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"But isn't that stealing?"
Chapter Fifteen
~ Nico ~
I flushed when I heard soft chuckles coming from my cell phone.
"Baby," Luca said, "we're mafia. Stealing is kind of our bread and butter."
"No, I get that," I said, "but this isn't my money. Why would it go to me? I wasn't even the one that went to prison. You did. Shouldn't the money go to you?"
Luca pressed a kiss to my forehead. "How about the money goes to both of us, huh?"
I nodded. That was a much better idea.
"What is this organization you mentioned, Vinnie?" Luca asked.
"Alejandro Díaz's husband Delancy runs an organization helping abuse victims escape their abusers, especially in situations where they have no other avenues of receiving help."
"God, I wished I'd known about that organization when my parents were keeping me a prisoner and refusing to feed me to punish me."
Luca's jaw clenched. "I knew your parents were starving you."
"It wasn't often and usually only for a couple of days, but—"
"But nothing, Nico," Luca snapped. "That's still abuse."
I ducked my head, staring down at my fingers as I twisted them together. It wasn't so much that Luca had spoken in a harsh tone. That didn't bother me. I knew he was upset, but I also knew that he would never hurt me.
It was the fact that I had accepted everything my parents had done to me over the years and never really considered it abuse until now.
I mean sure, I thought they had emotionally and mentally abused me when they took Luca away from me, but I'd never thought about the rest of the things they had done. They had never physically touched me until that last time so I never saw it that way.
I was an idiot.
"Nico, baby." Luca cupped my chin and lifted my head up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."
"It's okay," I said. "You weren't really snapping at me, but the situation."
"God, baby." Luca hugged me tight. "We need to toughen you up."
I didn't know why.
"I'm not sure if this is the right time to bring this up," King said, "but maybe we can talk with Petrov and Díaz and all of us agree to cancel any contracts Rossi might have with us and not allow him to do business in our territories. That would take some of his revenue away from him."
"Do you think Hu would agree to it?"
King snorted. "I don't think Hu would care."
"Hu?" Luca asked.
"Hu runs Staten Island," Vinnie explained. "He only meets with us at the annual conclave. He's not much for socializing."
"So, stay out of Staten Island?"
"That would be my suggestion," Vinnie replied.
"Okay, Vinnie, we'll make arrangements to come back to New York later this week," Luca said. "Can you call that detective and set something up?"
