Seven Days: A young black woman makes a deal with a mob boss. (36 page)

Victoria sat up in the bed. "Nic, you're doing it again. You're shutting me out. Don't do that!" she warned.
"It's because I don't want you being worried with all of the shit I have going on in my head, Victoria. You don't need to deal with that."
"But I want to help you."
Nic was getting aggravated. "I don't need any help, now just let it go, okay?"
"Nic, I--"
"End of discussion," he snapped.
Oh, he had to say that phrase. His 'shut up, don't say another word, none of your business' phrase that drove her crazy. She had always thought to herself that if he ever said that one more time, she would scream. In fact...
"Aaaahhhhhh!!!" Victoria shrieked.
Nic quickly sat up, looking at her like she had lost her damn mind.
"What the fuck?" he fumed.
Victoria didn't bother answering him. Instead, she clicked off her night lamp and turned on her side, facing away from him. This was driving her crazy. Was something wrong? Were there still loose ends that hadn't been tied up before they moved? She wished he would trust her and just open up. But no, Nic went into detached, closed off mode when something bothered him. Would it always be this way?
"Aah!! How's my nuora?" Marianna squealed when she spotted Victoria in the crowded airport. The two embraced tightly.
"I'm good, how are you?" Victoria asked, returning her hug.
"I have another grandbaby on the way, so I'm just perfect," Marianna gushed, as she reached down to stroke Victoria's stomach. Although there was barely a bump, Victoria felt a little self-conscious about her weight.
Once they packed Marianna's bags into the car, the two headed to the new house. Marianna talked a mile a minute, switching into Italian every now and then as she talked about her children and what they were up to, and about her telling them the news of Nic being married and having a baby. His older brother, who was a school principal, and his baby sister, the hippie nomad, were ecstatic and very happy for Nic. The only grim reaper of the bunch was the oldest, divorced brother. He had told Marianna that he knew his younger brother, and Nic would fuck it up somehow. He already didn't get along with Nic, and this just gave Victoria even more ammo to not like him.
Victoria barely got a word in before they pulled up to the house. Once inside, Marianna quickly looked around downstairs then headed straight upstairs. Victoria shook her head, because she knew exactly what Marianna was looking for. When Victoria finally made it upstairs, she snickered to herself when she saw Marianna open the door to the would-be baby's room.
"Bingo!" she heard Marianna say. "What color are you two thinking about? I hope not plain white."
"No, we'll change it when we know the sex of the baby. But...you see why I need your help, right? I've never decorated this much on my own."
"Not to worry, we'll get this all taken care of. So, is Nic still at work?"
"Yes, he'll be home in a few hours. He would have come with me to pick you up too, but he had several back to back meetings. Want to unpack and settle in?"
"Sure, just show me to my room."
When Marianna's clothes were put away, she joined Victoria in preparing dinner. Even though Victoria kept telling her to sit down and relax with Marianna there was no such thing. But at least they now had a table to sit down at. That's the one thing Victoria insisted upon having before Nic's mother showed up. They at least needed some minimal furniture, and she would do the rest of the shopping with Marianna while she had her help.
Victoria knew it was very traditional...maybe a little too easy, but she decided to fix spaghetti. It was the only Italian dish she could for sure make and not embarrass herself. Marianna showed her a few tricks to make it even more spectacular. Less sauce, more flavor—don't drown it like most Americans do, Marianna told her.
Nic knew his mom was inside. He should have called her when she landed, but he still couldn't shake this funk he was in. He hated that Marsh knew where he lived. He knew that it was only a matter of time before his location was no longer a secret. But he just had to make sure that from this point on, all of his investments were legit. He couldn't make any mistakes--not that he ever could.
He pulled the key from the ignition and got out of the car.
As soon as he opened the door to the house, the scrumptious smell of Italian food filled the air. He placed his keys on the table near the door and walked toward the kitchen.
Both Victoria and Marianna had their backs turned to him, so Nic was able to sneak up behind his mother and wrap his arms around her. She jumped, completely startled, but then relaxed.
"Ciao!" greeted Marianna.
"Mi sei mancato," Nic whispered into his mother's ear, letting her know that he had missed her.
"Anch'io," she replied, turning around to hug her son.
