NICO

Geneva bent over one of the flower beds and picked a flower. She smelled it and kept walking under the trees toward the woods on the far end of the grounds. 'It's a nice day today. It seems like I never get out anymore."


'You were just out here yesterday," I muttered. 'You come out here every day. I should know."

'I know. Time doesn't seem to operate the same way it did before."

I snorted and didn't answer. I traced the top of the wall checking that all the security guards were in place. They were. I had trained them too well, and now I had nothing to do but wait around for the next Navaro surprise.


She kept pressing the flower to her nose and looking around like she'd never seen these grounds before. 'Maybe it seems different because I'm not out here with Charles. I don't think he's talking to me after I blew up at him yesterday."

'You might as well take a dive and make up with him. I'm sure you'll be doing a lot of that once you marry him."


She threw the flower into another bed and shook back her hair. 'Maybe I won't marry him."

'Of course, you will. You two are perfect for each other."

She turned around, and her eyes locked on me. 'Can I tell you a secret?"

'I really hope you don't."

She barely smiled. 'I'm thinking about not getting married at all."

'Don't talk smack." I started walking again, and she copied me. 'Of course, you're going to get married. You're a mob princess. You have to get married."

'I don't have to. I could stay single for the rest of my life and run the family on my own with Levi as my consigliere. It isn't unheard of."

I snorted again, but I couldn't look at her. Looking at her hurt too much. 'That's just bullshit. What the hell have you been doing these last three weeks cock-teasing every man who comes near you if you didn't plan to marry any of them? You're shameless."

'That's what I'm saying. I care about them all. Everything went south with Ryder, and now I'm not sure I can give my heart to Levi or Charles, either."

I glanced over at her against my will. 'Seriously?"

'I don't think I can choose. I care about them all equally. I don't believe Ryder proposed to mess with me. He really cared. I don't know why he left, but there must be another reason."

'What makes you think that?"

She shrugged. 'Call it a gut feeling. Anyway, I don't care about him any less than Charles or Levi. Even without Ryder here, I can't decide between Charles and Levi. I don't think I can hurt either of them by choosing the other."

I went back to walking. 'Then you have a problem."

'It isn't a problem as long as I don't marry any of them. I can just take myself off the market and run the family on my own."

'What about having an heir? You can't exactly give yourself an immaculate conception. That horse left the barn a long time ago, sweetheart."

She actually smiled at me for the first time, and before I could stop her, she darted in and kissed me.

I shoved her away a lot more roughly than I meant to. 'Stop it!"

She stumbled back and stared at me in horror. 'What the hell! I thought you…"

I turned away feeling sick. 'Don't do that again."

She charged me and grabbed my arm. 'Don't walk away, Nico! I didn't mean to. I thought you wanted to. I thought after yesterday…"

'I do want to!" I roared. 'Don't you get it? Just leave me alone."

I stormed off, but I only ended up walking deeper into the grounds. I couldn't look at her. What in the holy hell was I even still doing here?

She caught up with me under the trees—the trees where she fucked Charles right in front of me. The whole estate ate away at my insides now. I saw her fucking other guys everywhere I turned.

'I'm sorry," she murmured in my ear.

'Well, don't be. Just don't fucking touch me. It's hard enough with you getting ready to marry some other guy, and there's nothing I can do about it." I grimaced and fought down the urge to lose it right there.

She froze on the spot staring after me. She took a few seconds to snap out of it and come after me.

She grabbed my arm again and pulled me around to face her. 'Just talk to me, okay? I didn't mean to make it harder for you."

'Well, you did! You can't exactly make it less hard for me, can you?" I summoned my last scrap of courage and blurted out, 'I'm leaving, okay? I'm resigning from the family."

'No!" she shrieked. 'No, Nico! Don't leave! I thought…"

'I have to. I can't stand this. You're gonna marry someone else. You'll never marry me, and we both know it."

'No, Nico!" Her lip started to tremble and tears swam in her eyes. 'Don't leave. Please. I… I need you."

'Don't even say that," I snarled. 'Don't you dare even say that."

She gulped trying to pull herself together. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

I waved the whole subject away. I wished more than anything I could waveheraway, but it didn't work out that way. 'Look. I can like you and you can like me and we can fuck each other's brains out, but we can never have anything serious no matter how much we both might want it. You know it's true. Messing around like this only makes it hurt more."

She blinked, and two tears streaked down her cheeks. Then her whole face screwed up, and she started crying hard right in front of me. 'Don't leave, Nico!" she wailed. 'Please don't leave."

'I have to." I spun around and started walking. My whole body felt numb, but I couldn't stand watching her cry.

She couldn't be crying over me like that. Me leaving couldn't make her hurt like that. I couldn't think that, or I might lose my nerve.

I stormed back to the house. I had to get out of here now. I couldn't stick around waiting for the next time she tried to kiss me.

A couple of the security guys nodded to me on my way up to the house. I planned out exactly what I would do when I got there. I would go straight to Levi's office and tell him I was quitting. That was all there was to it. The sooner I bit the bullet and did it, the sooner I could get rid of this gnawing agony in my stomach.

