Chapter 104

“Come on, Nic,” Christian sighs, starting towards the house.

“Absolutely not,” Nico says, stepping down one step and holding out a hand towards Christian, his palm out flat to him. To my surprise, he glances at me. “Are you fucking serious with this, Chris? Her? You threw your life away for her?”

My jaw drops open at the blatant contempt in Nico’s words.

“Watch it, cousin,” Christian growls, stepping forward to glare up at Nico now. “What I did is done. And yes, for her.”

The two of them stare at each other, some kind of meaning passing between them, some kind of silent speech that I can’t hear. I glance between them, anxious, not knowing what to do. So, I just stand quite still and wait.

“You can still get out of this,” Nico whispers, his whole body tense.

“And how would you propose that I do that?” Christian asks, folding his arms over his chest and biting out the words in a way that implies that there’s no real answer to that question that he’s going to accept.

Nico tosses out a hand in my direction. “Give her back. Make it look like a mistake. Blame someone else. But turn her over and walk away.”

My mouth drops further open at this – because…I mean, I knew Nico wanted me gone, but I didn’t realize that he wanted me dead. Or that he’d so willingly turn me over to people who want to do me serious harm in order to save his own skin.

“Not an option,” Christian growls, stepping closer to Nico and glaring up into his face.

The two stare at each other again for a long, long moment before Nico breaks, groaning and turning away from Christian, covering his face with his hands as he tilts his head up to the sky like he’s received the worst possible news.

Christian glances over at me, his eyes sweeping over my face, checking that I’m okay. I give him a swift nod, letting him know that it’s fine. Sticks and stones, after all – Nico’s nasty sentiments aren’t really anything that can hurt me.

“You’re serious about this?” Nico says on a sigh, turning back to Christian and dropping his hands from his face. “Committed? This is it – the only path?”

“This is it,” Christian confirms, snapping his head back to face Nico.

Nico sighs again and sends me a severe glare before turning sharply and stomping across the porch to the front door. “Come on, then!” he snaps, grabbing the handle and shoving the door open, striding inside. “Let’s make a fucking plan!”

Christian turns back to me, offering a hand, but I wave him off. “I’ll get the groceries,” I say quietly. He hesitates, torn between wanting to stay by my side and wanting to go deal with Nico, but I urge him on. “Go!” I say, walking to the back of the car where the bags are tucked. “I can handle this. I’ll be inside in ten seconds.”

Christian sighs, but nods, and jogs up the steps, disappearing in after Nico.

A minute or two later I enter the house myself, having successfully managed to loop all the bags over my arms and carry them in at once. As I kick the door closed behind me and move towards the kitchen, I see that Christian and Nico are sitting tense on the couch, talking quietly.

Nico sends me another dirty look but I ignore him, rolling my eyes and starting to unpack the groceries. I mean, as I said before, none of this was my choice, so I don’t see why he’s holding it against me so much.

I’m probably just an easier target, because glaring at Christian like that is just going to get him punched.

I brew up a pot of coffee as I tuck the groceries away into the fridge and the cabinets. When I’m finished, I pour out three mugs of coffee and fix up Nico’s and Christian’s just the way they like them before gathering all three into my hands and heading towards the living room.

Because even though they’re talking quietly, I have every right to be involved in this conversation. My life is just as much on the line as theirs are, after all.

To my surprise, Nico doesn’t tell me to go away.

“Hello, Iris,” he says, his voice deliberately nasty as he accepts his mug of coffee from my hand. “You look ridiculous, as usual.”

“Aw, Nico,” I say, giving him a pretty smile as I hand Christian his mug as well. “I missed you.”

Nico opens his mouth to counter, but Christian interrupts. “Enough,” he sighs, leaning back against the arm of the couch and resting his coffee on his knee as I cross my legs beneath me and settle onto the floor, leaning an arm on the coffee table. Christian’s little cottage is cute, but it definitely needs more seating.

Nico narrows his eyes at me for a second but then turns back to Christian, effectively ignoring me.

“How did you find us, anyway?” Christian asks, sounding tired.

