The Lonely King

Twenty-Nine

Once we got home, we went straight up to our room and I sat on the bed lost in my thoughts while he paced back and forth in front of me, calling various people and yelling words I didn't pay attention to.

However, throughout this whole thing, I never felt unsafe. Not a single thought was about if I would be in danger or not. I didn't know if it was because I'm already used to the danger or if I just trust nick enough to protect me. Most likely it was the latter.

What my mind was focused on was getting the restaurant fixed. I was supposed to open it in a month, and there was still so much left to be done. I poured all the effort I could into designing the place and menu to be the perfect restaurant, and I'm just so disappointed that I have to start again.

What kind of person would trash my restaurant? All they did was destroy something I've worked so hard on. Nothing else. It didn't scare me. It didn't even send a real message that a simple note or call could suffice. And, that's what disappointed me the most. All it did was destroy.

Suddenly, I felt the bed dip next to me. I glanced up to Nick to see his worried face. There was that little line between his eyebrows giving it all away. My thoughts all caught up to me and came tumbling out of my mouth.

"Nick, What am I going to do about the restaurant?"

"Don't worry. I'm going to fix everything," he said after wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"But what about all mess?"

"I called a cleaning company to come in tomorrow,"

"But I have to train the employees tomorrow,"

"I called the HR manager and told him to tell everyone to come in on Monday instead,"

"But what about finding who did this?"

"I called the police station and told them we're going to come in and check the tapes,"

I sighed. "You really thought of everything, huh," I whispered. While I was sitting here worrying, he was fixing everything. Exactly like he said he was going to.

He brought me closer to him and pecked my forehead. "I told you I'd protect you, and I always keep my promises,"

I looked up to his silver eyes and saw only truth. There was only one thing that came to my mind at that moment, and I couldn't help but say it out loud. "I love you so much,"

Instantly, he smiled and placed a hand on my cheek to cup it. "I bet I love you more," he said before he kissed me.

~*~

"You know, I've been meaning to ask you why did you decide to still have a police force,"

He chuckled. "I can't have everyone killing each other in the streets,"

"When Tony kidnapped me, he told me he wouldn't get into any trouble, but it would take effort. What did he mean?" I asked him.

"I have everyone who commits a crime taken to jail, but for crimes relating to the mafia, I handle them, so he would have to be taken to jail, and I would have had to decide if he could or couldn't do that under our rules if you would have told the police about the murder," he explained.

"So he just didn't feel like explaining it to you," I mumbled and shook my head.

"Not exactly," he started. "Turns out he wasn't supposed to kill that man. He had nothing to do with the business and only pissed off Tony,"

"Ryan mentioned you did something to him. What was it?"

"He told you all my deepest secrets, but not what I did to him," he chuckled. "I just tortured him and killed him," he dismissed.

"Was it bad?"

"Do you really want to know?"

I thought about it for a second. I didn't want to know exactly what he did since I would probably have a nightmare if any other of the mafia leaders are like that, but I was curious as to how bad it was. "Just tell me how bad,"

"He was probably begging for death at the end,"

"Oh," I said. I shook my head to clear my thoughts about what he could have possibly done to him and focused on the road. I saw the police station one block away as he started to parallel park. I guess I get to find out who did it soon.

~*~

I watched the tape play the events of the night as Nick held me close by with an arm around my waist. Currently, the officer was fast forwarding until we saw movement. Once we saw someone walking up, he slowed it back to normal speed. I looked up to Nick to see him carefully analyzing the scene with those calculated eyes.

I looked back to the cameras and saw all of the decorations being destroyed with a baseball bat. Every vase smashed. The paintings torn off the wall. Tablecloths ripped off dragging the candles and vases to the floor with them. The sight caused a slight plain in my chest from how horrible the damage was. Finally, he spray painted the wall with his message.

I felt Nick's hand rubbing up and down my arm in a soothing motion. I moved my head to lean against his chest and listened to his calm heartbeat. When he was done, he turned around to leave. Unfortunately for him, the black hoodie only hid half his face at the angle.

The police man stopped it at that moment and zoomed in. I gasped because I recognized him.

"You know who this is?" The officer asked.

I looked up to Nick. "It's my old coworker,"

His grip tightened on me, and his eyes held that iconic stoic mafia look. "I need you to be sure,"

"I'm sure," I dryly replied.

"You know what I'm going to do to him, right?"

"I know. But can I ask you something?"

"Of course,"

"I want to be there too,"

He looked taken back. "Can you handle seeing me do those things to him?"

"Yes," I replied. "I want to see him get what he deserves," After seeing what he did to my restaurant, I want to find out exactly why he did what he did. "And besides, I have a feeling there's more to the story,"

"You think he's working with someone?" Nick asked.

"Working for someone," I mumbled.