Dipping Into Sin 2: Digging Deeper Into Sin (21 page)

Chapter Forty-
Three

Nicolai

Three
Months Later

            Images of Vincenzo’s body dropping to the ground
still haunted my dreams as I tried to work through his betrayal. My baby
brother, my own flesh and blood was blinded by jealousy and was consumed by
greed. So much so, he crossed over to enemy lines and was willing to get me
killed in the crossfire. Keeping the details of his murder under wraps, the
only people who knew that I pulled the trigger that pierced through his heart, were
the three other men in the room—Andriano, Battista, and Lucas.

            Flying back to Italy, after Josephine and
Vincenzo’s funeral, Andriano, Battista, and I wiped out all members of the
Vallenti crew before Andriano announced his resignation. “I know that I made a vow
to always remain loyal, but my loyalty is to my own family. I have three
beautiful daughters who are more important than some fucking territory. I have
a woman that I plan on marrying.”

            Releasing a banter of laughter, I looked at
Andriano, “Three daughters? Get the fuck out of here. When did you even make
three daughters?”

            “Does it look like I’m joking?” he asked. Before
I could respond, he continued, “Simone never went through with the abortion.
She gave birth to triplets. She gave me three beautiful girls.”

            “Shit man, three girls?” I asked in disbelief.

            Nodding his head, Andriano continued, “I need to
be the best father that I can be to my daughters and the best husband that I
can be to Simone.”

            “But, the only way that you can leave is through
death,” I reminded Andriano.

            “I know and that’s why I need to make this hit
look like I never made it out of Italy. I have everything arranged with my attorney.
But, I need people to believe that I died out here,” Andriano explained.

            “Are you sure?” Battista asked.

            “Yes,” he answered. Nodding our heads, we
understood what needed to be done. So we faked Andriano’s death. To the rest of
the world, Andriano Balducci died in a yacht explosion. For two weeks, Andriano
remained in hiding as we worked through the logistics surrounding Andriano’s
death.

            When we were finally able to get Andriano out of
Italy, he was more excited to reunite with his family.

~****~

“So that greedy bastard finally retired,
huh?” asked Andriano as we sat across from each other in the kitchen at his new
home. Sliding his phone across the island, I looked over at the news article
announcing the retirement of the New York City District Attorney.

“He dropped by a few weeks ago and said that
he will be resigning from his position because of some health issues,” I
answered as I recalled the meeting between the former D.A. Michael Scappa and myself.
Poor fella couldn’t even look me in the eye while he spoke.

Remaining unmoved, I simply nodded my head
and knew what needed to be done. Michael knew too much information about our businesses,
and I couldn’t rest knowing that he could drop the dime on us at any given
time. Congratulating and wishing him well, I shook hands with the man who just
signed his death certificate.

“You know what has to happen,” I said as I
looked between him and Battista. Nodding his head, Battista took another swig
of his drink.

“When are you going back to the old
country?” Andriano asked Battista, changing the subject altogether.

“I think that I’ll stick around here; help
Nic’ run the businesses in the city. Maybe get a taste of New York City women,”
said Battista as he leaned back in his chair.

“Daddy, Daddy,” screamed Jasmine. Andriano’s
face lit up as he scooped his daughter into his arms and put her onto his lap.

“What’s that?” Jasmine asked.

“What’s what
bella stella
(beautiful
star)?” Andriano asked his daughter. This was my third time seeing his children,
and I still could not get over the striking resemblance. At first I was
cautious and wary of Andriano’s discovery of finding out that he had kids. Five
years had passed and all of a sudden he pops up out of nowhere and said that he
was the father to triplets. But, upon seeing them for the very first time, I
knew immediately that they were part of the Balducci family.

“That,” she said as she pointed to the beer
bottle.

“It is…uh…daddy juice,” Andriano responded
to his daughter as he bounced Jasmine on his lap.  

“Daddy juice,” Jasmine asked as she looked
up at Andriano’s face. Her eyebrows narrowed questioningly as her hands rested,
palms down on his forearms.

“You know how you like to have milk with
your cookies?” Seeing her nod, Andriano continued, “This is the same thing.”