To my surprise, Nico reaches into his back pocket and pulls my little burner phone out. “Little miss,” he says, glancing over at me as he tosses the phone onto the couch between them. “Forgot to turn it off, or get rid of it. Yet another reason why she’s a bad bet, Chris – she doesn’t understand even the basics of how to survive in this world.”

“You still had this?” Christian asks, looking at me with surprise as he reaches for the phone and taps it, seeing it turn on, flipping through the call log and messages.

“Um,” I say, grimacing a little and not bothering to affirm it – I mean, the proof is in his hands.

“Why didn’t you answer it?” Christian murmurs, clearly seeing his dozens of calls scrolling down the screen.

“Because my hands were tied behind my back, Chris,” I say, a little biting. I mean, honestly, does he think that I wouldn’t have answered had I been able to? “Plus, it was on silent.”

“All beneficial for me,” Nico says, crossing his arms and looking between us. “Because that means Bonetti didn’t take it from her, and she forgot about it, and I was able to use the tracing system that I obviously put on it to find you immediately.”

Christian sighs and tosses the phone back to Nico, who immediately powers it down. “That was sloppy, you’re right,” Christian admits, obviously feeling a little bitter about it.

“The whole fucking thing is sloppy,” Nico barks, glaring anew at Christian. I let my eyes drift between them, taking slow sips of my hot coffee as they renew their fight. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again now, Chris – you don’t think straight when it comes to Iris. You do stupid shit, and it’s going to get you killed this time.”

“Is that where this is going?” Christian asks, crossing his arms like he’s bracing himself for the news. “Has my dad put the order out to have me killed?”

“He hasn’t yet,” Nico replies, his eyebrows going up, and I swear I see some tension drift out of Christian’s shoulders. “But you breaking into Bonetti’s house, killing his guys, to get their witness out of their interrogation, Chris? It doesn’t look like a love-sick idiot, it looks like a Romano desperately trying to cover his trail. It looks like a confession.”

Christian sighs, hanging his head a little as he processes this interpretation, but my eyes go wide. Is that seriously what people think? That Christian saved me so that I wouldn’t spill the beans about the Romano family’s involvement in Edward Marino’s death, or some kind of financial scandal? I mean, it makes sense, I guess. If you don’t know about me and Christian’s past.

“But Bonetti knows,” I say instantly, and both of the men turn to me. Nico looks at me like an idiot, but Christian raises his eyebrows, inviting me to explain. “Um,” I say, putting down my coffee and looking between them as I gather my thoughts. “Bonetti asked me questions about our childhood and our friendship, Chris,” I say, nodding eagerly to him. “He knew, before I confirmed it.”

“And you did confirm it?” Nico asks, scoffing a little.

“I was being tortured, Nico,” I snap back, glaring a little. “So yeah, I sang like a canary about the stupid shit that didn’t matter.”

“You don’t know what matters!” Nico shouts, leaning forward towards me.

“Enough!” Christian says, raising his voice to contend with Nico’s but sounding exhausted. “She’s right, Nico, that doesn’t matter – not if he already knew it. The question is…” here Christian tilts his head slightly, looking at Nico closely. “How did he know it?”

“You can end that thought right now,” Nico snaps, looking for a second like he might punch Christian right in the face. “If you’re seriously even beginning to think I betrayed you? Or that Frankie did? You’re an idiot, and a fucking asshole.”

Christian takes a second but then nods, accepting it. “Where is Frankie?”

“At your dad’s house,” Nico replies, his shoulders slumping a little as he leans back against the couch and lifts his coffee to his lips, taking a sip. “He’s been ‘reassigned’ after your departure, kept close to your dad. But you know what that means.”

Christian nods, his eyes going a little far-off as he processes the news.

“Wait,” I say softly, my spine stiffening. “What does that mean?”

“He’s being held hostage,” Christian murmurs, glancing at me. “Dad knows that Frankie and I are close – he’s a…pawn. That dad can use to draw me back, or make me behave.”

I go a little pale at the idea, but there’s no time to dwell on it as Nico moves on.

“What the fuck are you going to do, Chris?” he whispers, shaking his head at his cousin and then looking around at the little seaside cottage. “Because you’ve got no resources, no backup. What the fuck is the plan?”

“I guess the real question here,” Christian says quietly, studying Nico with steady intent. “Is whether or not I have you.”