The Mafia King's Nicotine

Chapter 56

Erik couldn't sleep. There was too much to do and too much on his mind. His eyes burned with exhaustion but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his brain to shut off and allow him to enjoy the comforts of his wife in their bed for one night.

He had another shipment due to come in, any day now and he had to find another man to take over for Rick in collecting it. Of course, he had others who were trained to fill in, if such a situation as this were to arise, but most of those men were now dead.

He looked back at the beautiful woman sleeping in their bed and sighed. The things he did for love. Stepping down was a lot of work, more so than it was probably worth, but if that's what she wanted or what was best for his growing family. His perfect little family. Something he never thought he would have and now it was real.

He had the lamp by the desk on the lowest setting as to not disturb her. He was reviewing the quarter's profits from one of his best or used to be his best, restaurants in France and frowned. He needed to return home soon and fix these margins. Apparently whoever he had put in charge wasn't doing their job and nothing could get done without him there.

Hopefully, Vivian would be feeling up to going on a trip after Christmas because he needed to get back home to France as soon as possible. Vivian had never even seen their house, the very house he had been remodeling for months. Besides he wasn't about to leave her alone in America without him. He had made her a promise and would not leave her side and risk something happening to her or the baby.

He didn't want to take her away from her parents, especially not so close to the holidays but he did eventually want to be alone with his new wife in their house.

Quiet, yet pained whimpering turned his attention away from the spreadsheet and back to the bed where Vivian was squirming, slightly in distress. He watched her in concern for a moment, until an especially sharp cry left her throat.

He stood up quickly and shook her shoulders, trying to get her awake, "Vivian? Hey, baby, you're okay." He cooed, gently, but loud enough to wake her.

Her hand shot up and grabbed his arm, in a deadly grip. At the same time, she opened her eyes with a loud and heavy intake of breath. She sat up, sweat glistening across her forehead.

He cupped her cheeks and lifted her eyes to meet his. He brushed away the hair that was clinging to her face and kissed the top of her head.

"You're okay. It was just a dream." He told her. She was wide-eyed and breathing heavily. Whatever it was she had dreamed of must have been bad, because in the months they had shared a bed, even after Ollie, she had never had to be woken up from a nightmare. Not that she didn't have them, in fact, she had them all the time, but she always was able to handle them. She would wake up, cuddled up in Erik's arms, sweating her ass off, remember she was safe, and go back to sleep.

This had never happened before.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself to her knees, burying her face into his shoulder, "Erik." She whimpered.

He held her close, trying to comfort her as best as possible, "What happened, Princess?"

Vivian was quiet, only her cute sniffles filling the room, but he was patient, giving her time. After a few minutes, in a quiet whisper, almost too quiet, she told him, "It was Lynol. He was there and-"

Erik stiffened at the mention of his friend, the man who had helped raise him. It was a great loss for everyone but had hit her the hardest. He rubbed her back urging her to continue.

"I was so happy to see him but then-then this thing-this shadow, he came out of nowhere-" she began to sob loudly and covered her face with her hands, "It's so stupid but it felt so real. One minute he was talking to me and the next he's dead on the fucking floor!"