The ties that bind 3, p.25
The Ties That Bind 3, page 25
part #3 of The Ties That Bind Series
“Surprise me, Mi̱téra,” he teased, summoning a genuine smile she couldn’t see. “I’ll see you soon. Αντίο.”
After Nick disconnected the call, he gingerly gathered his belongings and locked up. Careful to keep his head down or averted lest he arouse curiosity, he made his way to his car and drove directly to the Galanis residence.
“My God, Nico! What happened to you?” Lana demanded, horrified by his injuries. She helped him in and dragged him to the kitchen, screeching, “Jonathon! Come quickly! It’s Nico and he’s injured! Bring your medical bag!”
Nick flinched at his aunt’s shrill screams that brought his subsiding migraine surging back in a split-second. “Not so loud, Theia Lana.”
“Forgive me for panicking when my nephew comes to the door looking like he went ten rounds with “Iron” Mike Tyson, Nico,” she retorted sarcastically as her husband raced into the room with the requested bag.
“Are you okay, son?” he asked, examining Nick’s injuries. “That’s a pretty nasty break there. Have a seat and I’ll reset it for you. Lana, go grab me a towel. Are you feeling lightheaded, Nico?”
“Yes.”
Lana returned and handed the towel to her husband. Gently he pulled the bloodied gauze from Nick’s nose. “Alright. This is going to be very painful. I need you to blow your nose into the towel and clear out the blood and mucus.”
Nick did and almost passed out again. “Fuck! That hurts!”
“I know, my boy,” Lana soothed, raking a hand over his curls and pressing a kiss to them. “Sssh. Theios Jonathon is going to make it better. It will be over soon.”
“Don’t baby him, Lana. Our Nico is a grown man.” The doctor’s teasing belied the concern in his brown eyes at the state their nephew was in.
“You hush! He is my only sister’s child, and she is not here to do so. He is also my only anipsios! That’s why I baby him extra,” she replied wistfully. “He’s very precious to me.”
Technically, they were Nick’s godparents, but since Cosima and Lana were like sisters, he referred to Lana and Jonathon as his aunt and uncle and they called him their nephew. The men exchanged a look of exasperated fondness at Lana’s reasoning.
“Very well, my love.” The doctor placed his fingers along Nick’s nose, lightly running them over the swollen injury. “This will be very quick yet excruciating. Or so I’m told,” he joked. “Are you ready?”
Nick stiffened, forced his body to relax, and took a deep breath. “Yes. Just do-AHHH!”
“Jonathon!” Lana screamed at his unexpected resetting of the injury. “I thought you were going to at least warn us!”
“Relax, darling. It’s better when they don’t see it coming. See?” He patted a gasping Nick’s shoulder. “Better already. Please go get us some ice to reduce the swelling, Lana. Come, my boy! Are you hungry? The children are with their nanny at the movies. We were going out to eat, but pizza here works fine, too. What do you say?”
Dinner was a somber affair. Sensing aunt and nephew needed to talk, Jonathon retired to the den to watch his shows.
“Want to tell me about it?”
“Not really,” Nick sighed.
“Perhaps, I should rephrase that. Tell me about it.” Lana’s stare pierced him. “Does this have anything to do with him?” she spat.
“Barrera?” Nick’s laugh was clad in brittle irony. “No, this isn’t his work.”
He’d intended to give her the same trolley lie but found he couldn’t do that to the woman who was like a second mother to him. Lana and Cosima were childhood friends. Her family moved to America when she was twelve, and her best friend came to visit every other summer. It was during a visit on her twenty-first birthday that Cosima met Enrique in Los Angeles and got swept away in a whirlwind romance. Lana was more level-headed and pragmatic. She was content with the arranged marriage her parents had set up for her with a Greek-American medical school student.
