Chapter One
Nico (last summer)
‘I love it all, Nico. It complements the surroundings, which is something a villa this size wouldn’t normally do. The traditional flooring, the colours you’ve chosen, everything about it is beautiful. But you need to understand that I shouldn’t be the one moving in here.’
‘Have you seen the infinity pool?’ I added, knowing how much she loved to swim and realising she was going to take some persuading by the tone of her voice.
‘You know I have. The colour of the water is the exact same colour of the water in the bay, it’s all very clever,’ she sighed.
I watched her as she moved away from the floor to ceiling window that looked out over her beloved Mirabello Bay. It had been deliberate that I’d chosen to build the home I’d designed with my brother Cade’s help here, near her place of birth. I knew what made her happy in life. This place was one of those things and us, her only grandsons, were the other. Crete was the place she had been born and had lived until she’d met my Italian grandfather. They had then left for a new life in America, leaving behind everything she had once known.
So, with her in mind, and because of the fact that I too had fallen in love with Crete, I’d had the new villa built deep into the hills above Agios Nikolaos, in the rust and grey coloured local stones that the builders had used around here for centuries. The large building sat nestled into the hillside and if it wasn’t for the way the sunlight occasionally hit the large panes of glass, you could have been excused for not even realising it was there at all. Honestly, that was just the way I liked it. I appreciated the way it looked so much that I’d shipped over the same stone for my home in Vegas and I’d used much of the same footprint for the two builds. Call me an arrogant bastard, but always having what I wanted and what I knew worked for me was how I lived my life.
I crossed my arms over my shirt-covered chest and leant against the wall, waiting for the next argument to leave her mouth.
‘You need a wife. You need children, Nico.’
I didn’t need to bother working out a response to her argument, it was the same conversation we’d been rehashing ever since I’d told her of my plans to build a home on her native island of Crete.
I let out what I hoped was a quiet sigh. If she’d have been anyone else, I’d have let my feelings be audibly heard, but out of the few things my father had taught me of any use in this life, respect towards my elders was one.
‘You need a family.’ She spun back around to face me to add emphasis to what she’d just voiced.
I looked at her petite frame just in time to see her wave her right hand high in the air with all her fingers pinched together. It was a typical hot-blooded, Mediterranean way of making sure the words were emphasised enough to make you actually feel them.
I stopped a smile from breaking out on my face and looked at her as seriously as I could.
‘Nonna, we’ve spoken about this over and over… I don’t need a wife and I definitely don’t want the responsibility of children, I’m happy with my life just the way it is.’
‘You don’t know what’s good for you… you’re a man, you need looking after.’
‘I have staff to do that.’ A smile was twitching at the corners of my mouth.
The argument I knew we were on the cusp of falling back into, for at least the hundredth time, was so pointless it was comical.
‘Staff? Staff don’t anchor you to this life and give you something to look forward to coming home to.’
‘I don’t need anyone to anchor me,’ I tried to reason with her, even though I knew any argument I put up would be futile.
‘Men like you need reminding to come home.’
‘Men like me, hmmm… I’m sure my secretary would remind me.’ I stifled a laugh.
‘There you go again!’ The volume of her voice rose. ‘They are just people paid to like you. They share your home or your life because you pay them, not because they want to be with you.’
‘But I have you, and you want to be with me… Nonna, I’d like you to share my home.’
‘Ahhh, Nico this house is so very beautiful…’ I could see I was starting to appeal to the side of my grandmother that loved a little flattery, when her cheeks pinked in colour. Then she added a little, ‘But…’
‘But, what?’ Again, I stopped myself from sighing out loud.
Why I couldn’t deal with family like I dealt with business I’d never know. I was able to read anyone in business, because I cared nothing about them whatsoever, but family, I struggled to comprehend at all.
Perhaps I’ve made it that way? I pondered this for a few seconds, knowing it was probably true. It had definitely been an easier way to live, not allowing myself to be close to the only two members of my family that I had left, until a couple of years ago when I decided the time was right to re-enter their lives.
I’d inherited a nightmare, and the man I’d had to become to allow me to sort out everything my father had destroyed, in his depraved need to obliterate everyone and everything he’d come into contact with, had extinguished the good inside of me. I’d had to embrace the parts of me that I hated and that I knew came directly from him. I’d had to give life to the diablo that I knew would always reside inside in me, meaning I not only looked like my bastard of a father, but I’d had to become him. But there was no way in hell I would have ever unleashed that on my family. They’d already suffered at his hands, there was no way they were going to suffer at mine.
Building this house and the one in Vegas had heralded the start of something different for me.
A new beginning maybe?
In my head I’d already gone over all the objections I thought my grandmother would possibly use a thousand times. I wanted her safe, I wanted her comfortable, I wanted her looked after and I was prepared for anything.
‘I cannot be the mistress of this house.’
Okay, I wasn’t prepared for that.
‘All you have to do is to live here, Nonna, that’s all.’
‘I will not be mistress of your house.’
‘Nonna, over half the year I’ll still be in Vegas… I’m not old enough to retire just yet. You can be the mistress of my house, because it will be your own home for most of the year.’ I offered her a small smile, hoping she would just give in and accept what I wanted.
‘Nico you could retire, and you could walk away, just as easily as…’ She snapped her fingers together.
‘Does anyone in our family business just retire?’ My eyes flicked back to hers as I asked the question.
‘No, they don’t. But that doesn’t make it right.’
I saw the pain flicker across her face. She was a stunning lady even now. Having seen photographs of her as a sixteen-year-old bride, I could see what my twenty-year-old, Sicilian grandfather, who was out to make his way in the world, had seen in her. He had wanted a strong, resilient woman and he had found it in her. He’d struck gold, because she was all of that and so very much more. She was beautiful inside and out and they had remained happily married until my grandfather had been struck down with a fatal heart attack.
‘I want you to change the fortunes of this family, Nico.’