Chapter 80

                                    

                                          

         I was waiting for Nick at my apartment as I feel I always seem to be doing now. I hadn't really heard from him today, but he'd told me he was coming over tonight, so I was waiting anyway. Sure enough there was a knock at my door. 
	When I swung the door open it was with a smile. That smile dropped when I saw his face. Firstly, he had a slightly bruised cheek, and second, his expression was a hard one. 
"Nick? What happened?" I walked forward to receive him. He took my hand and led me inside. I don't like the quiet he's giving me here. 
"We needa talk," he told me. Why did those words make my stomach flip? "What?" I practically swallowed. Nick walked me to the couch and had me sit. Oh god...is he breaking up with me?!
	Maybe he's realized he can't do it. He can't settle down with one girl. Maybe he realizes its not enough for him. Maybe he had a discrepancy and cheated and now he's here to break up with me. God, my hands almost went into a tremble. 
When he sat beside me he angled his body so his knees were touching mine. 
        "Something happened today, and I'm not sure how you're gonna feel about it, but something tells me you're gonna freak out, so I'm just warning you now that everything's alright," he told me. My stomach sank further. I won't like what he has to say? Something happened? 
"Please" I practically breathed under my breath, not meaning to say it out loud at all. He paused. 
"Please what?" He looked confused. "P-please don't tell me you cheated or regret this" I gulped back more emotions than I knew were even surfacing right now. His brows furrowed and his spine stiffened. 
"God, Giada, why do I always have to defend myself to you. I didn't fucking cheat or regret this...god, your clueless. It's the exact fucking opposite" he suddenly got so mad. 
I blinked at him. Opposite? 
"Its just...you said something happened. T-that I wouldn't like it" I tried repeating his words back to him to show him how he set this conversation up. He huffed and just shook his head. 
"My father knows about us."
        His words stunned me. I did a double take then just stared at him. "Oh god...did you fist fight?" I scooted closer to him to cup his cheek and look at the mark. He grabbed my hands and brought them back down to his lap. 
He explained everything to me. How Marc wanted to talk to him about our relationship and how Giuseppe overheard. God, I know that man hates me. I can only imagine how absolutely pissed he is right now. Then the panic set it.
"Shit, Nick. Now Dom, Marc, your mother, AND your father know. That's too many people. Nobody is supposed to know! This is how word gets around. Oh god" I fisted my hair and took a quick breath. 
I'd leapt up from the sofa, so I was standing in front of his seated body. He pulled me between his parted knees. Letting his hands glide up my legs until he was keeping me there by the hips. 
        "It's fine, Gia. I sorted it" he nodded to me like that was any reassurance. "Nick, he's openly threatening us both. I don't want anything dangerous to fall on your head. I can't stand the thought of others finding out and having the Russian's attack you for it. Or finding out you murd-" I stopped talking. I cannot say those words out loud. That he murdered Mikhail.
"Fuck my father. He won't touch you" Nick told me. 
"Do you not hear anything I'm saying? I'm worried about YOU" I slid onto his lap and hugged around his neck. I hate thinking about how much danger he can be in, and I hate thinking that I could be the cause of so much more of it.