I jumped up the front steps and went straight to Levi's office, but he wasn't there. I came out and almost collided with one of the butlers. 'Where's Consigliere?"

'He went into town for an hour. He'll be back later. He said to call him if we needed anything."

Damn it. I couldn't let this deter me. I went back inside, found a piece of paper in Levi's desk, and scribbled him a note. I didn't get too specific with the details. He would call me as soon as he got it, and then…

I had no idea what I would tell him then, but I had to be as far away from the estate as possible when it happened.

He would beg me to come back just like Geneva did. He would promise me the world, but he didn't know about yesterday. He didn't know about me fucking Geneva in the limo or playing with her at the mall.

Never mind. I went back outside. Some of our most trusted security guys patrolled the estate now that we were all on standby for another Navaro attack.

I pointed toward the grounds. 'Go out there and guard Miss Levine until she comes back to the house," I told one of them. 'Don't leave her until the consigliere comes home."

'Yes, sir," he replied and headed off.

Now nothing remained but the inevitable. I marched down the driveway, nodded to Art at the gatehouse, and kept on going. In half a second, I came to Riverside Drive.

My legs carried me without me knowing where I was going. I didn't care anymore. My throat tightened, and I tried to shake the sting out of my eyes.

I was leaving the estate for the first time since I was just a boy. This place—everything about the Levine family—this was the only home and family I ever had. Was I really walking away from it—from her?

Shewas all I ever had—her and her father and Levi. I never wanted anything else. Now it was behind me, getting farther away by the minute.

I didn't care anymore where I went. This world meant nothing without her in it—without all of them. I had nowhere to go and no one to see.

I thought I was nobody at the estate, but at least I was a shade in the corner of her world. Now I wasn't even alive anymore. I might as well be dead.

I turned onto Broadway and crossed some invisible barrier. I would never go back to the estate. I couldn't bear it. I hurt her by leaving, but not any worse than I hurt myself.

Don't ask me how long I walked. I lost track of time until some hooker on Broadway burst out laughing right next to me.

I spun around in surprise and realized I was a lot farther south than I realized. I looked around trying to orient myself when someone grabbed me.

The attacker yanked my arm and dragged me into an alley. They shoved me up against a brick wall, and I braced myself for a fight when someone hissed in my face. 'Nico! It's me!"

My brain cleared enough to recognize a small, pale face framed by black hair and a black goatee. 'Ryder!"

'I don't have much time!" he whispered and glanced out at the street before coming back to my face. 'I can't let anyone from my family see me talking to you."

'What?" I struggled to pull my head together. He was the last person on Earth I expected to see. 'What are you doing out here?"

'I have to talk to you!" he hissed. 'It's an emergency. You have to listen to me."

Normally, I would have beat the shit out of any Navaro that dared to look sideways at me, but then I remembered what Levi and Charles said about Ryder. He was the one who tipped Levi off about the Navaros' plans. Ryder was the one who walked out on marrying Geneva to protect her from his family.

'Okay, man. I'm listening."

'My father ordered me to carry out a hit on Levi Evangelista," he whispered. 'I have to do it or they'll know I'm helping the Levines. They plan to hit Levi's limo when he's on his way to the Met next Saturday—to meet the Italians."

All the fog evaporated from my brain, and I went stone cold. 'Is that so?"

He nodded fast. 'I'm supposed to organize the hit, kill you and Levi and anyone else that gets in the way, and kidnap Geneva. Now listen. This is important. The hit will happen right here on Broadway between West 122ndStreet and West 120thStreet. Understand? You have to prepare the Levines for the attack to happen then. I have to help out on the other side, but I'll do what I can to make sure you don't take too many casualties, and I'll make sure my family doesn't take Geneva. Do you understand? I have to make it look like I'm working for them. I'm sorry, but I don't have a choice about that or…"

'I understand, man. You don't have to apologize."

He leaned back and let go of my jacket. 'So, you'll tell them?"

'Of course, man. Don't worry about it."

'Tell Geneva…" He shut his eyes and shook his head. 'No. Don't tell her anything. Don't tell her you saw me."

I opened my mouth to say something. I almost told him to come back with me and try again. He deserved her, but I stopped myself.

He left to save her and now this. His father and brothers would execute him on the spot if they ever found out about this. He was taking his life in his hands by finding me and telling me this.

He could walk away and never see her again, but I couldn't. This changed everything. Only one course remained for me.

I straightened my jacket, and he did the same thing. He squared his shoulders and nodded to me. 'You ready?"

'Yeah, man. I'm ready."

'I'll go first. Wait a second for me to get away before you go out there."

I nodded. 'Okay." He headed for the mouth of the alley, and I grabbed his arm. 'Ryder… thank you."

He smiled. 'Give her a kiss for me."

He darted away and vanished into the crowd outside.Give her a kiss for me. Did he know?

None of that mattered. I knew where my loyalties lay, and it sure as hell wasn't to the south.

I waited a few more seconds just to let everything he said sink into my head. Fuck, he never should have left. He should have been the one to win her heart.

I pushed those thoughts away. I had a job to do that had nothing to do with who she was going to marry.

I left the alley and took off northward back the way I came.