“Let’s grab a coffee first.” Valerio parked in front of a small coffee shop at the corner. “This is my favorite place to grab caffeine on the go. Isa loves to write here too.”
“Cool,” I said as I followed him inside the cozy place. Potted plants hung from the ceilings, and fluffy, colorful cushions lay on the low windowsills, which could be used to sit. The furniture was of the mix-and-match type. It gave off a very boho/hippie vibe, which definitely fit Isa, yet not Valerio. However, I supposed he didn’t care as much about the design.
Valerio nodded at a pretty brunette who waved at him from her place at one of the high tables. “Can you order an Americano for me?”
“Sure,” I said curiously, but Valerio didn’t elaborate as he made his way over to the girl.
It wasn’t my business really. I wasn’t even sure if Valerio was promised to anyone. I waited patiently in line for my turn, trying not to pay attention to Valerio and the girl.
“When I saw you enter with Valerio, I thought you two were an item, but I suppose I was wrong,” the male barista said before I could say anything.
I laughed, a little startled. “He’s my cousin.”
“Ahhh,” he said, smiling. “I’m Marcos. Nice to meet you, cousin of Valerio.”
He was kind of cute in a normal guy way. Kind brown eyes, wavy brown hair, no visible scars or tattoos. “I’m Aurora. I’m here to visit family. I’m from Las Vegas.”
He made a shocked face. “You don’t look like a girl from Vegas.”
I raised my eyebrows. “How does a girl from Vegas look?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been. More flashy and with more makeup and glittery clothes?”
I huffed. “That’s not true.”
He looked a bit embarrassed. “I prefer your looks. You’re really cute.”
“Uhhh, thanks?” I’d never gotten a compliment from a guy before.
He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. “Okay, this is awkward. Next time you come here, I’ll be smoother, all right?”
“All right?” I said, still a little unsure what to make of this.
“Your cousin is watching us, so I should probably take your order now.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Valerio, who had indeed ceased his conversation with the girl and was watching us intently.
I sighed. “An Americano for my cousin and an iced latte for me.”
“Are you sure you don’t want something with foam on top?”
“Why, do you want to add a message?” I teased.
He blushed. “Touché. Next time, I’ll be smoother, promise.”
“You said that before.” I laughed.
He turned and began to prepare our orders, and Valerio appeared by my side. “Everything okay?”
“Sure,” I said.
He nodded but didn’t leave again. Marcos only smiled when he handed us our order, probably because of Valerio’s presence.
Valerio and I left together.
Marcos’s awkward flirting had lifted my mood considerably, even if I wasn’t interested at all. He wasn’t even remotely my type, even if I didn’t want to ponder why that was. He’d probably run away screaming if he knew my family background. Though he must know who Valerio was.
“We can walk to the hospital from here. It’s not far. That way, we can drink our coffee.”
“Great.” With a smile, I really felt better than I had in a long time.
We turned a corner, and our surroundings became a little less boho and more… sketchy. The hairs on my neck rose. I slanted a look over my shoulder, searching the street.
Valerio followed my example, then raised an eyebrow. “What’s the matter?”
I quickly looked back to the front. “Nothing. I just thought there was someone…” I trailed off. It wasn’t a simple assumption or paranoia, even if Valerio’s expression suggested the latter. It was a gut feeling, one I ever only got around one person. It was a mix of anxiety, very similar to the sensation of being too close to a predator that could kill you with a swipe of their massive paw, and excitement.
Only one person made my body react like this. Valerio strode along completely at ease. I licked my lips, unsure what to do now. Could Nevio really be here? Nobody had mentioned anything to me. I had been in New York for five days now, and so far, my daily routine had been filled with meeting my cousins and aunts, going shopping, and just relaxing. But today would be my first day with the medical team of the Famiglia.
I looked over my shoulder again. And for a split second, a familiar face peeked out from behind a car across the street. My heart stopped a beat. I blinked, and he was gone as if he’d never been there in the first place. I quickly looked back to the front before I stumbled over my own feet. My instincts had been right. I so wished they weren’t.
