Chapter10
900 Words
The warehouse was quiet again.
Rafe’s departure had sucked the venom from the air, but not the tension.
Ava didn’t move. Not until Enzo gave her a nod, then walked off to bark orders at a pair of men guarding the east side. Nico remained silent, but Ava could feel him thinking. She could practically hear it—the way he dissected the meeting, parsed every word Rafe said, every sideways glance.
When he finally spoke, it wasn’t about Rafe.
“You surprised me back there,” he said, still not looking at her.
Ava raised a brow. “That a compliment?”
Nico turned then, his mouth quirking into something between a smirk and a challenge. “You told Rafe to worry about you if you were still around. You weren’t just mouthing off. You meant it.”
“I didn’t realize we were keeping score,” she muttered.
“We’re always keeping score.” He stepped closer. “Especially with people like Rafe.”
Ava crossed her arms. “He called me your puppy.”
“And I handled it,” Nico said evenly. “You didn’t flinch. You didn’t look to me to fix it. That—” He paused, eyes scanning her face. “That’s rare.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, but her pulse betrayed her, fluttering under her skin like a trapped bird.
Nico’s gaze lingered for a second longer. Then he added, “You keep saying you’re not cut out for this. Maybe you’re wrong.”
A laugh escaped her—soft, dry. “So now you’re trying to gas me up?”
“No. Just calling it like I see it.”
A beat passed.
“Look,” Ava said finally, “I didn’t plan on this. Any of it. I was bartending, Nico. Then I saved your life, and now I’m playing Mafia Barbie.”
“You think this is a game?”
“No,” she said quietly. “I think it’s dangerous. I think I’m drowning. But I also think… maybe I don’t want to run anymore.”
Nico studied her. “You trust me?”
She hesitated.
“I trust you not to shoot me in the back,” she said. “Is that a start?”
“Closer than most people ever get.”
Another silence fell, but this one didn’t feel heavy. It felt like... something had shifted between them. A c***k in the wall, maybe. A step forward neither of them expected.
Then, just like that, the moment passed.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”
They left the warehouse through the side exit, slipping into the cool, dusk-heavy night. A sleek black SUV waited at the curb. Enzo was already in the front passenger seat. Nico slid in beside Ava in the back without a word.
As the car moved through the city’s outer veins, Ava kept her eyes on the window. But she could feel Nico beside her—his presence like gravity, hard to ignore, impossible to escape.
Back at the estate, things had settled into an eerie stillness. Nico’s crew moved like shadows—guards posted at every entrance, hushed voices exchanging updates on the missing shipments.
Ava headed toward a room down the hall. But before she could reach it, he caught her wrist gently.
“Walk with me.”
She followed him down a corridor lined with oil paintings and low lighting. They stepped onto a balcony overlooking the back courtyard. The city shimmered in the distance, golden and indifferent.
“I grew up in a place like this,” Ava said quietly, leaning on the railing. “But it never felt like home.”
Nico stood beside her, arms resting on the rail. “And this?”
“This feels like a movie. One where the heroine probably doesn’t make it out alive.”
“You’re not some helpless heroine.”
“No,” she said, glancing at him. “I’m your problem, remember?”
Nico turned to her, that glint returning to his eye. “You’re becoming more of a mystery than a problem.”
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t fight the faint smile on her lips.
He leaned closer. “You didn’t have to stand up to Rafe.”
“I wasn’t going to let him talk down to me.”
“I know,” he said. “And that—” His voice dropped. “That did something to me.”
Ava’s breath caught, just slightly. He wasn’t touching her. Not yet. But he didn’t have to. His words pressed into her skin like heat, leaving a trail.
“You keep surprising me,” he murmured.
“And that bothers you?”
He gave a low laugh. “Not at all.”
The silence that followed was louder than any argument. Ava didn’t move. Neither did Nico. But the space between them had changed—charged now, like storm clouds ready to burst.
He didn’t kiss her.
But he didn’t step back either.
“Get some sleep,” he said finally, voice rough. “We’ve got work tomorrow.”
She turned to leave, pulse still echoing in her ears. Before she walked away, she glanced back.
“Goodnight, Nico.”
He didn’t say it back.
But his eyes lingered until she disappeared around the corner.
- Writer
