“Shit,” she muttered.
“Yeah, it helps if you lock the door.”
“Get out.”
“No,” he said. “Not until we talk.”
She flew off the sofa and started slapping him across the face and chest. “Why do you have a gun? Why are you carrying a gun? What kind of monster are you, Nico?”
He made no move to defend himself and instead, let her get it all out of her system. It took a few minutes and his cheek burned with heat where she’d been slapping him, but she eventually calmed down and slumped backward, out of breath. River stepped back and dropped down onto her sofa and buried her face in her hands. And when Nico sat down next to her, she scooted all the way to the other side, trying to keep as much distance between them as she could.
They sat on the sofa in silence for several long moments with River refusing to look at him. Her expression changed though. Nico watched as the fear fled from her face. Her cheeks though, flushed red and her features became pinched as she looked at him with genuine anger. Nico didn’t like her anger but at least the fear was gone. It was a start.
“Why do you carry a gun?” she asked.
“For my protection.”
“Do you kill people?”
“No, I don’t,” he replied.
“Then why did that man say you do?”
“Because his family is trying to make trouble for mine,” Nico replied. “And he will say anything to cause me problems.”
She eyed him evenly. “What do you do for a living, Nico?”
“I told you—”
“You were vague and evasive. I want to know details,” she said. “Tell me the truth. If you can’t do that though, then get the hell out of my apartment and don’t ever come back.”
Nico sighed heavily. He debated within himself for a long minute, trying to decide how much to tell her. He knew he shouldn’t tell her anything. But as he looked into her steely blue eyes, Nico knew he didn’t want to lose her. He was coming to care about her and didn’t want her to think the worst of him. But he also knew that by telling her, he was running the risk of losing her anyway. His hands weren’t exactly clean, and his family was engaged in activities she might find abhorrent. Nico knew though, he would rather be honest with her and hope they could find a way to work through any issues that might arise.
“My family is the head of an organization that spans the entire country,” he began. “We traffic in stolen art and arms. We operate brothels and gambling dens.”
She stared at him for a long moment with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open. River ran a hand across her face and tried to gather her thoughts before turning and speaking to him.
“So, your family… you… you’re the mafia?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, the mafia is more of an American creation. We head an organization known as the Families.”
He explained the Families to her, giving her the history of it all and telling her about the Code. Nico knew his father would kill him if he knew he was spilling all their secrets but telling River about it all felt good. Better than that, it felt right. And she looked at him not with fear but with curiosity in her eyes.
“But… you kill people,” she said.
He shook his head. It wasn’t often that they killed somebody, but it was an unfortunate aspect of the work they did. Nico hoped though, that once he took over, he wouldn’t have to drop bodies like his father. He would if needed but he planned on taking a more measured approach and one that didn’t require that sort of violence. He didn’t want to have to kill somebody to send a message. Nico wanted to do things differently. Vowed to himself that he would do things differently than his father did for all these years.
“We keep people from being killed,” Nico told her. “We keep the peace, and we keep order. If not for the Families in each district—if not for my family here—it would be lawless with families like the Vittores running roughshod over everybody and killing people left and right. We don’t allow that to happen.”
River sat back and turned away from him, seeming to be thinking about everything he said. The good news as far as Nico was concerned, was that she hadn’t thrown him out and didn’t look entirely fearful or disgusted. She looked… curious.
“Emiliano Vittore and his father Aldo know that my father is dying and they’re threatening war if we don’t leave Venice. Forever,” he told her. “They’re threatening to kill us if we don’t leave and give them the power in the city.”
“But I thought you said the Boss was chosen at the conclave.”
He nodded. “The Boss of Bosses is chosen at the conclave. And when my father passes, we will have to hold one. But on a local, district level, the Boss only remains the Boss if they can hold onto power,” Nico told her. “We haven’t had anybody challenge for the seat in decades. It’s just not normally done. But the Vittores are power-hungry. They're greedy. And their first instinct is violence. We can’t have that here. We won’t allow that here.”
For the first time since he’d walked in, he saw River’s body seem to relax. She blew out a long breath and leaned back on the sofa then turned to him. Her expression was still a bit pensive and he could see the concern in her eyes but the fear and anger had both finally ebbed.