When Nic released his mother, he turned to look at Victoria. She still had her back to them, while she chopped vegetables for a salad.
"Hey, Victoria," Nic said.
"Hey, Nic," she answered, not bothering to turn around.
Immediately Marianna knew something was wrong. The air was thick with tension. Nic didn't rush over to hug Victoria and she had barely acknowledged his presence. She looked back and forth between her son and his wife, until she settled her glare on him.
"'Cos'hai combinato?" Marianna asked, placing her hands on her hips.
"I didn't do anything, Ma," Nic said, answering his mother. "I'm going upstairs to change clothes."
At dinner, you could hear a pin drop. The only noises that trickled through were those of their silverware clanking against the dishes. After quietly filling their plates, the three of them ate in silence. Nic sipped his wine and looked over at his mother.
"How was your flight?" he asked, trying to relieve the tension.
"It was nice. Could somebody tell me what's wrong?" Marianna asked, addressing the pink elephant in the room.
Victoria turned to Marianna. "Honestly, I don't know," she said, then turned to her husband, giving a noticeable fake smile. "Nic, want to answer that?"

"Nothing," he said, taking another sip of his drink.
"And that's the answer I get as well," Victoria said, picking over her food.
Nic glared at Victoria. "You going to do this in front of my mother?" he said, with his cold stare.
Victoria knew that Nic was a private person, and she was wrong for trying to drag Marianna into their disagreement. But she just wanted validation that she wasn't crazy in being upset with him for being so closed off.
"Well, if that's the only way I can get you to talk about what's been bugging you, then I have to play every card I can," Victoria said, sliding her plate out of the way.
"I'm not discussing it further," Nic stated in a clipped tone.
"Nic, I--," Victoria started.
"Dinner was delicious. Goodnight, mom," Nic interrupted, pushing loudly back from the table. He picked up his plate, dropped it in the kitchen sink and walked out.
Victoria sat there shocked. She hated pushing him that far, but she was desperate to get this out in the open, hoping that his mother's presence would help. Not the right way to go about it, but the only way she knew at this point.
"Marianna, I'm sorry. I should probably—"
"Yes, go. I'll clean up down here. Don't worry about a thing," Marianna said, rising up from the table.
"Thank you," Victoria whispered, as she stood up and walked out. She went upstairs and found Nic sitting on the bed, changing into a pair of running shoes. He looked up at her when she entered.
"I'm going for a jog," he stated, standing up.
"This is so unfair, Nic," Victoria said softly.
"I can't believe you did that in front of my mother," Nic said, heatedly. "This was our business and--"
"No! Not ours...yours, because you won't let me in," Victoria huffed.
"Fine, then it's my business and I don't appreciate you dragging other people into it."
"Don't you realize you're treating me like you did when I didn't mean anything to you?! When I was just your living blow-up doll!"
Nic's mouth dropped open. He quickly glanced toward their open door, knowing his mother could probably hear everything. It's not like she didn't know how they met, but still, hearing Victoria speak that way about it, shamed him and pissed him off at the same time.
"Why don't you keep your fucking voice down," he quietly said, while staring angrily at her.
Marianna stood at the bottom of the steps, drying off a plate. She hated eavesdropping on them, but she didn't like that they were fighting. And, in her book, pregnant women get a free pass for their erratic behavior. Their hormones are all over the place and their feelings can be hurt more easily. She didn't want her son yelling at Victoria. If it lasted for a few more minutes, she would just have to go up there and break it up.
"Are you going to throw that in my face every time we get in a disagreement?" Nic asked.
"No, and I didn't mean to say it to hurt your feelings. But I'm your wife, not your girlfriend or even what I was before. This is different and it hurts me to see you bothered or stressed out about something. Maybe I could help, but you'll never know because you won't talk to me."
"Drop it," Nic warned.
"No!"
Nic grabbed a sweatshirt and walked out of the bedroom. He noticed his mom at the bottom of the steps. He knew she was going to try to stop him, but he needed to leave before he said something he would regret. Usually in life, when he wanted someone to leave him alone, he'd say something awful to them, and they quickly learned to quit fucking with him. He had even done that to Victoria a few times in the past, when they were under different circumstances. But he knew he needed to leave before he did it again.
