Mafia Legacy (Book #1 - Mafia Series)

Part 22

Knock. Knock.

Niccolo was the one who went to the door, a towel neatly wrapped around his waist while Gabriella sat on the bed, her wet hair dripping on the comforter, her hands fisting at her chest as they held her towel up and protected her modesty. It took them a while, but they finally came out of the shower. It wasn't how he had expected to win but -

It would do.

He gripped the door handle, his eyes shifting to Gabriella for a brief second. Although she had something shielding her body from prying eyes, Niccolo only cracked the door open, finding Leo on the other side. His nails grazed along the wood of the door as he held it firmly in place, not giving an inch.

Leo's gaze traveled to the ground before he cleared his throat. "Hm, we - we have to get back." His voice was meek, words ushered like quiet whispers.

Originally, Niccolo said he was going up for a shower. It had turned into a longer interaction than that - and though they knew better than to interrupt him during sex, now - now he had been gone longer than anticipated. They had so little plans and information when it came to the Devil that they had to hunt down the trails while they were hot.

He knew that.

He knew he had wasted more time than he had originally planned, but he couldn't let Leo know he was right about that. And he didn't want his men coming in here, telling him what to do. That wasn't how this worked.

Niccolo had enough control and power taken from him by the fucking Devil and he wasn't about to let his control slip in his own home. His ego was more than bruised by what went down and he wasn't going to let anyone see even a crack in the facade.

He leaned in, forcing Leo to take a step back to keep space between them. Weak. He was weak. "You think I need you to remind me what needs to be done?" he inquired, an eyebrow arched, and his jaw tight.

"No, boss - I thought - I -" Niccolo could see that he was trying to not look in Gabriella's direction but his eyes went there by themselves. Another wrong move.

"I can think just fine. I'll be right there," he ushered in a low tone. It was the last words he spoke before slamming the door shut in Leo's face, making his point.

He ran his fingers through his damp hair, slicking them back. As if he didn't know they were in a precarious situation. He had lost men - not many, but he had lost a few. He wasn't the Devil; he didn't see his people as disposable. It was part of the job, they all knew it. However, he didn't like when it happened. He didn't trust a lot of people and it was difficult to welcome new faces into his circle.

But their deaths... only proved further one thing: the attack had been personal. The damage had been done - on him. On his reputation. He looked like he couldn't protect his people like he couldn't keep what was his. Word traveled fast - too fast to do any kind of damage control. The only saving grace was that they burnt the place down - one less hideout for that fucker.

That was the only thing that kept him standing, the only redemption to his image.

He burnt it down. He got rid of it. He got back what was his. He didn't take it lying down - he struck back and he had the fucker running. Why he didn't know, but as of now, it looked like he had run and left his prize behind.

On top of it, he was owed some gratitude. None of the big families were associating with the Devil - at least, not out loud and in public. Niccolo had technically cleansed their territory for free. Something that wasn't too common in their line of work. He wouldn't share with them the personal clause behind his actions but it didn't matter.