Or was this my subconscious playing tricks on me?
And even if Nevio was here, maybe it was as a part of a Camorra job to make sure I was safe. However, I couldn’t imagine that Dad or Remo had picked Nevio for the task, considering the potential for havoc. None of this made sense.
Valerio stepped in my way and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Okay. What’s going on?” His blue eyes searched the street, but I doubted he’d see Nevio as long as Nevio didn’t want to be seen. Still, I didn’t want to risk anything. Valerio was a Made Man and Luca Vitiello’s son. Many underestimated him because of his sunny display, but I wouldn’t be among them. His vigilant eyes scanned our surroundings meticulously.
I grabbed his arm. “Come on. I don’t want to be late on my first day. I hear the doc is a tough one.”
Valerio allowed me to drag him along. “He’s a misogynist and grump. No matter what you do, he’ll probably find fault in it.” His eyes still strayed back to where Nevio had been. “Do you think someone’s after you?”
I shook my head with a laugh that sounded a little fake in my ears, but Valerio didn’t know me that well, so I hoped it passed his scrutiny.
“I had a nightmare last night of someone stalking me, so I’m a bit jumpy today.”
Valerio gave me a searching look as if he could tell I was lying, but he didn’t push the matter. Maybe because we arrived at the warehouse where the Famiglia hospital was situated.
Valerio entered a code into a keypad beside the steel door, which unlocked with a soft buzz. He pulled it open and gestured for me to go inside. His eyes scanned our surroundings once more before he followed me into the building.
Valerio had been right about his assessment of the Famiglia’s doctor. He was in his mid-sixties, and his comments throughout the day made it clear he thought women less capable than men. Maybe that was the reason the two other doctors who worked under him were men.
I was used to the male-dominated nature of the mafia world and kept my mouth shut when he spewed his old-fashioned opinions. The day wasn’t busy, with only two patients who’d suffered third-degree burns on their arms and chest in a recent fire. But the nurses showed me around the place and kept me busy enough that I managed to forget about this morning’s spotting of Nevio.
For my lunch break, Valerio surprised me by bringing Isa and Flavio along.
Flavio wasn’t as outgoing as Valerio. He was more thoughtful and observant, but like Valerio, he always made me feel welcome. We went to a small Italian place around the corner from the hospital. Valerio and Flavio nodded greetings at the owners as well as several customers, so I assumed the mob frequented it.
We picked a booth close to the window, and my eyes scanned the sidewalk in front of the restaurant to see a sign for Nevio. I couldn’t imagine him being unreasonable enough to follow me to a mob restaurant.
Isa jabbed her elbow into my side, making me jump. “What’s wrong?” She followed my gaze, and so did the guys.
I smiled awkwardly. They probably thought I was paranoid.
“Aurora thinks she’s got a stalker,” Valerio said with a teasing smile.
I pursed my lips. “Do not.”
“Do you want me to walk around the area and take a look?” Flavio asked, already scooting to the edge of the bench.
“No, it’s nothing. Valerio misinterpreted my words on purpose.”
Flavio’s brown eyes moved back and forth between Valerio and me.
“Let’s eat, okay? There’s always a potential danger lurking around the corner waiting to kill us all, but I’m starving and would rather die with a full stomach,” Isa muttered.
My eyes widened, and I pressed my lips together, torn between wanting to laugh and concern because of Isa’s bitter words.
“Spoken like a true pessimist,” Valerio announced.
“I’m not a pessimist.”
“Flavio and I are around to make sure you can torture us with your hangry attitude for years to come.”
“I’ve been well protected all my life. It doesn’t mean I’m safe, and that’s realism, not pessimism.”
Flavio and Valerio exchanged a look that spoke of buried guilt. I knew what incident they were all thinking about, which was why it was important that Nevio left New York as soon as possible.
An hour later, Valerio returned me to the hospital while Flavio took Isa back to Gianna’s gym. Again, I thought I had seen a brief glance of Nevio’s reflection in a shop window across the street, but I was starting to doubt my own perception.
