King of Diamonds (Vegas Underground 1)

I stand still in the bathroom, the phone pressed too hard against my ear. “Okay. Thanks.”

“You okay?”

“No. But I will be.” I hang up and take a long shower. It’s time to come back to the world of the living.

I have some decisions to make.

Chapter 15

Nico

My private investigator found a plane ticket in Sondra’s name to Michigan on the night of the wedding. I rent a car in Detroit and drive an hour and a half to Marshall. I’m wearing a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved button down. It’s my attempt at removing the mafia from my appearance. Figuring out how to at least get through Sondra’s parents’ front door.

I’ve been shot at. Had the crap beat out of me. Made million dollar deals. Nothing’s made me sweat like this.

I figure I have only one shot at this, and I don’t know if I can pull it off. When I get to Marshall, I stop to buy flowers, but then I decide they’re too cliché. Sondra doesn’t need flowers or money from me. She needs… I don’t know what she needs, but I suspect it’s somehow baring my soul.

Which I’m willing to do.

I show up at her parents’ house and ring the bell. A pretty woman in her mid-fifties answers the door. She wears an expectant smile, which fades as she takes in my face. “You must be Nico,” she says. There’s disappointment and judgment in her voice. I definitely have my work cut out for me.

“Yes, ma’am.”

A man who must be Sondra’s father appears behind her.

Well, it’s time to eat humble pie. “I know I hurt your daughter, but I’m here to make it right. I’d just like a chance to talk to her.”

“She’s not here,” her mother says.

My chest tightens. Am I going to call bullshit? I know she came to Marshall. “Where—”

“She went on a walk.” Her mother lifts her chin toward the sidewalk behind me.

“Oh.” Relief pours through me. Every cell in my body wants to bolt out to that sidewalk and follow it all over town until I find her. But I haven’t even won the battle with her parents yet.

“May I come in?”

Apparently they’re too much the nice Midwesterners to refuse me entry. Her mother opens the screen and both of them back away from the door. I step into their sweet, middle-class home and have a seat when her father waves me to the sofa. He clears his throat and offers me something to drink, which I refuse.

“I want you both to know I’m serious about your daughter. Of course, I’ll honor her decision, but I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Have a family, even.” My voice chokes a little and I clear it. “I’ll take good care of her. And I’ll support her career one hundred percent. She’s a smart, talented woman and I know she’ll succeed at anything she tries.”

The tension has gone out of her parents. I don’t know if I’ve won them over, but I’ve at least softened them. It’s a start.

“Well, I don’t really know what happened between you two, but Sondra’s been heartbrok—”

“Mom.”

I surge to my feet at the sound of Sondra’s voice. She’s standing outside the screen door. I forget to wait for an invite as I stalk around to the front door and throw it open. “Sondra.”

She’s pale. Dark circles under her eyes mar her beautiful face. “What’s going on?” she demands. She gives me an up and down sweep of her eyes. “And what are you wearing?”

“I’m trying to fit in,” I murmur and step out of the house. “May I walk with you? Or would you like to take a drive?” My brain revs up, trying to come up with something more appealing to offer, but she says, “Yeah, okay.”

Relief nearly drops me to my knees. “Walk or drive?”

She looks at the rental car—the Ford Explorer was the best I could get—and raises her eyebrows. “Let’s walk.”

“Okay.” I take her hand, not sure if she’s going to shake me off, but she lets me. Hers is clammy and cold. “Sondra, I never fucked around on you or any other woman. You need to know that.”

“I know.”

My step falters. She sounds so quiet, so certain. “You do?”

“Yeah. Corey talked to Tony and Sal and Leo. They all said the same thing you did.”

“I should’ve told you about the problem. To be honest, I spent my whole life keeping it under the rug where I didn’t have to think about it. A dilemma for tomorrow—know what I mean?”

She looks up at me and I swear I see sympathy in the softness of her eyes. I draw a breath and barrel forward. “Jenna Pachino came to Vegas because her father sent her to force my hand, but she wants no part of this arranged marriage. We agreed she should run away for a while until I get things resolved. I gave her money to disappear. That’s all that’s between us, I swear to La Madonna. That’s the most we’ve ever talked. The only time we’ve been alone in a room together. Before that, we avoided each other like the plague.”