They weren’t in love when they exchanged vows. It was a gradual process as they came to know and like each other and moved to San Francisco. Lana’s parents expected her to be a dutiful housewife. Jonathon discovered her love of the arts and encouraged her to do something about it. She enrolled in college and got a job at an art gallery. Eventually, the couple moved to Famon, started a family, and the doctor opened his private practice. They were close to celebrating two decades of marriage and Lana’s ultimate dream of opening her own art gallery had finally come true. They were the reason Nick attended Famon University. Cosima wanted him to have a support system that he could readily turn to. He’d grown up feeling more comfortable in the Galanis household than his own, and his godparents loved him as if he was their own.
“I’m waiting, Nico.”
He didn’t answer.
His attention was diverted and held transfixed by a photo on the opposite wall. It was a picture of a young woman on a motorcycle at sunset. Her raven hair whipped around her face and her pillowy lips were slightly parted as she stared directly into the camera. Her brown skin was vibrant, and her liquid eyes reflected a zest for life. The pretty sundress she wore was disheveled and billowing in the wind, baring her toned leg, mid-thigh, and a slim shoulder. The undone bow at her chest hinted at her cleavage. She was braced, her elbow on a handlebar, chin in palm, while the other hand’s manicured nails lovingly caressed the polished chrome.
It was a provocatively striking photo. A beauty on a beast, commanding the sherbet sky at her back and laced with enough sexual tension that Nick was left dumbstruck. His breathing accelerated, and his fingers automatically flexed toward his cock. It was surging aggressively against his zipper, demanding relief. Nick had to clasp his hands together and pray that his face was set in a neutral expression that didn’t betray him.
“Where did that come from?”
Lana followed his line of vision. Recognition danced in her eyes when her head swiveled back to him, making Nick feel as if he’d actually gotten caught beating his meat. He swallowed audibly, a furious blush sweeping across his stark cheekbones.
“I bought it from my newest artist. She’s his girlfriend, but then you already know that, don’t you, Nico? I distinctly remember the way you drooled over her at my grand opening. Sheldon made a terrible joke about needing to mop up after you.”
“Fuck Shelly,” he growled irritably. “How much do you want for it?”
“I can understand why you want it. She has the kind of beauty that dominates whenever she steps into a room, and her heart is even lovelier. A very sweet girl whom men will be making fools of themselves to champion for a long time to come.” Lana shook her head decisively. “Alas, my answer is no. It is not for sale.”
“Isn’t it? If it’s one thing I’ve come to understand in life, it’s that everything has a price,” Nick fired back.
“Not this!” she snapped; her eyes full of sorrow for his pain. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to convince him to sell it in the first place? The man didn’t even want to debut his collection of her, and he had her permission to! No, Nico, for I doubt that I could convince him to sell me another.”
The biker had taken the picture. That was why Billy wore such a besotted expression.
Nick abruptly stood. “I have to go. I still haven’t packed.”
Lana gave him a quizzical frown. “What’s your hurry? You haven’t answered me yet.”
He bent and kissed her smooth, powdered cheek. “You ask too many questions. It was an accident that I caused. I was being careless and paid the price. Don’t worry; it will not happen again,” he coolly assured her.
When Nick arrived home, he headed straight to his bedroom to pack. He was so intently centered on his project that he forgot he no longer lived alone.
“What are you still doing in town?”
Lorelai wandered into the room, eating Nick’s favorite sorbet straight from the container and flopped across his king-sized bed. She whistled at the damage done to his face. “Who’d your nerdy ass piss off? Let me guess; you tried to run from a meter maid without paying?”
She cackled at her own joke but gradually fell silent when Nick disregarded her. Lorelai rolled her eyes at his sourpuss expression. They weren’t exactly friends, but a truce had developed between them now that they had a common goal. “Fine. Be a dud. Would you like some help packing?”
“No. I’d like you to tell me again what you get out of this deal.”
Her expression turned cagey. “That’s none of your business. The important thing you need to remember, Nick, is that I’m your best shot of freeing your mother with no blowback toward either of you.”
“Deals off,” Nick announced and stopped packing. “Get your ass off my bed and get out of my place.”
“What?!” Lorelai hopped up with a malevolent glare. “You can’t do that!”
“The hell I can’t. I’m the one everything is contingent upon,” he countered icily. “It’s my ass on the line. I’d say that puts me on a need-to-know basis.”
