going to get us out of the state as soon as he could. I thought he was going to save Anthony, but all he really wanted was—”
“What?” I barked out, my rage barely under control. “What did he want?”
“Me,” she whispered. “He wanted me, Nico. I locked myself in the bedroom and called Emilia to come get me.”
I closed my eyes briefly as I tried to picture how fucking scared she must have been. It hadn’t been long after she had accused me of killing Harper, and I still didn’t think she believed that I didn’t have anything to do with his death.
Fuck me. I was going to kill the DA slowly for even thinking he could have what was mine.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, her words barely above a whisper. “I didn’t—I don’t know how your father found out about it, and I should have told you the entire story. I was just scared, Nico. I was so unbelievably scared.”
I could feel her fear still. While I was glad she had thought of our son first and foremost, it still fucking hurt that she had tried to take him away from me.
That, and another man had thought to covet what was mine by playing fucking hero to her, gaining her trust so that she would go with him willingly.
I couldn’t wait to end Preston’s life. “Did you come back because he didn’t give you what you wanted?” I asked, unable to help myself.
Rory shook her head. “No, of course not. Emilia offered to take me anywhere in the world, and I told her I couldn’t go. I couldn’t just up and leave you like that, Nico.” She took a few steps toward me, halting as she saw my expression. “I love you. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that, but you are what I want. You are my future, you and our children.”
“I’m not going to change,” I said, her words doing things to me. She seemed sincere, but what would happen if my father decided to flex his power against us? Would she run again? I was nothing without her and Anthony, but the last thing I wanted to do was always worry that she would take off when the shit hit the fan.
“I know that,” Rory answered with a little smile on her lips. “I’m well aware that you will always be the stubborn, sometimes arrogant man that I’ve come to love. It doesn’t change how I feel about you, Nico. I think I can deal with you no matter which side you show me.”
A shudder went through me. I had never had someone believe in me the way that Rory did. She made me want to be a better man, to walk away from this life and live a good one with her. She made me want to be more than a man hell-bent on revenge like I was with my own father, to drop it all and cut my losses.
I couldn’t just do that with Carmine. He would never let me just walk away from him, and if I didn’t see this thing through, I was putting this fragile happiness with Rory in danger.
“Do you remember,” she continued, pushing back the sleeve of her shirt so that I could see her bracelet dangling from her wrist, “when you gave me this?”
It was my turn to smile. “It was our wedding day. Of course I remember it.”
“You told me to give you time,” she continued, giving me back the words that I had written that day. Somehow they hadn’t seemed like enough, but I had wanted Rory to know that I wasn’t about to go into this marriage lightly. We had barely known each other, and I wanted time to love her, time to understand the woman that I had gotten pregnant.
“I’m giving you time,” Rory finished. “But my feelings haven’t changed, Nico. You are my husband, and I have vowed to myself, just like I am vowing to you now, that I will be by your side, no matter what we are up against.”
I drew in a tortured breath. Sure, she had married me, but to be by my side could mean death for her. It could mean death for all of us, depending on what my father had planned.
I should let her go, but hell, I couldn’t find the words to tell her to leave.
So, I closed the distance between us and framed her face with my hands. “I promised to protect you,” I told her, searching her eyes. “I will protect you until my last dying breath.”
“Which I hope is a long time from now,” she added as I brushed my thumb over her cheek. “We will tackle this together, Nico. You aren’t alone, not anymore.”
I pressed my forehead to hers and listened to her breathe. I had been alone for so long, locked in this need to destroy my father for everything that he had done to me. For some reason, Rory wanted to be part of this.
Her resolve humbled me. I had watched grown-ass men run from a fight like this, one that could lead to their deaths, but she was willing to grab my hand and walk toward the danger.
Whatever I had done to deserve her, it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.
My hands slid down to her hips, and I pulled her against me. “I don’t deserve you,” I said harshly. “I never will.”
“Well,” she replied as her arms encircled my neck. “Then you can spend the rest of your life attempting to prove otherwise.”
My grin was quick. “Maybe I won’t mind doing so.”
“Good,” Rory replied, pressing her lips to mine. She meant for it to be a quick one, but I growled, coaxing her mouth open so that I could sweep in and tangle my tongue with hers.
My cock rose to attention as she kissed me back with the same intensity, as if she couldn’t get enough.
I couldn’t. I wanted to pull her into the bedroom and forget that we were in my father’s home, fucking hating that I had even brought her and Anthony here.
