Page 9 of Keeping My Girl

CHAPTER6

Nicholas

MY PARENTS RETURNED from their anniversary trip a few hours ago. Benito confessed everything the moment they stepped foot onto the property; and now we’re all gathered in the common room, facing the wrath of my father.

“How the fuck could you do this, Nico?” my father asks as he paces the floor and runs a hand through his short, dark hair. I’ve never seen him so upset before. Well, at least not with me. His gray eyes, the same color as mine, pin me to the spot I’m standing. “Why the fuck would you think it was a good idea to go after Carbone on your own? What the hell was going through your goddamn mind?” he yells, anger seeping out of his every pore.

I glance around the room at my mother, Benito, my sister Aria and my best friend and Aria’s bodyguard, Renato Bianchi. Everyone is quiet with a solemn look on their face. No one is coming to my defense, nor do I expect them to. I know I fucked up. I fucked up majorly, and now I have to face the consequences of my actions.

“I know we all want Constantine put behind bars…or dead, but you can’t do it alone!” my father exclaims.

I stand with my hands in my pockets, staring down at the floor while my father scolds me. He’s totally right. I went behind his back and could have gotten myself hurt or worse. We’ve discussed in the past about tracking Constantine, but he probably never wanted me to the be one to actually do it.

I wasn’t even going to raise any suspicions with Constantine at the party; just get close enough to him to plant a tracker on him. But all those plans went right out the fucking window when I saw his son beating on a woman, who ultimately turned out to be Selina. My Lina.

“And then you ended up murdering Constantine’s only son. Do you know what kind of hell he will bring down upon this family when he finds out it was you?”

“Aldo erased all the security camera footage,” I start, but my father doesn’t let me finish.

“Yeah, from the mansion. But what about all the neighboring buildings? What about traffic cams? You think Constantine can’t get his hands on all of that footage?”

“I was careful!” I plead with him.

“You were careful,” he scoffs with a shake of his head. “You have no idea the trouble you’re in right now. You have no idea what kind of danger you’ve just put your family in!” he practically screams, causing my sister to jump.

I look over at her, and she quickly steels her spine and meets my gaze for only a split second while she worries her bottom lip between her teeth. God, she looks like a younger version of our mother. They share all the same features even down to the same chestnut brown hair and amber eyes.

Renato stands stock-still at her side, not moving, not even looking like he’s affected by my father’s yelling. Hell, my father has probably yelled at him so much that it doesn’t even bother him anymore.

My mother suddenly speaks up. “Now, Luca, Nico told us he had no choice in the matter when it came to Carbone’s son,” she says in an attempt to placate my father. She is the only one who can calm my dad down when he gets like this.

“I didn’t,” I explain to both of them. “He was hurting Selina. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t intervened? He probably would have killed her.” I can still remember the sounds of her sobs as Gino took his anger out on her in that room. Those sounds will haunt me for the rest of my life. “I did what I had to do,” I tell him vehemently, standing my ground. “And I’d fucking do it again.”

My father stops pacing and looks to me. “I just wish you would have waited. Going after any Carbone is dangerous.”

“Too dangerous,” Benito agrees from the corner, his large muscular arms crossed in front of his burly chest as he leans against the wall.

I knew he would take my father’s side. I’m just glad he’s not yelling at me too at this point. “I didn’t have a choice,” I tell them vehemently. “I just wish it would have been Constantine and not his son. That bastard needs to be taken down like the dog he is,” I spit out, seething.

“Yes, in due time. But you can’t just rush him without having an army prepared first. You could have been killed regardless of which Carbone you went after!” my father says in a deep rumble, his temper threatening to boil over.

The whole room is quiet while my father begins to pace the floor again. I swear he’s going to make a hole in the carpet soon.

I know deep down it was a stupid idea going after Carbone on my own. It’s just I’ve hated him for so long, given our family history with him, and I knew that party was my chance to finally do something for the greater good. I couldn’t just take that opportunity for granted. My goal that night was to get intel on Constantine. What I didn’t expect was his son to be in his place at that party, but I’m glad he was because the sequence of events all led me right to Selina.

And knowing now that Constantine must have had Selina in his clutches for a period of time infuriates me. When she’s in her right mind, I’m going to have a lot of questions for her. I want to know exactly how she came to be under his radar and for how long. There are too many missing pieces of her puzzle, and I need to figure them all out to get a look at the bigger picture.

“Well, there’s no going back now and changing things. We have to deal with what has been done,” my father decides, stopping and then turning towards the rest of us. “Gino Carbone is dead. Constantine will no doubt find out who killed him and come for our family. We need to start preparing for the inevitable.” He makes a point to look at my sister when he announces, “No one leaves the house without permission. And if you do leave, I want you to always have at least four guards. No exceptions.”

Benito and my mother nod in agreement while Renato stays quiet.

Aria folds her arms across her chest and glares at me. “So, we have to change our entire lives because Nico screwed up?” she asks, fuming.

“Yes,” my mother and father say at the same time.

“What about your connections with the feds?” I suggest. “Can’t they do something about Constantine?”

“He was already released from prison on a technicality. We would need all new evidence to build a case against him again. Carbone has moved most of his operations overseas where the feds can’t reach him.” My father shakes his head. “No, there’s nothing they can help us with at this point.” He sighs and scrubs a hand down his face. “I wish you wouldn’t have gotten involved in Carbone’s business, son.”

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