“I’ll pick you up in about two hours, okay? There are three guards on the premises, so don’t worry.”
“I’m not,” I insisted, at least not for my safety.
My sanity. Peace. My heart. For those, definitely yes.
As expected, my paranoia festered overnight, and when Valerio and I walked into the coffee shop to get our caffeine fix, I couldn’t stop looking over my shoulder. But I didn’t spot anyone following me until he dropped me off at the clinic, where I spotted Nevio again right before I walked inside.
This had to stop. The problem was I didn’t know how to get him off my back before this ended in a major disaster. Plus, I needed him gone for my own sake. I wanted to forget him, and his stalking wasn’t giving me the chance to do so.
I was jumpy all morning, trying to come up with a plan to confront Nevio, even if it was the absolute last thing I wanted. Unfortunately, the hospital was closely monitored by security cameras, so my every move was recorded and seen by the guards. I couldn’t leave the place without someone noticing, and then they’d stop me. Luca definitely wouldn’t be impressed if I ran off from his protection.
I was helping one of the nurses change the dressings of one of the patients when a shrill alarm filled the vast inside of the building. I clamped my ears shut, my eyes scrunching up in pain and my pulse pounding madly in my veins.
“What is it?” I screamed at the nurse.
“Fire alarm,” she screamed back, but her words were drowned out by the unbearable noise. It finally turned off.
“We need to leave the building,” she told me.
The patients, nurses, and doctors as well as the guards gathered in front of the building.
“We need to find the source of the fire,” one of the guards explained. A second was on the phone. I glanced around. This was a big coincidence. One day after I started interning at this place, a fire broke out.
In the general confusion and commotion, nobody really paid attention to me. I knew I didn’t have long before more guards would arrive. I rushed away, out of the back alley where the hospital’s entrance was. This area wasn’t one I’d usually like to spend time on my own. Many strange-looking people walked around, but I was confident I wasn’t alone as I hurried along the sidewalk. An arm shot out and grabbed me, pulling me into a narrow dead end.
My pulse spiked. I was pressed against a rough wall and found myself face-to-face with Nevio.
I wasn’t shocked, yet I felt disbelief and indignance over his presence.
I glared up at his overly pleased face. As usual, he was dressed in all black—T-shirt, cargo jacket, cargo pants, and boots—but he had a baseball cap on his head, which was new. Probably to hide his identity.
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing,” I gritted out.
Nevio tilted his head as he regarded me from head to toe, his hands casually stuffed into his pockets. His nonchalant attitude really pissed me off. “I’m disappointed that you’re not in a nurse outfit.”
I balled my hands to fists, unable to believe his audacity. “Why are you here? I don’t want to see you, to talk to you, to even think of you.”
“You can’t ignore me forever, Rory.”
I stared. “I’m not ignoring you, or I wouldn’t be here talking to you, which is, in case you didn’t realize, the last thing I want to do. And if I remember correctly, you managed to ignore me for eighteen years.”
“I never ignored you. And by running to New York, you’re ignoring me or trying to. But it’s very difficult to ignore me.”
I scoffed. I nodded at his wrist, which was no longer bandaged, though my attack had only happened about three weeks ago. “How’s your wrist?” It was probably still tender. Maybe I could rebreak it to pay him back for showing up here. I didn’t like my new violent tendencies and would have been truly concerned if they didn’t only appear around Nevio.
Nevio’s smile became darker, and he moved closer. With the wall at my back, I had no way to escape. “I’m used to pain, Rory. In any shape and form. You can’t deter me with it.”
The way Nevio said “pain” raised goose bumps on my skin. “You shouldn’t be here. I doubt your dad knows about this. Luca would throw a fit. It’s his territory, and I’m only a guest.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” Nevio growled, pressing the palm of his injured arm into the wall beside my head. His scent engulfed me as he did so, but my anger stopped me from falling in its trap. Still, Nevio’s dark eyes almost made me buckle from their intensity. There was something in them that had never been there before in all the years. As I had suddenly become his prey. “You belong in Las Vegas.”