“I told you that you’ll get to walk away unscathed,” she snapped. “Do not fuck with me on this, Olente! There’s a lot at stake here.”
“The stakes just got higher, Fitzgerald. You want my cooperation? You’re going to have to give me something in return.”
Lorelai cocked an eyebrow. Where had this stone-cold negotiator come from? It was actually turning her on, which was a reminder of how long it had been since she’d gotten some good dick. That old trash-ass, back-stabbing negro Rage didn’t count. Damn, that had been some seriously prime dick, though. Her honey orbs slid over Olente. He looked like he knew his way around the female anatomy. Yet the man lived like a fucking monk. Lorelai had gone into investigative mode and thoroughly swept the apartment the second he left her alone. She’d watched him for a week prior to approaching, and there were no women, coming or going. All he did was go to school then return home. Nick had to be hard up for some pussy by now.
“I’m all ears,” she purred, bestowing a seductive smile on him. “Why don’t you tell little ol’ Lorelai how I can make your dreams come true, baby?”
Even if she hadn’t considered sleeping with Gualtierro, Nick would never have entertained the invitation in the gorgeous manipulator’s eyes. He liked his women to be soft with generous hearts. A woman who offered to pray for him and his family. Not a heartless, calculating maneater who looked like she could suck his soul out of his dick. Nick smiled coldly and Lorelai blinked at the undefined emotion glinting in his eyes.
“Pay attention. I don’t like repeating myself.”
“The weather here is sublime, Nico,” Cosima announced, looping her arm through his and pressing her head to his shoulder. “It was a selling point that could not be overlooked. The Mediterranean feel that reminds me of home. Did you know that Baja is growing into the number-one producer of wine and olives in the entire Mexican republic?”
“I didn’t know that, Mi̱téra. Are you thinking of starting your own business?”
“No, I just read a lot and watch the news. What else is there for me to do here? If I did start my own business, I’d want to have my own bakery specializing in Greek pastries,” she confided.
“I can see that. Your revani alone is worth robbing a bank for,” Nick kidded, referencing the moist semolina cake she’d baked this morning. It was flavored with a touch of lemon and orange zest simple syrup.
They were walking on the private beach with Benito giving them a respectable berth. The sun was out; the waves were a gentle lull, and the sand between their toes was as fine-grained as sugar.
“How are you, Nico? Are you seeing anyone special? I worry about you greatly. You’re nearing thirty and should be settled down with a nice girl who will give me beautiful grandbabies.”
Cosima patted his taut stomach for emphasis. “You’re too skinny without my home-cooking daily to fatten you up. It would relieve my mind greatly to know that someone was taking care of you in my absence.”
They laughed sadly because her wishes would never come to fruition under Gualtierro’s regime. Cosima had realized that at her own wedding reception when he shattered that illusion.
“A toast to my new exquisite sister-in-law!” Gualtierro raised a glass, staring at Cosima with lustful eyes. “On behalf of la familia, I’ll be the one to…personally… welcome you into the family…” he finished with a lascivious grin, biting his bottom lip.
She fidgeted under his rapacious perusal, despising when his eyes lingered on her bosom and he licked his lips slowly. Warning bells exploded in Cosima’s brain and she was held hostage by the evil wickedness he was unveiling. Since meeting Gualtierro two weeks ago, he’d managed to find a way to constantly lurk in the vicinity and watch her. If their eyes met, he didn’t avert his gaze. Instead, he continued to boldly stare until Cosima felt the need to seek out Enrique or the other wives and girlfriends for safety in numbers. She couldn’t wait to leave here and move into their private home.
Presently, her new brother-in-law’s comment dripped with lewd innuendo that quieted the reception area as guests’ heads swung like pendulums between the best man and bride. Cosima shifted to Enrique for his reaction and found her new husband already on his feet and glaring at his brother.
“You forget yourself, hermano!” he harshly berated. “Perhaps, you’ve had too much to drink already? Why don’t you go sleep it off?”