When he reached the bottom step, his mom grabbed his arm. "Nic, she just wants to help you and she's in a fragile state right now, son," Marianna quietly said.
"I'll be back in half an hour," Nic said, as he quickly kissed his mother's forehead and walked out the door. He had to get the hell out of there and burn off some of his stress.
Marianna walked upstairs to check on Victoria. She was sitting on the bed, staring at the wall. Marianna went to sit down beside her.
"Is this how he treated Amber?" Victoria asked, still looking at the wall, as her mind raced.
"Oh, cara mia, he didn't love her. He never showed her the affection he shows you. He loves you."
"I feel so close to him sometimes...then other times I feel like there's a stranger sleeping beside me. I felt that we had made a giant leap forward when he opened up about Bobby, but since we've been here, he's been closed off and stressed. I don't know if something is wrong or if something happened to cause this. He's woken up twice in the middle of the night due to a nightmare, but he won't tell me."
Marianna sat and listened.
"This isn't how I imagined our marriage. I guess I should have known it was too good to be true. I really thought living here would make a difference. I never know when Nic the husband or Nic the mob boss will come walking through the front door," Victoria expressed, as she wiped a tear away.
Marianna grabbed her hand. "Only thing I can tell you is to concentrate on the baby. Nic will come around, eventually."
"I know you say that Marianna, and no offense, but did your husband come around? Nic said his father was closed off too."
Marianna nodded her head. "Actually, God rest his soul, he never did. That man died with secrets I probably didn't know about."
"That's what I thought," Victoria mumbled, as she hopped up from the bed and walked into the closet. 
Marianna slowly ran her hand over the bed covers, smoothing out the lumps, when she suddenly heard Victoria's strained breath. She stood up and was about to go into the closet, when Victoria came barreling out of it with a suitcase in her hands. 
"No! Victoria Andretti, put that down right now!" Marianna ordered, rushing over to her.
Victoria ignored Marianna and placed the suitcase on the bed. She wasn't permanently moving out, but she wasn't sure what else to do. She was tired of this back and forth with Nic. He had done it with her when she was just his "arrangement", he had done it when she was his girlfriend, constantly saying, "the less she knew the better," and now, even with her being his wife and the mother of his child...he was doing it again. Well, fuck that, Victoria thought. She loved him more than anything, but she could move back home if she wanted to be ignored. She wasn't even sure where she would go—and she was sure she wouldn't stay any longer than a few hours, but she could at least check into a hotel until she could clear her head.
"Victoria, listen to me! He'll be back in a few minutes, and talk to him then. You don't know what you're doing because you're very emotional right now. I know what I'm talking about," Marianna pleaded, as Victoria walked around her, throwing several articles of clothing into the suitcase. She then walked into the bathroom and quickly grabbed her toiletries.
When she realized nothing was registering to Victoria, Marianna quickly stepped out of the room and called Nic.
Nic glanced down at his phone, which was vibrating. It was his mother. He stopped jogging and answered. But before he could even say anything, Marianna started firing off in Italian what was going on. Victoria was packing? What?! He told his mom to calm down and he was on his way. He clicked off his phone and started sprinting back to their house.
Victoria was in the process of dragging her bag downstairs when the front door flew open. Nic was standing there breathing hard and looking up at her.
Even though his stare caused her entire body to burn, she ignored him and continued to drag her suitcase further down the steps. But she couldn't help it--the tears started to form and they eventually fell. She knew what she was doing made no sense, but she felt that she had to make a move. Nic was the one who taught her that life is like a chess game. You can't just sit there after your opponent makes a move. You have to move as well. And this was really the only move she ever really had with him. She looked back at him as he quickly ascended the stairs.
When he reached her, he ripped the bag from her hands as he wrapped his free arm around her waist and hoisted her up. Instead of pushing him away, she held onto him tightly as he reached the last step. He pushed their door open and dropped her bag on the floor, as he held her tightly. Her face was pressed into his neck, and he could feel her warm tears against his skin.
Neither one said anything for a few moments. Nic gently lowered her so that her feet were touching the ground. He pushed her hair away from her face and tilted it so that she was looking at him. Her big doe eyes were unsure and hurt from how he had treated her. He leaned down to her mouth and whispered into her lips, "Don't ever do that again. Don't leave me," he said, then kissed her deeply, his tongue invading and wrapping around hers.
