NICOLÀS

chapter 16

NIFEMI'S POV

It's been three days, I haven't seen Nico at all. I haven't even felt his presence not to talk of see him. I don't know why I care but I just do. On the bright side, I've improved in my defense skills. I even managed to get Marcel on his knees twice.

NO! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU'RE THINKING!

"Ari, I really want a job", I said as I helped her clean up the kitchen. She giggled, "Why though?". "I can't stay cooped up in this place doing nothing", I said. She hummed, "I understand how you feel. I'm not sure Nico would be a fan of it but you can ask him again". I snorted, "He's never a fan of anything".

She laughed at my comment and continued what she was doing. "I haven't even seen him at all", I complained. "I thought you didn't like his presence", she teased and I through a rag at her. "That's not what I meant! I'm just concerned", I said as I went to retrieve the rag.

"He's not only a Mafia Don but a CEO too", she said and I scoffed. "CEO? Since when did Mafia bosses become CEOs?". "He has a company. He's been so preoccupied with the Mafia lately and now he has to handle the company", she explained. "So, basically, Nico has two jobs?", I asked and she nodded.

"The more reason I need to get a job. I can't keep relying on people", I muttered and she laughed. "Is that the only reason?", she raised a brow as she returned everything to its place. "I actually want to go back to school. University, I mean", I mumbled. She turned around to face me, "Uni?".

I nodded, "Yeah. I already graduated high school when all this happened. I was waiting for my results to come out". She hummed in understanding and then nodded. "You should talk to Nico about it", she said and I sighed.

I walked out of the kitchen and made my way to my room where Hope was still asleep. In. few minutes, it would be time for my next practice. More like my exam.

Yesterday was my final training and now I'm going to be tested. I got changed into a pair of black yoga pants and a black sports bra. Hope woke up again so I had to quickly breastfeed her and burp her she could fall back asleep.

I made my way to the training room where Marcel was already waiting for me with Lucas and Marco. Ariana wouldn't be around because she was going out to get some groceries. I would have tagged along with her but I'm supposed to be here.

"Training did pay off on you", Marcel teased as his eyes roamed my body. I rolled my eyes while the other two snickered. "So what are we doing first?", I asked, eager to get this over with. "Let's see how good you are with throwing a knife at emergencies", Marcel said and I nodded. The three of them walked to different corners of the training while I went to pick up the knives.

In the course of my lessons, I learned where and where not to keep a knife. I hid the small pocket knives in the appropriate places while the larger knives were still in my hands.

"Come towards the end of the room", Marcel announced. I narrowed my eyes at my destination in distaste. Since this room was big, the end of the room was far from me. With a grumble, I walked in the direction.

Hearing rapid footsteps at my back, I grabbed one pocket knife from my sports bra and turned to throw it. Lucas was thankfully holding an aiming board or else he would have lost his nose.

He looked at the knife which was now pinned to the board and looked up to grin at me. "Nice", he commented and I smiled.

By the time I reached the end, I had thrown two more pocket knives at Marco and three large knives at Marcel.

"Good job, tesoro", Marcel ruffled my hair making me glare at him. (Sweetheart). "What's next?", I asked. I was actually enjoying myself but I was already getting tired.