Omerta

Chapter 5

        On the drive back I looked out the window the same way I had driving up here, so I was surprised when Nicolas's voice broke the silence. "How old were you when your dad went in?" he asked. I glanced over at him but he wasn't looking at me. "13" I said. "I only worked with your dad a couple years in my early days," he randomly told me. "How old are you?" I furrowed my brows trying to do the math. 

"I'm five years older than you. From 16 to 18 I was already involved in the business, at 18 was when your dad was pinched," he explained. His voice was expressionless and so was his face. I couldn't read him at all. "I didn't know anything about the business until my dad was arrested. I thought I had a normal family" I sighed. "You didn't know at all?" He sounded somewhat surprised.

"Nope. I lived a completely normal life up until then." Oh how I wish I could go back. 

        "What's the fun in that?" he asked, and he was dead serious. "I don't like this lifestyle. I'm not a fan of the family business. I keep out of it" I told him honestly. "Well...except for one thing," I said more to myself than him, but it got his attention. He only glanced at me to express that he wanted me to continue. His face is made of sharp lines, like his cut jaw and straight nose. The black ink just below his jaw and down his throat only accentuates that. 

"When I got older I was sort of...expected to befriend someone important to our family's alliances. I was pissed off for a while, but I didn't want to let my dad down so I agreed," I said vaguely. It's something I didn't like hearing myself admit out loud. "Are you gonna make me pry it out of you or are you gonna finish telling me?" he asked. 

I shifted in my seat and glanced at my hands. In this sleek car all I could smell was him. It was an intoxicating scent even if I couldn't place it just yet.

        "I'm sure you know Mikhail Bokarev?" I asked him. His hand shifted on the wheel and he nodded. "Well, I knew him growing up. Or at least I'd met him a few times whenever my dad took me to Europe for 'vacations'" I used the finger quotes to show that I was being sarcastic with the term. What I thought were family vacations was actually business with important men I didn't even realize I was meeting. I met Mikhail at a very young age and we got along fine. He's the son of the Russian mob boss and is now the underboss, but at the time he was just a kid to me. 

"Anyways, they wanted us to date and eventually marry to solidify relations between the two families. You know how it is" I told him. It sounds so medieval, but It wasn't that uncommon to use marriage as a kind of contract for peace and alliances.

"So you're dating the Russian underboss?" he clarified. 

        "We aren't currently dating, no. He's sorta been the only boyfriend I've ever had though. But since he's far away for a while, we left things on pause until he moves back to the states," I answered. Nico snorted. "What?" I asked him and soon regretted it. "So our most important alliance is held together by one girl's pussy" he moved his hand to play with his bottom lip. I glared. "Excuse me?"

"You're excused" his smart ass said. 

"That's not what it's like," I snapped. "No? Then tell me what it's like" he challenged me, but he was still emotionless whereas I was noticeably flustered and offended. "We already have an alliance through having a common enemy or whatever the hell it is. Mikhail is just..." I didn't know how to finish that sentence. "Mikhail is just the bargaining chip the same as you are, so that no one ever betrays the other" he answered for me. 

        "He's a handsome guy. We actually liked each other" I threw in his face. I didn't care too much about what my family wanted from me once I saw how well Mikhail grew up and how much chemistry we had. It turned into a real relationship and neither one of us ever talked about the future marriage part. We just enjoyed each other for what we had then.