Marry Me Mafia

Reinforcements

Antonio answered the call on the second ring, "Good evening boss, the girls waited for you, un memento…;" Antonio's voice called for the girls. Nico could hear the tiny footsteps running through the phone, then Antonio must have put the phone on speaker. Nico could hear the girls as one, "Uncle Nico!! We miss you and auntie! When will you be back?" At the word "auntie" Nico's heart skipped, "Um, auntie is taking a shower right now, but she reminded me to call my angels. We both miss you, and we will be home very soon, I promise. Don't stay up late now, my loves, go straight to bed." The girls answered back, "We love you, Uncle Nico. Tell auntie we love her and that Bug is a good dog. We walked her into the backyard, and she is sleeping with us tonight." Nico smiled, "That's good girls, take good care of her. Let Antonio have the phone and you girls get ready for bed, OK?" Antonio turned off the speaker, as Maria ushered the girls to bed. Antonio's voice went low, "You sound different. What's going on, boss?" Nico relayed what had happened earlier in the night, the bomb, everything. "I don't know how to fix this, Antonio. Never in my life have I put hands on a woman. I can say it was the stress, the anxiety, or adrenaline, but they are all just excuses. Now she is locked in the bedroom, crying and worse, probably packing, and the sound of her crying is killing me. What do I do?" Antonio took all the information in, whistling under his breath. "Bambino, when you laid hands on her, you broke the sacred trust she had in you. For all of that woman's bravado, bright smiles, and flirtations, she has shadows in her life just like you. This is not something flowers, dress shopping and jewelry will fix Nico. You two will need to talk, it will be a hard talk for both of you. Tell her about the bomb, about the threats, how you felt, and tell her you understand that you broke her trust with your actions. Then you have to figure out on your own how to repair that trust. I cannot do it all for you, son." Nico dropped his head. "I understand. I wanted to call the girls and I needed your wisdom on this. I am just so stupid sometimes," Antonio smiled. "We all fall at some point, son, just find a way to keep that beautiful angel by your side to help pull you back on your feet." Nico's eyes began to hurt. He ended the call without another word, and walked over to the sofa, pulling large pillows and a blanket to the entrance of the second bedroom. He camped outside her door all night that night.

At 6:30AM the following morning, the bedroom door opened slowly. Renee found Nico curled up sleeping, blocking the doorway. He was wrapped in the throw blankets from the sofa and using sofa cushions as a mattress. To Renee, he looked like a little boy who built a pillow-fort and fell asleep inside. That night she had wanted to rage, to scream, to fight, but her heart and her body didn't have the strength. She had laid on the plush carpet of the walk-in closet, in the presidential suite of the finest hotel in New York City, in that beautiful red dress and cried until she'd fallen asleep. When she woke up the next morning, her back and side were killing her from the hard floor. She carefully unzipped the dress and set it aside for dry cleaning. Her hip had a bruise from where she had fallen onto the floor of the SUV. "Fallen," she rolled that word in her mind while she took a shower. Nico had never been violent with her, never once had he lost his temper. Something had to have happened that she didn't know about, something he hadn't told her. Even during dinner, he seemed distant, messages kept showing up on his phone, those little lines on his forehead would flex then disappear. Even his hand that had been playing with her under the table had been distracted. When he pulled her into his lap, her hands were rough. She could feel something was off, he was on edge, and something else was boiling just under the surface. She didn't want him like that, it made her feel cheap and disposable, and it made her feel like whatever was between them dirty.

The hot shower helped her sore hip, it even helped to clear off the grime and smeared makeup of the previous night. What it didn't help with were all the questions spinning in her head. She and Nico needed to sit down, completely sober, and talk. As she was getting dressed, she noticed the dead silence from the rest of the suite. She figured Nico was still asleep, or had gone somewhere else to get away from her and the drama. Mafia guys had mistresses in the movies, so it was possible he'd just left and sought comfort with another woman. So when she opened the bedroom door and saw him there guarding the door to her bedroom, all of her ideas that he had gone into another woman's arms after their fight died in that doorway. Nico stirred from sleep. His blurry eyes opened to see Renee staring down at him. He instinctually reached his hand up to hold hers. Renee didn't move away. "I'm sorry, baby," he rasped. His own voice dull and hoarse, his back was screaming, and his head felt like a jackhammer was at work. Renee looked down, her face, which had always been hard to read, was red from crying, and the hot shower she preferred first thing in the morning. "Let's order some breakfast." Nico began. "We need to talk about last night. A lot of things were going on behind the scenes, and I didn't want to worry you. So I didn't tell you. I was so stupid. I know it probably doesn't mean much, but I will keep telling you I'm sorry. Forever if I have to." Renee nodded, "OK, coffee and food first?" Nico stood up, stretching, "Definitely coffee and food first," he repeated.