Nico gritted his teeth and delivered a vicious backhand to Dario, rocking his head to the side. Blood splattered on the concrete beside him, and the sharp crack of flesh meeting flesh echoed around the cavernous warehouse. Nico cut a glance at his father who stood off to the side watching, a subtle look of approval on his face.
Nico turned back to Dario, narrowing his eyes, and gritting his teeth. “If you don’t tell me who hired you, I’m sure as shit going to kill you. Now, give me a name.”
Tears shimmered in the man’s eyes, and he was fighting to keep them from falling. Dario sniffed loudly and wiped at his face, wincing as a bolt of pain shot through him. Nico balled his hands into fists, his knuckles cracking and the skin stretching tight.
“Last chance,” Nico said. “Tell me who hired you to jack our shipment.”
The man standing behind Dario made a point of chambering a round in his Glock loudly, making him flinch. He looked up and Nico could see the indecision in his eyes. He almost felt sorry for Dario. Almost.
His lips trembled and he sniffed back his tears again. “It was Rocco Vittore. He hired my crew to jack your truck. I’m sorry. Like I said, if I knew it belonged to you, I never—”
“Shut the fuck up,” Nico said and delivered another backhand.
Nico turned to his father who had a scowl on his face. “That’s not surprising,” he said. “That prick Vittore’s been making noise about wanting to run the city for a while now. I just never thought he had the balls to make a move.”
“He’s apparently grown a set,” Nico replied.
“Apparently. And we’re going to have to do something about that,” he said, giving Nico a pointed look. “You have to nip this shit in the bud, son, or else these bottom feeders will start thinking they’re running the show.”
“I understand,” Nico said then gestured to Dario. “What should we do with him?”
His father stared at the man for a long moment and Nico could smell the fear wafting off him like body odor. His stomach lurched and he felt tendrils of electricity crawling across his skin because he thought he knew what his father was going to say. His dad was old school. He believed in sending strong messages to rivals or pissants who overstepped their bounds. Nico knew it was critical to maintain power through strength, but Nico didn’t know that he had that same vicious streak inside of him that his father did. He had too much of his mother in him.
“Cut him into pieces and send him to Rocco. A message must be sent,” his father said.
His decree delivered, his father turned and walked away. Nico nodded to his men who reached down and grabbed hold of a screaming Dario. He thrashed in their grip and tried to break free, earning him a savage pistol whip that knocked him out, letting Nico’s men drag him out of the warehouse with ease. Nico’s stomach churned and he swallowed hard. He knew it was necessary, but this was the side of the business he didn’t care for.
If he was going to take over though, if he was going to replace his father, Nico knew he was going to need to get used to it. Knew he was going to need to learn to embrace it. He thought it was distasteful, but it was the price of doing business.
3
River sat at the end of the canal sipping her cappuccino, listening to the angelic music coming from the school across the way. It soothed her soul. She had just gotten back from dropping Evie off at the Marco Polo Airport. Evie was going home while River had decided to stay for a little while longer. She wasn’t ready to go home yet. She wanted to stay a little longer and absorb as much of the Venetian culture as she could.
She and Evie had spent the last few days trying to have as much fun as possible. Evie, of course, had spent part of that time bedding gorgeous Venetian men. She’d even managed to snag herself an authentic gondolier. Unsurprisingly, River had abstained. But she had refrained from giving Evie a hard time about it as well. She wanted her best friend to make amazing memories that would carry her through the rest of her life.
For her part, River hadn’t been able to get the memory of Nico out of her mind. Even though she was actively trying to banish him from her mind, she thought about him constantly. In her mind’s eye, she remembered the way his dark eyes had bored into her… and just that memory made her shudder with delight. Over the past few nights, when she’d been tucked away in her room all alone, River had thought a lot about Nico as she got herself off. Just because she was a virgin didn’t mean she didn’t get horny and didn’t have needs.
River was a little nervous about being there in Venice alone. She’d never traveled alone before and although she was thrilled about being in the city, she’d been raised in Southern California. As a single woman, you didn’t go walking around alone at night. She’d never felt unsafe in the least in Venice, the people she’d met were all warm and lovely. But that paranoia and sense of cautiousness were just baked into her DNA.
She leaned against the wall on her right and closed her eyes, letting the music wash over her. A boy was singing and he had the clearest, most beautifully pitched voice she'd ever heard in her life. It was magical. A moment later, a girl’s voice joined in and the harmony between them was otherworldly. River shuddered and goosebumps raced up her flesh as she listened to the sweet sound of those kids singing.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
A sharp yelp burst from River’s mouth, and she nearly jumped out of her skin at the unexpected sound of the man’s voice. Her stomach tightened painfully as she turned. Nico was standing behind her, leaning casually against the wall with his arms folded over his broad chest. His wide, warm smile sent a quiver through her heart and made heat flash between her thighs, which made her uncomfortably moist.
River raised her chin, staring at him with defiance in her eyes. She wasn't about to let the man see the effect he was having on her. That would only encourage him. And that was the last thing she wanted to do. The effect this man had on her was unsettling and left River feeling shaken and a little disturbed.
“You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that,” she growled.
Nico chuckled and held his hands up in faux surrender. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you,” he said. “That wasn’t my intent.”
“Oh, you just accidentally snuck up on me then.”
“Pretty much, yes,” he said, amusement still coloring his voice. “Next time, I’ll be sure to sing loudly or wear a bell.”
River got to her feet and folded her arms over her chest, staring at him with an expression of irritation on her face. As she stood there though, another question popped into her mind. She looked around the narrow lane pointedly the turned her gaze back to Nico.
“How did you know to find me here?” she asked.