INFIDELITY | Book I

29. Mark My Words.

Chapter 29:

"It's been a long time." Stefan's voice came in, it sounded nasally and gruff like he had a bad cough before he approached his nephew.  Lorenzo put it on speaker phone for us to hear better.

Nicholai didn't speak.

The grip he had on his phone could shatter the screen if he gave it one more squeeze. "It's been 13 years!" Stefan cheered like they were buddies. "It's great to see you two successful." Successful.. this life wasn't successful but their uncle embraced it.

Sage was by his brothers side in seconds. "What did I tell you." Nicholai took a disquiet step closer to his uncle, he lowered his phone down to his side. "You must have a death wish."

"That was a long time ago son, don't tell me you're still holding on to-"

"Is he speaking to me?" Nicholai looked to his brother who nodded his head yes before he looked back to his uncle like he was filth on the bottom of his shoes. "You knew not to come around me." He was calm and it was becoming nerve wrecking. He wasn't reacting physically, but his words were. "I warned you that I would kill you."

"Your own uncle?" Stefan looked.. hurt. Like he was sincere in his approach. "Look Nickel.." That triggered something within Nicholai. Amelia was too busy talking to her friends on the side to pay attention to her man that was currently trying to hold his image together.

"You have five seconds to walk away from me." He took another step and Sage wrapped his arm around his brother to pull him back but he snatched his arm back and Stefan took a hesitate step away from the fuming Nicholai. "Mark my words, it won't be here and not now but your death will come, I suggest you get a head start."

"Tell Matteo I said hello." He nodded his head to his two nephews, bowing out with grace, before he disappeared into the crowd. The phone disconnected and sure enough Nicholai broke his screen.

That's when something told me to look at Gerardo.

My skin began to crawl seeing him looking over to where he should be protecting his little girl to the two men that just had a not so pleasant reunion. His cigar rested in his mouth but it was the sadistic grin that came across his face, like the monster underneath a child's bed. He was playing a game that we weren't ready for. "He had something to do with it." I spoke.

"What?" The men chimed together.

"Gerardo." I pointed to camera 11. "He knows."

"You don't know that for sure-"

"Kayden he knows!" I barely rose my voice at him, he needed to know this was serious. I wasn't making an hypothesis. "Look at him." He was like a gold collector, one day he would come to collect what he was owed. And for him it was everything. We were in too deep to pull away now, unless Nicholai wouldn't mind the casualties. We had to play this right, and we only had one shot to not lay in the pool of our own blood. That brought me back to Sergio's words in my room. "They would come for us."

I sat back to process those words.

My allegiance to them is what sealed me in, but for the past-almost- three months I've spent with this family dynamic the more we branded ourselves to each other. And looking back to the faces of everyone that flashed through my mind: Lorenzo, Riana, Crixus, the fallen Emil, Julius, Sergio, Alice, Ethan, Kayden, Sage and finally.. Nicholai.