Leo froze, and Cesare stiffened. His arm tightened around my shoulders. “The Neccis!” Leo snapped. “The Neccis did this?”
Nicky nodded and grimaced in pain. “Romeo… was talking about…” Nicky’s gaze darted over to me, and he swallowed hard. “He was talking about getting into… Gia’s bedroom… They were planning it when I…”
I fought down rising panic, but not because of what Nicky said. He got hurt trying to protect me.
Leo was right about him. He really was a good guy. He just didn’t know how to act around women—or maybe he just had some particular grudge against me.
He always stood up for me. He never wavered in his loyalty to the family. He really was the perfect person to be my bodyguard. I should have appreciated him and now this happened.
What if he had died out there? What if the Neccis killed him to stop him from telling what they were up to?
Nicky looked like theyhadtried to kill him. They beat him badly enough to kill an ordinary man. They probably didn’t realize how damn tough he was.
Leo laid his hand on Nicky’s shoulder, and it came away bloody. “Okay. Take it easy, son. You’ve done enough. I’ll handle this.”
“You can’t! The security guards… They’re pathetic!”
Leo smiled down at him, but there was no mirth or joy in that smile. “Everyone’s pathetic compared to you, man. Just lie still, and let these people fix you up. You did your job. I’m grateful.”
Nicky opened his mouth to say something else and shut it when he saw me watching. He turned his head away, but he kept wincing every time the medical team did something to him.
A different medic tried to touch his head again, and he exploded the same way. He roared at them and tried to surge off the bed before he collapsed, howling in pain. Man, he must really be hurting!
Leo came over to us and held out his arm. “Come on. We should get out of here. I have some serious work to do on the security situation.”
“I’ll help you.” Cesare stepped forward to join him, but I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t stop staring at Nicky. He never showed any emotion around me—ever. He always stayed impassive and cold. I always thought he was angry at the whole world, especially at me, but I must have been wrong about that too.
He did feel. He felt a lot. Thinking someone could hurt him this bad made it all so obvious. I kicked myself for not seeing it before.
Maybe he was mad at the world for threatening me. Maybe he was just doing his job by always staying alert and defensive. Maybe I misunderstood all his side comments. Maybe he never really meant to make me hate him at all.
I didn’t really know anything about him except what everyone knew. He grew up on the streets in some of the worst neighborhoods in New York. He came to work for my father when Nicky was only twelve. He’d been working his way up the ranks ever since.
Everybody said Nicky was the best. My father said it. Leo said it. Everybody said it. Why did I think he could ever be something bad? That was impossible if he earned the respect of everyone in the mob world.
Cesare came back and took my arm. “Come on, Gia. You don’t want to stick around in here. This is going to get messy…”
I broke away from him. I couldn’t keep this in a second longer.
I rushed the bed. A puddle of blood soaked into the bedspread around Nicky. I grabbed his hand and got his blood on my fingers. “Thank you, Nicky. Thank you.”
He stared up at me like I just slapped his face. Did he hate me for letting this happen to him?
Those were the first words I’d spoken to him in… I couldn’t even remember when I actually said anything to him. God, how did this happen? How did I let this happen?
Cesare came up behind me and clasped my shoulders. He pulled me out of the room. Nicky didn’t stop staring at me until I got out into the hall.
I couldn’t relax. I glanced behind me toward the door. He was still in there. What was wrong with him? Did the Neccis break his ribs? Did they break his skull? Did they do any organ damage? This was all my fault.
“You should go home,” Leo was saying. “It isn’t safe for you here.”
“No way,” Cesare replied. “I’m here to get to know Gia better. I don’t want to run out on that.”
“I never should have asked your father to let you come stay here,” Leo replied. “I knew we had a security problem. I shouldn’t have put you in danger by getting you involved. Nicky was the one handling security. Now, without him, I don’t want to take any chances with your safety. We can arrange another time for you to visit Gia.”
“What are you going to do?” Cesare asked.