CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
NICO
Light pierced the small slit where the curtains parted, spilling across the bed where Mia and I had fallen asleep for a few more hours after everyone left. We had a day or two before we needed to get out of New York and back to Chicago. If I was honest, staying more than one day would be pressing our luck. Too many things could go wrong.
Dante had called Stefano, saying he’d caught wind that Mia was with me and that he wanted to help in any way he could. Stefano, Trey, Enzo, and Tony had tried to take him up on his offer of help. At the very least, he’d wanted to send his brothers, Cal and Adriano. But Marco and I had protested against adding the additional men, and Stefano had gone along with us.
Mia trusted them, but I preferred to rely only on our family. Since we were here confronting her father at my request, Marco and Stefano—despite being the capo and having the final say—agreed it was my call.
I glanced at the clock. We needed to be out the door in an hour. The key was to leave minutes before we were due at the designated location because of the soldiers Joey undoubtedly had watching the hotel. We’d set the meeting place elsewhere and would change it to the bridge spanning across the lake in Central Park instead.
My gaze fell to Mia, and I drank in how peaceful she appeared while asleep. I wanted her to have these last few minutes of rest, but the need to touch her was too great. I trailed my fingers along her cheek to tuck her hair behind her ear. Her skin was so soft. When her eyelids fluttered open, revealing her unusual purple irises, I bent and grazed my lips over hers, and her eyelids closed once more.
With a hand on her hip, I urged her closer, and when she wrapped her arms around my waist and I felt the soft press of her body along mine, desire raged through me. Lifting her leg, I wrapped it around my hip, pressing into her, and broke the kiss. “You drive me crazy, Mia.”
She arched against me then tugged my hair until we were a centimeter apart. “Then do something about it.”
My restraint evaporated as I flipped her so that she lay beneath me. The breathy laugh that escaped her full lips taunted me to taste her again. I kissed her deeply as I ran a hand up the smoothness of her thigh.
Every caress we shared strengthened the invisible cord I felt between us. As we moved in sync and drowning in sensation, I knew just how much she meant to me and that I could never let her go.
* * *
Ipressed a kiss to Mia’s temple then slipped my arm around her waist as we walked together from the hotel and into the waiting car. We’d needed that shared stolen hour. After, we rushed to get ready in time.
My gaze traveled over her, taking in the tight black pants from my sister and a short down winter coat with a faux fur-lined hat and matching gloves. She looked incredible, and all I wanted to do was take her back to our room and lose myself in her all over again.
But we had pressing matters to take care of, and when it was over, we would spend the day in bed with no interruptions.
With the call made to change the location to sputtering protests from her father, we were well on our way to putting an end to his reign of terror.
As we met Joey Tucci, a club raid would be in progress. Stefano, Emiliana, Marco, and El were already en route to free the women held in the back rooms of Torrid’s ground floor. It was a risk, but knowing Joey’s ego, he would want most of his guards with him. Whether that left Ricco to keep an eye on the club or not wasn’t something we would know until the time came.
Mia’s gloved hand found mine, and I turned to her. “Are you ready for this?”
“More than ever,” she said almost in a growl.
I couldn’t blame her. After today, it was my sincere hope that she would be free of the Tucci family and all they had taken from her. She sat next to me, her body stiff as she gazed out the window at the wintery landscape. It’d snowed overnight, blanketing the city in an unspoiled cloud of white. It wouldn’t last. Vehicles splashed through the streets, spreading the slush. That wasn’t the case in Central Park. Our car pulled up, and we got out to a winter wonderland of beauty.
“Is everyone in place?”
There was a hint of worry in her voice, and I didn’t like it. “Yes. They’ve been here for the past hour, making sure no one we aren’t okay with gets in. Joey should be here a few minutes after we’re on the bridge.”
I tucked her hand into the crook of my arm as we strolled along the picturesque trail through the park and toward the lake. Even though guards were stationed everywhere, watching for trouble, we both scanned the landscape to make sure there were no surprises.
“Where do you want to go on a honeymoon?” We had time, and I wanted to ease her nerves.
“We’re going on one?”
I laughed at the shock in her voice. “Of course. As soon as all this is settled, we can get away for a week.”
Her death grip on my bicep eased. “I’ve only been here, Chicago, and Grand Cayman. I’m not sure where I would want to go.” She sank her teeth into her bottom lip for a second. “Maybe Italy? It’s hard to believe I’ve never been there, being Mafia and all.”
Snow crunched beneath our shoes as we followed the bend of the walkway to the footbridge. “That’s where we’ll go, then. My sister has a place we can stay at. And if you like it, as many of us do, we’ll look into getting property there.” She flashed me a smile that held pure joy, and I wanted to do whatever it took for her to be happy like she was at that moment.
I was about to tell her more about Italy when I caught movement in the corner of my eye. I pulled her closer and slid my other hand into my partially zipped coat to withdraw the gun from my shoulder holster.
I kept the 9mm at my side as we moved to the bridge’s center then stopped. The boss of the Tucci family stalked forward, a handful of guards surrounding him. As they neared the entrance to the footbridge, several of our soldiers appeared from their hiding places to detain the Tucci soldiers.