Gualtierro smiled unpleasantly. “It would seem that you’re the one who’s forgotten. I no longer take orders from you, Enrique. The day you decided to place a puta before your duties to la familia, and stepped down, you forfeited any power you accumulated with that position, and I gained it.”
Cosima tried to quell her rising hysteria. “Enrique, what is he saying?”
Her husband ignored her and looked to Salazar, sitting like a king at his own table, obviously expecting him to run interference. The kingpin calmly met the infuriated eyes of his once most loyal employee and said…nothing.
“I’ve dedicated my life to you, jefe,” Enrique reminded him, astounded by this unexpected betrayal. He’d thought the old man, loved and mutually respected him when he’d lavished congratulations on him and given his blessing for him to step down.
“I had no reason to until you chose a piece of ass over me!” Salazar hissed maliciously. “You showed a great potential to lead, Enrique! I devoted years to grooming you! Yet, you chose to throw everything away without hesitation for that puta! You should have just taken her as a mistress! Instead, you flaunt her power over you in la familia’s face with this farce of a wedding!”
Gualtierro’s jeering laugh drew Enrique’s attention back to him. In the candlelit reception area, his eyes burned manically. Cosima saw that he was indeed drunk—with rabid jealousy and power and now, lust; for her.
“Did you think you were special, hermano? Our rules have been in place since before our father’s time. How do you think you and I came to be, sí? Father claimed my mother on her wedding night to Diego Barrera and put me in her belly, did he not? Then was content to let another man raise me! Why should we be anything different?”
Cosima was terrified. Her fairytale was ruined. Toasts of prosperity, singing, and dancing had been replaced with a potential bloodbath. Guests took cover, crouching behind tables and chairs as the family drama played out and the air crackled with the promise of violence. She was suddenly overwhelmed with hopeless despair, comprehending too late what marrying Enrique Olente entailed.
“You go too far, Gualtierro!” her husband roared, loud enough to shake the rafters. “We always swore to be better men, did we not?! Where is your respect for our blood bond and my wife?!”
“You have it, hermano. That’s why she will be filled with not only your seed but mine too,” Gualtierro smirked. “You picked well. She will give us many fine children.”
The groom leaped over the table, intent on beating the manners his brother lacked into him. He dragged the tablecloth, centerpieces, and plates along with him, sending them crashing to the floor. Some of his men followed his lead and were met with a hail of bullets fired by Gualtierro’s men. Screaming and crying followed. Enrique took a bullet to his chest and left thigh. Fire filled his body as he crumpled to the floor. Though his vision was blurring, he was able to make out his brother walking by him, purpose in each step. He tried to grab his leg but Gualtierro kicked free, stomped him in the face, and kept moving. The pain he felt had nothing to do with his injuries as Cosima’s horrified screams filled the air. Enrique angled his head back and wished he hadn’t, watching his brother throw Cosima on the table and flip her wedding dress up. Triumph stamped his face as she screamed and struck him repeatedly.
“Sí! Fight me just like that!” Gualtierro grunted as he unbuckled his pants and finally achieved his goal of taking everything near and dear to Enrique.
“There is a girl and I like her a lot,” Nick confessed quietly. “I think if, given the opportunity, she would like me too.”
“As she should,” Cosima huffed, vexed on his behalf as only a mother could be. “How dare she not be interested in you! Bring her to me, Nico. I will set her straight.”
He normally didn’t like to add to her burdens, but this time, Nick was unable to prevent his truth from escaping.
“Ah, Mi̱téra, we both know that as long as things stay the same, that wouldn’t be possible. When I think of what you’ve suffered at his hands…”
“I’m sorry you had to see me like that on New Year’s Eve, Nico,” she offered miserably. “I’m even more sorry that I didn’t have the strength to try and leave after you were born. Perhaps, if I had, Enrique would still be alive. He loved you so much and me, too, but could never forgive himself for dragging me into the cartel.”
Nick swung his gaze to his mother. It was the first time she’d addressed it. She was staring out at the ocean. The resigned defeat on her face made him want to scream his rage and frustration at the unfairness of it all. “Tell me how you met. You’ve never spoken of it.”
