Page 55 of Pistols and Plush Toys

Vicki? Elliot had met her a handful of times, though they’d barely said more than five words to each other. She’d been like Nikolai actually, a shrewd gaze that seemed to see a lot more than she let on. The first time they’d met, she’d looked Elliot up and down and obviously discarded him as unimportant. She hadn’t made a snide comment to Mattia though, like some other members of the family had.

But he’d noticed at the family events that Vicki was a kind of epicenter. When people arrived, she was one of the first people who was greeted, was often the one everyone wanted to talk to.

He’d also noticed Mattia’s jealousy over it. Had heard his boyfriend mutter awful, offensive things about her regarding the way she’d “slept her way to the top.”

Elliot hadn’t liked the comments, even if he didn’tknowVicki. He’d just kept this mouth shut so Mattia’s anger wouldn’t manifest in his direction.

But he had no reason not to share all of that with Nikolai. So he did.

Nikolai nodded when he finished. “She’s very important for the Vitale family. Her and Mattia’s parents. I am hoping Vicki is smarter than Mattia’s parents. Maybe she’s will come to understanding with me.”

Elliot didn’t know whatanunderstandingmeant, and was afraid to ask.

Vicki had never seemed violent though. Elliot didn’t think he’d ever seen her lose her temper, even when on one occasion Mattia had “spilled” red wine on her pink dress. Shehadraised an eyebrow at Mattia and then smiled with absolutely no warmth and said, in a voice that had carried across the room, “That’s my clumsy little cousin. Never change, darling.”

Mattia had seethed the rest of the evening.

“I hope she listens to you,” Elliot said. “And that no one has to get hurt.” He really, really hoped Nikolai didn’t get hurt.

There was silence as Elliot fiddled with his fork. Then Nikolai sighed. “I’m will say something maybe you don’t want to hear.”

Elliot licked his lips. “Okay.”

“Mattia Vitale is… not good man,” Nikolai said after another minute. He sounded like he was choosing his wordscarefully. “And maybe with his family not so happy with him, not so happy with how he runs his business, how he is act with me, maybe he is needing… permanent solution.”

Permanent solution.That—that had to mean only one thing. Elliot ducked his head, heart squeezing. Mattia hadn’t… hadn’t been the kindest to him, Elliot knew that. And Mattia had hurt other people.Killedother people. But still, thinking of Mattia being given a… a “permanent solution” made his stomach hurt. Thinking ofNikolaibeing the one to do it made it hard to breathe.

Nikolai, who said he didn’t kill anymore. Who hadn’t killed anyone since he was seventeen, forced into it by his fucking father.

What did it say about Mattia that Nikolai was willing to do something so drastic? So—permanent.

What did it say about Elliot that he didn’t want Nikolai to do it?

He felt pulled in two opposite directions, and painfully, viscerally guilty for sitting across the table from a man who—

Who wanted Mattia dead.

Not to mention that up until this conversation, Elliot had been having one of the best days he’d had in years.

“Okay,” he whispered.

“Maybe will be nothing,” Nikolai said after another minute. “Maybe Vicki Vitale will make Mattia change mind about being stupid.”

Elliot swallowed down bile. He knew there was no way Mattia would listen to Vicki. Getting Vicki involved would probably just make him angrier. And an angry Mattia hurt people. He hurt Elliot. Heblew up buildings.

If Nikolai wanted Mattia dead, probably Mattia wanted Nikolai dead even more.

He blinked hard, trying to will away the tears. Maybe if he’d been a better boyfriend, Mattia would have cared about him more. Maybe Mattia would have been willing to make the deal Nikolai wanted, to get Elliot back. Instead Elliot was here, utterly useless, and Mattia was no doubt furious, and Nikolai was contemplating something that would put him right in the line of fire.

Elliot didn’t wantanyoneto get hurt. But—and maybe this was proof he was a terrible person—he wanted Nikolai to walk away alive more than he wanted the man he’d been with for years to.

“I’m want to tell you in case anything goes wrong with Vicki,” Nikolai said, once it was clear that Elliot wasn’t going to say anything else. “Alex and Pyotr is coming with me, but Horace will be here.”

“Okay,” Elliot managed, though the word cracked in the middle.

Nikolai opened his mouth again, then closed it and nodded, getting up from the table and beginning to gather their empty plates. Elliot stood to help. After the table had been cleaned, the dirty dishes taken care of, they walked back down the hall toward Elliot’s room.

Nikolai opened the door, and Elliot hesitated before going inside. He turned to Nikolai. “Will you… will you be careful?”

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