Victoria moaned into his mouth. She hated when he cast his spell on her, as she quickly lost all senses. For a brief moment, she had forgotten what she had done, until he said 'don't leave me'.
When their lips finally parted, both were breathing heavily, as Victoria spoke. "Nic, this is really the only card I have left to play with you. I can't cancel your credit cards, or physically fight you...I don't have anything to stop you, except leaving. It's--it's all I have," she admitted, looking down at her hands, ashamed to admit that she felt so powerless with him. After a few seconds of him not saying anything, she spoke again. "When you hurt, I hurt, Nic. Don't you understand that?" she whispered to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and breathed in his masculine scent. 
"I know, baby. I know," he quietly admitted, while kissing the top of her head. "I'm going against my better judgment here, but I'll tell you. I just didn't want you upset because of my problems. But I guess it defeats the point if you are upset anyway, and you don't know them."
Victoria nodded and grabbed his hand to lead him over to the bed.
Nic exhaled. He didn't really know where to start, but he had to open up.
"Remember when we were in Bali, and I kept having that feeling that something bad was going to happen?"
Victoria nodded again.
"Well, that feeling came back. And I can't shake it. And now...fuck, this is really hard to say to you, but I keep having this recurring dream..." Nic really didn't want to finish that sentence. He didn't want to let Victoria into that dark place.
"Baby, it's okay. You can tell me anything," Victoria encouraged, as she lightly squeezed his hand.
"In the dream, someone, um...someone is holding a gun to our baby's head and they pull the trigger."
Victoria immediately gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.
"Yeah, I know, and that's not the image I wanted to place in your head."
Victoria pulled her hands down. He told her, so she needed to pull herself together and not make him feel worse.
"It's okay baby. It's just shocking, but it's also just a nightmare. That's all."
"Victoria, I've just done so much bad shit over the years, I can't get off this easy. I can't get the perfect wife, the perfect life...it just doesn't work that way," Nic sighed, lying back onto the bed.
"First off, I'm nowhere near perfect, Nic," Victoria smiled, trying to lighten his mood. "Actually, some could say being with me is your punishment, you know."
Nic didn't crack a smile. She leaned back on the bed beside him.
He began to speak again. "I feel like here I'm unprepared to deal with certain things. At least back home, I had Jimmy and Raymond. I had my gated-in house...I felt like I was on my A game at all times. I felt like I could protect you. Here I feel like my guard is down."
"Nic, you're in a different occupation here. No one knows the old you. This is a chance for us to start over."
Nic wasn't so sure. It couldn't be this easy. So far, nothing in his life ever was. But he didn't want to worry Victoria anymore, so for better or worse, he would try to be completely honest with her. Because although he would never admit this to her...talking to her did make him feel better. 
"I love you, you know that?" Nic asked her.
"So I've been told. I love you too," she whispered back to him.
"I'll do better about my 'feelings'," Nic said, rolling his eyes. "But don't expect any Barbara Walters tears or anything. That's not going to happen."
"Well, I've already seen your tear up, so there," Victoria replied, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Yeah, well you're the only one, so don't go sharing that with everyone. Not my mom or your new friend, Jackson. Copy that?"
Victoria swatted at his arm. "Don't be jealous. But Jackson didn't introduce a wife, so maybe he's still single," Victoria contemplated, tapping her finger against her chin as if in deep thought. "He seems like a man in touch with his emotions."
Nic rolled her on top of him and slapped her ass. "If you don't want him hurt, I suggest you stop all thoughts in that direction."
"Please, he's a SEAL. Aren't they supposed to be from the school of 'the baddest of the bad', or something?"
"Yeah, well I'm from the school of, 'you fuck with me, you go missing', so your friend should keep that in mind," Nic stated, as he dodged another playful swat from Victoria.
"Silly man," she said, hugging him.
Nic, staying very true to his word, was more open with Victoria. When he was having a down day, he would tell her, and much to his surprise, she usually could brighten his outlook. He had forgotten how sarcastic and funny she could be.
And their house started to feel more like a home when Victoria and his mom started decorating. He gave them free reign. He knew that Victoria wouldn't go crazy with his credit card, but his mom...that was a different story.