Chapter 10

                                    

                                          

        I was silent on the drive home. I felt Nicolas's eyes on me several times throughout the ride but he said nothing to me. I just stared out the window as my adrenaline settled into this numb sensation of both shock and disbelief. The last words that man spoke was to say I would be raped repeatedly and what haunted me was how he smiled about it. The Cartel is brutal and I know that for a fact, but to hear something so horrible was still surprising to me. 
An ache began to settle in my chest. I was an accomplice to murder. If this body was discovered and an investigation were to happen then I could be arrested in connection to this. My mind began sorting through the details of tonight. Did I touch anything? Was there any fingerprints or DNA to link me to the crime scene? How do these men do such illegal things and sleep at night? I would be under constant paranoia. 
        I know they have people of influence in their pockets, but that's never stopped law enforcement and the FBI from trying to nail down the big name guys in organized crime. They got Capone on tax evasion because they wanted him that badly. The Iceman was arrested after an 18 month undercover operation that caught him on killing two of his own burglary members on a job, and two other associates. And that's what they know of. There is plenty more I'm sure. 
My father might have been able to survive a 15 year prison sentence, but I wouldn't. I have no gang affiliations to protect me and who knows if any of those female inmates have a grudge against the Italian mob. It doesn't matter if I wasn't involved, the TerraNova name carries its sins with it. 
        "Gia" I heard my name being called. I snapped out of my daze and looked over to Nicolas who was already looking right at me. "Hmm?" I asked. "We're home" he pointed out. My head snapped over to look outside the window and sure enough we were already up the driveaway and in the cul-de-sac that was directly in front of the door. This Italian style mansion with its white walls and its large columns were a sight I was still not used to. 
I unbuckled my seat belt and opened the car door without a word. Once I was on my feet I realized they felt like they were led. A hand grabbed my upper arm and guided me inside. When the front door slowly opened that same warm light engulfed us but it felt like a facade. 
There is nothing warm about this house at all. 
        Our footsteps echoed inside and alerted the people of the house that we were home. It didn't take long for Maria to come running to her son to see if things had gone alright, and that he'd gone unharmed. Nico had never been in harm's way. He had had the power the whole time. Dominic came just after her. 
"Are you okay?" he asked, replacing Nicolas's place beside me. I looked up at my cousin's beautiful blue eyes that matched my own and something inside me broke, causing me to release the unshed tears. I began to sob and I knew everyone was looking, so I buried my face into my cousin's chest and let him comfort me while I released this heavy burden. 
"She's just freaked out" Nico waved it off when his father asked what had happened to make me cry. "She's never witnessed something like this. She's just overwhelmed" my cousin defended me. Mr. Luciano must've accepted this answer because he called his son to come join him in his office so they could discuss everything that went down tonight. Dom took me to my room. 
        "I'm an accomplice to murder. I sat back and watched Nico kill a man. Dominic I am not cut out for this. I need to get out of here. Away from these people" I spurted out. "I know, I know. Just breathe for a second, huh?" He tried to calm me. He led me to the loveseat sofa in my bedroom and had me sit down. 
Of all the men in this house my cousin still has the warmth of an actual human. His brown mop of hair that hung low on his forehead made him look younger, and his warm smile too. He sat beside me and I could feel his eyes examining my state. "It's really late. You should get some sleep" he told me. I snorted. "You think I can sleep after that?! It was awful Dom. He unloaded an entire clip into him" I sobbed.