“But where are your cookies? Is it Daddy
cookies?” Jasmine asked almost immediately.

“I ate it already,” Andriano lied. Seeming
to be pleased by his answer, Jasmine leaned her body against his chest and
played with his fingers.

It is still shocking how much she resembled
Andriano. More shocking is that I still can’t adjust to Andriano being a father
to triplets. I admired his courage to walk away from this life in order to be
with his family. I’ve never seen him so happy than when he reconnected with
Simone. The love that he had for her was remarkable in its own right. Compared
to the person he was before, Andriano turned a complete 180 as his newfound
priorities were now his main focus. If it did not involve his wife or children,
Andriano did not give a flying fuck about anything or anyone; he made that
clear on more than one occasion.  

“Have you checked out the new D.A. yet?”
Andriano asked the moment his daughter, Jasmine, jumped off of his lap and ran
out of the kitchen.

“Nope. Not yet. I’ll have to make sure that
she gets assimilated and onboard with our system. From what I heard, she’s the
youngest D.A. in the history of New York City,” I said as I stretched my hands
to rest behind my neck.

“Is she from out here?” Andriano asked as he
took a swig of his beer.

Leaning on my elbows, I said, “I don’t know
where she’s from but, I’ll be sending her a welcome gift and hopefully we won’t
have to eliminate her before her first week on the job.”

“They’re all the same. Give them what they need
in little doses and they’ll be eating out of your hand,” Andriano advised.

“I’m not stressed about her; she’ll get the
picture sooner or later. I have a source at the office who’ll keep me posted on
our new District Attorney.”

~****~

Victoria

New
York City

            Walking through the doors of the Manhattan
District Attorney’s office, I knew that this was the right thing to do. As I
pressed the button on the elevator pad, I watched as the numbers shifted to
each floor. Exhaling, I walked off of the elevator the moment the doors opened.
Feeling renewed, I felt confident in what I had to do. Someone is going to pay
for the death of my father…

“Good morning,” I greeted the assistant at
the desk.

With a pleasant smile, the middle-aged woman
asked, “How can I help you?”

“I have a package for District Attorney,
Reign Johnson.”

Epilogue

Andriano

“Bella mia, hurry up and open the letter,” I
said to Simone as I pulled the back of her body closer to my front. Dropping
light kisses down the side of her neck, I inhaled her fresh scent as I rubbed
my hand over her swollen belly. It didn’t take long for my son to respond to my
touch as he poked his foot against Simone’s skin. Last night he started to kick
her stomach while I spoke in Italian to him.  

“You see what you started?” Simone giggled
as she tossed the envelope onto the kitchen counter and proceeded to unfold the
letter.

“I just wanted to feel my boy,” I said
proudly.

I never knew how horny I could become until
my
bella mia
became pregnant with my son, Andriano, Jr. Maybe it is
because her beautiful body expanded and made room for our growing child. As the
weeks passed, I watched her body transform and in each stage, she became more
beautiful. She had the sexiest waddle that I’ve ever seen, and I always
struggled to keep my hands at bay.    

            She’s now in her later stages of the last trimester,
and she’s been trying to remain active. Even though I begged Simone to stay
home and give up her job as a registered nurse, she insisted on having her
independence. For the first few months, I treated her like she was an invalid
as I rushed to do everything before she even asked. Simone would always remind
me that she did experience pregnancy with multiples before and how she managed
to do everything for herself even while on bed rest. I guess, for
me
, it
was my first time that I’m experiencing this process, and I wanted to make sure
that Simone never had to struggle like she did with our daughters.
Our
daughters, my princesses
.

Our daughters were excited that they were
going to have a little brother. Simone always commented that our daughters had
me wrapped around their fingers, and I would always remind her that she did
also. Right now, I was teaching them Italian, and they seemed to pick up the
language a lot quicker than we expected. My princesses pulled me in every direction,
and I was eager to please each of them. Despite Simone’s objection, my
daughters got whatever they wanted from the food that they wanted to eat at
night to the clothes that they wanted to wear. I knew that I was only setting
myself up to have to deal with their more outrageous behaviors in the future,
but I couldn’t help it. The way they would look at me, from their eyes to their
pouty mouths, I couldn’t help but to make them happy.