“Maybe I don’t anymore. Maybe my future is here. Away from Las Vegas. Away from you.”
“It’s not.”
An indignant laugh burst out of me. “Says who?”
“I’m saying it, and that’s the end of the story.”
“You can’t tell me what to do. Now less than ever. Not after what happened.” My voice still wavered when I mentioned that night, and my heart felt too heavy in my rib cage.
Nevio braced his other arm beside me. I sagged against the wall. I was scared of his closeness because of what it still did to my body, to my mind, to every part of me. “I think after what happened, I can tell you that you belong in Vegas.”
“Why? Do you need another disappointing drunk one-night stand? I’m not up for the job, in case you’re wondering. Find someone else, like you did in the past.”
“You’re not a one-night stand,” he growled.
“I’m not? Please enlighten me how I’m not a one-night stand if you banged me once and then disposed of me like you do with every girl.”
“Aurora.” The edge in his voice raised the little hairs on my forearm. His dark eyes burned with anger and frustration. “You’re not like every girl. If you were, I wouldn’t blink twice to kill you, but I can tell you that you’re one of the very few people on my ‘I doubt I could kill’ list.”
This would have come as a joke at the wrong time with anyone else, but I knew Nevio wasn’t joking. “Is that supposed to give me warm feelings?”
“I don’t know what it gives you. It’s the truth.”
“I’m staying in New York. Right now, nothing in Vegas is drawing me back.”
“Don’t think you being outside of my territory will stop me from doing what’s necessary to protect you.”
“It’s your father’s territory, not yours, and I’m well protected in New York.”
Nevio smiled in a way that made a shiver race down my spine.
“Luca won’t let you kill in his territory,” I whispered. It had to get through Nevio’s thick skull. The problem was that Nevio wasn’t blind to the truth. He just didn’t care about the consequences.
“Then don’t get yourself into trouble that forces my hand, Rory.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
He shifted, bringing us closer but not touching me, maybe because I tensed or because he didn’t ache for a touch like I did. “I don’t trust other guys around you. Stay away from them.”
I blinked. Before I could say something in turn, though I wasn’t sure it would have conveyed the necessary spite, Nevio stepped back, turned around, and disappeared in the shadows as if that was where he belonged all along. I couldn’t believe it. Had he really just warned me away from other guys? What was this? Some strange possessive streak? Jealousy? I almost laughed. Whatever it was, I wouldn’t bow down to it. Nevio held no power over me, not anymore. I wouldn’t let him ruin this trip for me. If I had to, I’d call his mother, and then Remo would definitely move everything to remove Nevio from New York. If Nevio decided to play dirty, so would I.
I gripped the strap of my purse, took a deep breath, and left the alley. A search party was probably on the way by now. I slowly made my way back to the hospital.
Halfway there, Flavio jogged my way, looking stressed. “Aurora!” he exclaimed. He picked up his phone. “I found her. She’s fine.” He stuffed the phone into his back pocket and grabbed my shoulders. “Why did you run off? Something could have happened to you.”
For a second, I wondered if Nevio already considered Flavio to be one of the guys I wasn’t supposed to be around, but considering he was my cousin, I doubted it. I hated that Nevio’s comment had the power to steer my actions. He had absolutely no right to tell me what to do.
“Aurora?”
I blinked, then gave Flavio a reassuring smile. “I’m fine. I’m sorry about running off, but the fire alarm and all the commotion gave me anxiety. It brought back bad memories from…you know…” I allowed Flavio to draw his own conclusions.
He nodded grimly. The night of the ambush probably haunted quite a few people in the Famiglia and the Camorra.
“Still, you shouldn’t risk anything. This was dangerous. You need to stay with a bodyguard at all times,” he said as he guided me back to the hospital. I’d never been in danger. From the moment I’d realized Nevio was in New York and on my trail, I’d been safe. He would protect me in his own twisted way.
