Chapter 12

DOM hadn't returned my calls or answered my messages, so I went to the nightclub anyway to distract myself with Fabian.

"Friend, don't you think you've had enough to drink?" she said, concerned.

"I've only had 5 glasses of gin and tonic; that won't knock me down easily. Come on, let's dance?"

"I don't want to dance, but my feet hurt. You go, I'll stay here at the bar."

"But you're acting like an old lady! I'm going to dance," she taunts.

Fabian goes off to dance, and I see Nick approaching me. After the engagement incident, we hadn't seen each other, so I was a little surprised he was at his brother's club since they don't get along well.

"You here?" he says, surprised.

"I came with a friend, that crazy one on the dance floor," I say, smiling.

"I must admit I'm a little surprised to see you still here, considering you're no longer with Morgan," he asked, intrigued.

"Why should he have a say in it? I'm not his employee to be told what to do. Just because he put a ring on my finger doesn't mean I belong to him," I sigh.

"I didn't mean that. I'm sorry, but you know how my brother is, difficult to deal with. After everything that happened with Lauren, and now that he knows you, he's been acting like a psychopath."

"What do you mean? Who is Lauren, and what happened?" I ask, curious.

"Nothing, I shouldn't be talking about this with you. Forget it."

I hold onto Nick's arms, looking into his eyes, preventing him from leaving.

"Please stay! Let's have a drink, and you can tell me. You're the only person who hasn't been afraid to speak the truth about your brother. So, please, don't hide anything from me now. I promise not to say anything to him that could cause you trouble."

"I don't care about Morgan or how he might react if he finds out I told you. I'm worried about you."

"Worried about me? What do you mean?"

"Unknowingly, you're letting your guard down for him. That determined woman from the day of the engagement, the one who made that speech to make him angry—that was a powerful speech. She simply opened the doors of her heart, and there's no going back from that."

"You're not in my heart to know that. I never said I felt anything for your brother."

"You don't need to say it; your eyes say it all. And you know what annoys me the most in all of this? The fact that he always takes everything from me."

"I don't know what you're talking about; I think it's better if I go since you'll keep going around in circles," I said.

"Please stay; I'll tell you," he said, holding my hands.

"Alright!"

"Morgan and I were never close; there was always competition for our father's attention and who would succeed him. I didn't want to be a Mafioso; I just wanted to leave the country, travel the world, and have my own family far from all this mess. One day, I was with Morgan and our parents at a charity lunch. We stopped the car at a traffic light in front of a school, and that's when I saw you. You looked beautiful with a pink backpack with little flowers, a pink scarf, and ripped jeans, which I'm sure were meant to annoy your father. I was staring at you so intently that I didn't hear Morgan talking to me. He asked me what I was looking at, and I pointed to where you were. He said you were too good for me, as he always believed he could win everything from me. But he doesn't tell you this."

"I had no idea about any of this. He only says he liked me from the moment he saw me. And just for the record, I didn't wear that outfit to make my father angry. Despite being a Mafioso, he was an incredible man, and if he were alive, none of this would have happened in my life."

"But it doesn't end there. Morgan was already married; he was going to be a father. He was married to Loren. Since the day he first saw you, he became obsessed with you. He started drinking because he couldn't bear being with a woman he didn't love. When he found out she was pregnant, he couldn't stand it. They fought because he didn't want anything to get in the way of him being with you. He gave medication to Loren, and she stopped taking it when she realized he liked you. During an argument, she lost her balance and fell down the stairs, losing the baby and the possibility of being a mother."

"I think I'm going to be sick." I turned to the side and started vomiting.

"I'm so sorry for having to tell you this," he said, holding my hair to keep it from getting dirty.

"How could he do that to a poor woman who was going to be the mother of his child?" I cried in distress.

"I don't know, especially because they stayed together for years even after all that. He only left her when you turned 18. Just imagine how much she must hate you. If I were you, I'd be careful; you don't know what a woman with that kind of anger can do," he said, concerned.

"Yes, I know. She's probably the crazy one who almost killed me at the hospital."

"Laura, my brother will never be a good person. Everything he gets close to suffers. He'll never give up the Mafia, and the day he finds another woman who catches his eye, you'll end up in the same position as Loren, or worse. Please take care of yourself. I have to go now," he kissed my forehead.

"Thank you, Nick," I said, tears in my eyes, holding his hands.

"Thank you for what? I couldn't save you from him. If I dared to come to your school, maybe things would be different today," he said with a sad look.

Nick leaves, and I begin to think about everything he told me and how chaotic my life has become.