My daughters and I had our own special bond.
Once a month, I took each of them out on daddy/daughter dates to wherever they
wanted to go. I wanted to show them early on how a real man should treat a
woman. It was something that I lacked when I first met my
bella mia
. I
guess God repaid me back by blessing me with not one, but three girls. Feeling
my face grow pale, I couldn’t envision my daughters being teenagers. I knew
that I would have to dust off my gun and prepare to hurt any boy who broke
their hearts.  Simone’s mom flew in a couple of days ago to watch after our
daughters as Simone neared her delivery date.

“Congratulations, we are pleased to inform
you that you have been accepted into Safe Haven Medical School,” Simone read
out loud as she shivered with excitement.

Turning to face me, Simone’s face beamed
with excitement as tears of joy glistened in the brim of her eyes. “Oh bella
mia, I’m so happy for you,” I whispered against her lips as I captured her
mouth. “I’ll be your first patient,” I said in between sucking on her bottom
lip.

Purring, Simone simply hummed her response
as I slipped my tongue into her mouth. Rubbing my hand up and down her back, I
reached for her soft bottom and grabbed a handful. Her body became stiff as her
lips broke contact with my mouth.

Alarmed I held onto Simone’s forearms and
asked, “Did I hurt you? Did I do something wrong?”

“Oh God, Andriano,” she blurted out. “My
water broke.”

Dragging my eyes to the ground, I didn’t
fully understand just what it meant for a woman’s water to break. No amount of
videos or books could’ve prepared me for this moment. I murdered people, dodged
bullets, fist-fought and am not afraid to die. But for some reason, I couldn’t
handle this. As much as I wanted to meet my son, I couldn’t shake the feeling
of uneasiness that paralyzed me.    

“Andriano, babe, look at me,” said Simone in
a calm voice. Nervous, I couldn’t help but panic slightly as I looked at her
expressionless face. She looked so strong, and it bothered me to no end that I
was crumpling into a weak man. Following the motion of her lips, I tried to
make out what she was saying but could not hear a sound. Palming my cheek,
Simone refocused my attention as she locked eyes with me before repeating, “Just
get me my dress from upstairs.”

 “I love you bella mia,” I said after
finally overcoming my comatose state.

“I love you too but, I don’t think that you
would want to deliver our baby on the kitchen floor,” she said as her eyes
squeezed shut.

~****~

Four
hours later

Holding onto my son, his eyes opened
slightly as his puffy face was polished in a pink/red hue. His eyes were grey
with specks of green in the center. His hair was an ashy blond that lay slick
down on his head. The moment my
bella mia
did her final push, I saw my
son slide into the doctor’s hand. He remained quiet causing Simone and me to
panic briefly. Getting ready to strangle the doctor, I watched as he tapped my
son’s bottom two times, signaling a heartfelt cry to escape my boy’s lips. I
never knew that I was crying until a nurse handed me a tissue in one hand and
scissors in the other hand. Cutting the umbilical cord, I watched carefully as
they raced him over to the table and began to clean my son before wrapping him
up and bringing him to Simone. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked
down at our son. Kissing her damp forehead, I repeatedly thanked Simone for
blessing me with another child.

Filled with so much pride, I stared down at
my boy with a heart filled with an undying love. Looking over at a sleeping
Simone, I couldn’t be happier to have a second chance to make things right with
my one and only true love. My
bella mia
was completely strong throughout
the birth of my son. She refused to take any medications and chose to meditate
and practice breathing exercises that we learned in her Lamaze classes.

Growing up, I thought that it would be
normal for me to have a son and prepare him to be an heir to my empire. I knew
that I could only raise him like how my father raised me. I knew that I would
be proud of his ruthful antics that he would use to take down our enemies. But,
today was different. I was not prepared to raise my son to be the best man that
he could be. I surely did not want him to be like me or my father. He needed to
be his own man and form his own destiny. The only thing that I could give him are
helpful tools and lifelong lessons that I learned along the way. This is my son,
and he will become the man that I aspired to be today.