I wanted to forget who I was and what my family’s name, her name, stood for.
I wanted it to be just us, no one else.
The sound of Anthony’s cry filled the air, and we broke apart, my chest heaving. “Apparently he doesn’t like to share,” I said wryly as I reluctantly let her go.
“It’s okay,” Rory replied, patting my cheek. “I will take care of you later, I promise.”
I watched her go to tend to our son, picking him up with a smile on her face that tore through my very fucking soul. This wasn’t about sex between us anymore. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if it was love. What I felt for Rory was far deeper, and I would do anything to keep her safe, alive, smiling like that.
She looked over at me and I forced a smile on my face, my thoughts now clouded with worry on what the hell I was going to do next.
**
We didn’t leave the suite for the rest of the day. My father didn’t summon us, and I wasn’t going to take any chances leaving Rory alone, not even for a moment. I made some calls, checked on some of my investments, and made plans for meetings upon our return to Manhattan while Rory took a nap with Anthony. I would never admit it to her or anyone else, but I paused to watch her sleep for a little while, wondering if she was dreaming about a life that I wanted to give her, one that wasn’t filled with this anxiety hanging over our heads.
Vincent filled me in on my father’s movements, stating he hadn’t seen any reason for me to be concerned about our safety. “He’s been closeted in with the capos all afternoon,” he stated with a shrug. “No one has even come down the hall, much less anywhere near this suite.”
It was odd that he would bring us all this way and not have more than five minutes of our company, but I also knew that my father was calculating. He had a fucking good reason for having me wait like this, and I wasn’t sure I would be prepared for him when he did decide to act upon it.
Tilda came in right before supper, stating that her suite was right next door, and I saw the relief in Rory’s eyes as she realized that the nanny was safe. I doubted my father would waste his time on someone as trivial as the nanny, but I wasn’t going to lie; I was relieved to see her unharmed.
She took Anthony for his bath just as dinner arrived on a cart, much like we were at some fucking hotel. The servant placed it all on the table behind the sofa before departing, and we were alone. “I’m not sure if we should worry about it being poisoned or not,” Rory said as I lifted the dome.
“He wouldn’t do something as trivial as kill us that way,” I replied, noting the fine cut of steak on the platter. “He would want us to suffer.” I wasn’t trying to blow off her concern. It was the truth. My father liked to torture.
“Well, that makes me feel tons better,” she laughed. “We only have to stay the night, right?”
I grabbed her hand and pulled her to me, brushing her hair out of her face. “Yes, one night.” At least I hoped it was only going to be for one night.
Rory searched my eyes, concern reflected in her own. “I don’t believe you, Nico.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said instead, giving her a grin I didn’t feel. “Since Anthony is preoccupied, there’s a huge-ass tub calling our name.” I wanted her naked, under me, riding me, whatever I could do to have her forget where we were and what we might be facing.
She smirked. “So, you want a bath too?”
“Are you offering?” I asked, my hand sliding around to cup her ass, pressing her against the place that ached for her.
Her eyes lit with heat as she offered me a cheeky grin. “Maybe.”
I wanted to tell her right then and there that I loved her. Hell, I loved her more than anything I had ever loved before. Rory was everything to me.
It just didn’t feel right telling her here. I didn’t want to be under my father’s roof when she heard the words from me. I wanted to have her in our bed, my face buried in her shoulder as I drilled into her.
“Are you all right?”
Realizing that my face probably told her all she needed to know, I gave Rory a hard kiss on the lips. “Let’s not waste time then.”
Rory smiled and took my hand, leading me toward the in-suite bathroom where the tub was located. I was going to take advantage of this time with her so that if and when I met my death, I would have no regrets when it came to Rory.
Later, after our romp in the bathroom and Anthony was returned to us, I lay in bed with Rory, listening to her even breathing as she slept next to me, curled in my arms. I had held many women in my arms, but none had made me feel this content, this fucking whole.
She had no idea what she did to me. She had no idea that she had turned my life upside down and had given me something I hadn’t even thought I needed.
Now everything I did affected her and our son.
With a sigh, I pressed my lips to her temple, whispering the words that I was too cowardly to tell her when she was awake. I didn’t know what to expect tomorrow, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to let my father have her. He had an interest in my wife, and I doubted it was because of her charming personality.
Rory was mine, and Carmine D’Agostino was going to find out what it meant when he started messing with what was fucking mine.
