Page 46 of Nikki Sinatra: For Her Lover
When Nikki heard Mick’s voice in the background, only then did she exhale. She wanted to look over at him, but she was certain, by his one-word command alone, that he roundly disapproved. She was being unprofessional and far too emotional. She hadn’t gotten squat out of Emilio yet, and she’d already shot him twice. She had to forget the past and get answers. She had to pull herself together.
Teddy understood why his father ordered Nikki to stand down, but he hadn’t intervened himself because he felt Nikki needed to go there. She was carrying around all that shit Emilio put her through for too many years. She couldn’t ignore it for too long. It had to come out. But he also knew his father was right to order her to ease up. They needed answers. They needed the guy to give them answers.
Teddy looked at Nikki. Nikki looked at Teddy. When Teddy nodded, Nikki stopped aiming her Glock at Emilio and rested it, in her hand, at her side.
“I ain’t playing with you, Emilio,” she said in a much calmer voice. “You tell me why you’re in my town and you tell me now, or your knees won’t be the only limbs that’s hurting you. I’m not that kid I was back then. I’m not that kid anymore!” she screamed at him.
Mick stared at her. It was in that moment that he realized just how unrelentingly painful that past was to Nikki. Mick had thought, by the way she ignored Emilio in the drive over to the safe house, that she had rose above it. But how could she or any other human being? All those children died because of the position that very man put her in. She’d been carrying that guilt for over a decade. It had to spill out, Mick thought. And he saw that spillage, in the form of great pain, within Nikki’s bright, sad eyes. His heart melted for her.
Teddy placed his hand around Nikki’s waist, which he knew was unprofessional too, but he didn’t give a shit. He wanted that asshole to know that Nikki had family that could kick his ass now. That Nikki didn’t fly solo anymore. “What’s your angle?” Teddy asked him. “Why did you come to Philly?”
“I need help.” Emilio was still in too much pain.
Teddy knew they were getting nothing without concessions. “Tell us the truth and we’ll get a doctor. But you’ve got to tell us the truth. Why are you here?”
Emilio leaned his head back as the pain continued to rip through his body. “They found out,” he said.
Everybody stared at him. “Who found out?” Teddy asked.
“They found out that it was Nikki.”
Nikki frowned. “That what was me?”
Emilio shook his head as he looked at her. “Quit playing, Nikki. Just stop.”
Nikki stared at him. Teddy and Mick stared at her. “What are you talking about?” Nikki asked him with a voice that sounded less assured.
“You know what I’m talking about. I told you last week to give it up, and I wouldn’t bother you ever again, but you wouldn’t do it. Now you gotta pretend in front of these white folks because you know your ass was wrong.”
“Cut the bullshit, Emilio. Nobody wanna hear your lies. Nobody’s playing with you.”
But Teddy and Mick glanced at each other. They found it curious that Nikki didn’t ask the obvious question.
So Teddy asked it. “What was she supposed to give up?”
Emilio had tears coming out of his eyes he was in so much pain.
But Mick felt there was an even more obvious question that needed to be answered. “What did they find out?” he asked Emilio.
Emilio looked at Mick. “Never thought I’d be in the same room with a legend like you.
“What did they find out?” Mick asked him again.
“That Nikki and Juda did it again.”
“It’s bullshit,” Nikki said.
“They did what again?” Teddy asked Emilio. He remembered how affectionately Nikki and Juda were hugging each other on that trailer stoop.
But instead of answering, Emilio smiled.
“What did Nikki and Juda do again?” Teddy decided to ask instead. It was like pulling teeth with this guy. But they had to get answers. “The sooner you answer the questions, the sooner you can get medical help,” he added.
And this time, Emilio answered. “They set it all up. I got my cut. I ain’t gonna lie. I was a part of it too.”
Nikki shook her head. “It’s all lies. What are we listening to this bullshit for? It’s all lies!”
But Emilio’s anger flashed. “I’m telling the truth and you know it! She don’t want it to come out, that’s why she’s trying to cover it up. She want y’all to think she’s the victim. Poor little Nikki who ain’t so little anymore, but still. That’s what she want.” He looked her in her eyes. “But I know better. That’s why she hired that hit man to take me out in that parking garage. That’s the reason why.”
