Chapter 64: Chapter 64

◇ KEL ◇

"We have to go." Niccolo stepped closer to hug me lightly.

"Where you going?" I muttered after the side of my face touched his neck. I pulled away and noticed his right hand still gripped his phone.

His dark brows wrinkled in unmistakable annoyance.

What exactly bothered him? Some angry mobster whose black books he might've dug up and exposed? Whoever he'd been arguing with on the phone in Russian, I had a feeling it wasn't anyone I'd like to meet.

"Somewhere safer." Nicco avoided my stare and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Stay away from Lorenzio and his brother. Okay?" he murmured to my ear before he let me go.

Why was he warning me to stay away from Leandro Tomassini? Did he think the guy was that dangerous? Why would he also think Enzo was someone I should be avoiding? It just reminded me of Miles' warnings in the past couple of months.

"You think, Enzo will hurt me?" I asked in a muted voice.

Nicco and I stood near the front entrance.  His uncle—well, godfather, to be precise—remained sitting at the table, busy talking to someone over the phone.

"Just stay away from them." Nicco sighed, pulled back, and rubbed his clean-shaven jaw distractedly. "Go home. Prioritize school. Stop talking to Lorenzio and keep away from him—especially his brother," he stressed with a slight frown. "You should take a commercial flight back home. Now."

Commercial flight? He wanted me to go to the airport alone, buy my own ticket for a flight to New York, go home, and just stop talking Lorenzio?

"I...I can't. Enzo wouldn't let me. His bodyguards are still outside, waiting for me." I stammered after cautiously glancing around. We stood in the corner now, some ten steps away from the restaurant's front entrance and four tables away from Niccolo's uncle.

"Fine." Nicco shook his head weakly and stared at me.  "But go home soon as you can. Do what I said. Alright?"

"I'm gonna...  I'm calling Miles."

"No." He scowled and put on a dark cap. "I will."

Would he really call Miles? To let him know he was alive and not harmed in any way? Why so paranoid? Were we in some kind of danger now?  "I only came here, 'cause...I thought I would find my father."

"I'll help you. Just do what I say."

Alright. Fine. I'd trust him to help me. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even know I had a different father.  "Is he still alive?" I murmured in sheer curiosity.

"Of course."

I breathed a sigh of relief. The information also got me feeling nervous, though.  "Are you sure about...Enzo's family?"

"Yeah." Nicco stared back at me. "Why would I lie to you?"

I was about to ask him something  else when I saw his uncle approaching us now. I put on a smile when Niccolo stepped away to let his uncle get near me again.

"Say hi to your mother and sister for me." His Uncle Ilya put his palm on my shoulder. For a quiet moment, Ilya's heavy-lidded eyes stared at me, as if he was memorizing every inch of my features.

It didn't creep me out, though, just left me curious enough to learn more about Nicco's Italian family, the Vinciguerras. Nicco didn't really talk about his family while we had lunch. Or perhaps he'd mentioned some facts to Miles before? Nicco didn't even tell me his uncle's last name.

"Thank you for lunch. Safe trip, Sir." I wore another big smile and ignored Nicco, who now fidgeted beside his suit-clad uncle with his phone still in his grip. Both men stood near the glass windows. From where I stood, I could see the clear and invitingly sunny sky.

Ilya, the shorter one of the two, stepped even closer to put his arm around my back. A parting hug.  It didn't even last two seconds, but I still felt the odd sense of familiarity that struck me.

Was it his perfume?  His quiet and calm aura?  Like my Daddy Jim's?  From what the man had shared about his relationship with Nicco, he might have been more of a father figure in Niccolo's adult life.

"Take care." A closelipped smile stretched the crow's feet beside Ilya's eyes before he stepped out of the restaurant with Nicco.

Right outside the glass doors parked a  Hummer painted in matte black.  The driver was just waiting for the two.  It could be bulletproof, too, if my assumptions about his uncle were accurate.  Some men in casual button-downs guided Ilya and Niccolo into the vehicle. Bodyguards, obviously. His uncle was a big deal, it seemed.

I frowned.

Nicco just walked out without leaving me another glance.  Were the police done investigating his supposed disappearance? Did he even want his parents to know he was okay? Far from being six feet under?

Maybe he'd just sent them a text or something.  I badly hoped he would stay out of trouble from now on. Messing with mafia families' businesses could result in his utter demise sooner than anyone could tell he was missing and in grave danger.

I glanced around the four corners of the jam-packed restaurant, distractedly chewing on my thumb.

Darn. He just left me here alone. Alone and desperately trying to put the puzzle pieces together. As if he didn't know the only reason I'd flown all the way out here was to track my real father's whereabouts. For the past few days, I'd promised myself that I wouldn't easily give up the search. That I'd try everything to find the man myself.

However, that wasn't an option now apparently.  I should be on my way out of this city. I no longer had any business being here.  As disappointing as it was, I totally wasted my time. And Enzo's efforts.

Alone, I stood in the corner,  still struggling to understand what happened. Then something buzzed on my hip. The noise pulled me straight out of my thoughts.

My phone. Someone's calling me.

Miles?

I checked my phone. Not Miles. Of course it wasn't him. My heart sank.

It was Enzo.   The coiling in my chest subsided, mainly at the thought of having someone to talk to after the total mindfuck I just endured.

Well, Nicco didn't specifically mention why he wasn't a headless corpse rotting away in a morgue. But I put two and two together and figured he was hiding out here.  In another country.  With his godfather, nonetheless.

Was he a hacker and spy for the authorities?  Or something similar?

I stepped closer to the entrance doors to try to hit pause on my thoughts. After seeing Nicco again, I just couldn't help my brain's automatic inclination towards making up presumptions. I took the call to stop my phone from buzzing incessantly.

"Mykaela?"

"Hey." My voice sounded strained. To sound normal, I cleared my throat and ignored my racing pulse and the knots forming in my stomach. Cool and calm. Pleasant tone.

"You okay? All done?" Enzo asked.  "What did the guy say?"

Informant. He still thought I met up with an informant named "Andrej Dudek".  Why did he lie about it? Or did Enzo not know about Nicco's real situation? Should I let him know?

"It wasn't...um...we talked and—" I balked when my eyes caught a familiar face. The bodyguards Enzo had ordered to keep an eye on me just walked into the restaurant, both obviously waiting for me to say I was ready to go.   "Can you come get me now?"

"Sure," Enzo replied without a second of hesitation. "So the guy already left? The guards just called me."

"Yeah."

"Sorry I couldn't get there on time," Enzo sighed.  "Leo called again. I had to take care of some things.  You good to go now?"

"Yeah.  I'm still in the restaurant," I muttered in response.  "Lele and Gino are here with me."

He sounded like he didn't have a single clue about what just happened.  Enzo still thought I just met with a guy named "Andrej" who used to work for Ilija, my real father—and Enzo had no clue I met with Niccolo Vinciguerra instead.   Miles' ex.

"On my way," Enzo said over the phone.  "Stay there."

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