Mafia's Arranged Princess Bride Book1 King of New York

Chapter 59

Lucky

All of a sudden, I am wide awake. "Are you serious right now?" I stare at him as if he's grown two heads and has devil horns out of the top. His eyes narrow and he moves his head slightly like he is assessing me.

"Deadly serious, Lucky. I need to know if it was you."

"But why would I do that? You're out of your mind, Nico. That is the most insane thing I've ever heard." He raises his eyebrows.

"Somehow, I don't think it is. Think about it, Princess. You didn't want to marry me; an arranged marriage is not your idea of love and romance. I threatened your father's life. Perhaps you thought by ordering a hit that if I was out of the way, you and your father would be saved." He leans towards me and tilts my chin up with his thumb and forefinger.

Even with him accusing me, this gentle gesture makes my pulse race and my heart hammer in my chest. Insane, right? "Nico, I wouldn't dream of having you killed. I am not a murderer; I may be many things but that is not one of them and why on earth would I hire someone when I was there? Answer me that before you start accusing me of something so heinous. There are better ways to skin a cat, or to get away from you. I know now you wouldn't kill my own father if I didn't go ahead with the wedding."

He looks shrewd, and it would appear I have hit on his secret that he has no intention of killing my father if I do not marry him. Nico Santangelo doesn't have it in him to kill a Gianluca. The war that would erupt would be too much for one family to handle because we have our own allies in Sicily and other areas of the United States who would step in if such a thing were to happen.

"I am not accusing you of anything, Lucky. I am merely asking you." I watch as he stands, his tall stature blocking out the door frame he came through. He paces up and down his hands in his pockets, his jaw ticking. The man hasn't slept in days from what I can piece together. "It could be anyone that is the problem. It could be my own flesh and blood. Lucky only a few people knew we would be at the opening together." He looks at me, totally lost and bewildered and my heart literally flies to him, it feels for him.

The strong, powerful Nico Santangelo is lost, vulnerable and more than anything I want to protect him from that. I stand and go towards him not even thinking about my actions, as I put my arms around his waist and rest my head on his chest listening to his heart beating. It picks up speed.

"Nico, yes it could be anyone and yes it could be someone who is close to you, or it could just be coincidence. Let's face it, the opening was public knowledge, the event afterwards was public knowledge. You had your media assistant and PR firm crawling all over it. The largest store in all of New York being opened by you. What do you expect?"

"Yes, but nobody knew you would be there," he says then kisses the top of my head.

"I think, like I said it was coincidence. Maybe they saw an opportunity and thought they could kill two birds with one stone. Maybe you were always the target and then they saw me and decided to try to get me first then you. Nico, I have no answers all I know is that pretty much the entire world knew about the store opening. The only thing they didn't know was that I'd be there, that you kept from public knowledge."

I hear him sigh, his hand travels to my back and strokes me in strong yet gentle strokes. He pulls me closer into his chest and murmurs into my hair. "I don't know what I would do now, Princess if anyone hurt you. I have to protect you at all costs. But I am still no closer to knowing. Maybe it was Dario, he seems to have it in for me."

"The other thing, Nico is this would have been planned. They would have had to view their shoot site, the angles, the light, take into consideration crowds, where the car was likely to pull up. This wasn't an off the cuff shooting."

"I know, Princess. I know." He exhales, his heartrate goes down a fraction.

"Nico, come to bed, it's been a long night, we are exhausted. You will be no good to anyone if you do not sleep. Aurora won't be in until late morning at least get a few hours' sleep."

"I will not sleep, Lucky. Not until this woman is caught and I find out who is behind it. There will be no sleep."

"Fine, then at least come and lay down beside me and hold me."

"You want me to hold you, Princess?" His question is as if he can't quite believe what I have asked for.

"Yes, Nico. It's time to put our differences behind us. We will be as one. I don't know what the hell is going on with me, but I think I have feelings for you that I have been trying to hide for a while."

He steps back, the dim lighting shows off his beautiful face, his eyes still manage to shine that brilliant blue of theirs and I gasp at his godliness in front of me. The man is divine, even under such awful circumstances, so heightened stress and with both our lives at stake.

Nico cocks his head to the side; his lips turn upward. "So, you did like me all the time after all, huh?" Now he's just being cocky and arrogant.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, you know me, Nico I could change my mind like the wind."

He steps in closer, bends his head down to mine and pulls me towards him again. One arm circling around my waist, resting on my lower back, the other cradling my head. "I doubt you will my Princess. My heart is surrendering itself to you and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it," he whispers into my mouth. I can smell the coffee on him mixed with his masculine scent. The bristles of his unshaved face tickle my face and God, I want this man all over again. Yet, he needs rest, he needs to close his eyes not be sexing me again before his meeting with Aurora.

Our lips crash together, hungry, soft, teasing, gentle, exploring. The kiss is intense with such passion as if our lives depended on it. I moan into his mouth. When we stop, I am breathless. Never has a man taken my breath away with just a kiss but Nico, he holds the key to the fire igniting inside of me every time we are close. He is like an intoxicating drug; one I don't think I will be able to get enough of.

Our foreheads rest against each others, "what are we going to do, Princess?"

"Go with the flow, Nico. Is all we can do."

"We will get this woman and find out who is behind it, then I will throw you the most lavish wedding your heart could ever possibly desire. I want the entire world to know you are my Queen, Lucky Gianluca. I want everyone to know that you are my equal, that you will be the mother of our children."

My heart seems to flip and soar at the same time. There was a time not that long ago I'd have scoffed in his face and flipped him the finger but not this evening, not now. He is vulnerable and even though he is trying to be brave and strong for us, and declaring his heart to me, I know that Nico is scared of what can happen to his family, to me, to himself.

"You know, Princess that when I have found Yelena and extracted the information, I will have to kill her."