Mafia Men: Nikolai's Inferno - Chapter 103: Chapter 103

.Evangeline.
I sat in the restaurant looking around the people, waiting for Bianca to show up. It was the same restaurant we used to meet at all the time. My eyes wandered around and I saw our men sitting over tables far away from mine, they were keeping their eyes on me.
Last night after Nikolai left they all couldn't understand how the hell he got into my room. Then they went to the rooftop and saw the soldiers patrolling the rooftop passed out and wounded, fortunately, Nikolai didn't kill them. If he had he would have initiated a war that I didn't want to be a part of.
I may have killed some people while Enzo trained me but only those who actually deserved it. I don't like to spill blood for no reason at all, I wasn't stupid enough to go on a war with Nikolai in New York City, where Nikolai Costello is the King of the dark world.
The men all around me had families and friends that cared about them and when Uncle Luca made me a part of his family, he also shared their loyalty with me, it wasn't a one-way street for me. If they were loyal to me then I wanted to be loyal to them too that meant if it was their job to protect me then it was my job to protect them as well.
My eyes flicked toward the entrance of the restaurant where multiple men in black suits entered. I furrowed my eyebrows but then let go of the breath I was holding in when I saw Bianca entering the restaurant. Her eyes wandered all over the place before settling on me, she beamed with excitement. I stood up as she made her way toward me and pulled me in for a hug.
"You have no idea how happy I am to hear from you, gosh, I thought you were dead. Nikolai told me you were dead," she laughed in my ear.
When we pulled back, her eyes were filled with tears. "Here I am, perfectly fine."
We sat down and the waiter poured the red wine for us.
"Are you ready to order?" the waiter asked.
"In a minute..."
He nodded and went to another table. "How are you?"
"I have been good, I got married," she showed me the sparkly big diamond on her finger. "You missed my wedding. I wanted you to be my maid of honor."
I laughed with complete joy, "When? Stefano?"
She nodded excitedly, "Three months ago."
A sense of dismay enveloped my body, "I'm sorry, I wasn't there for you."
She reached over to me and squeezed my hand resting on the table, "Where did you go, E? Why did you leave?"
I lifted a shoulder, "Nikolai..."
"What did he do that made you run away from him?"
"He killed them, you know... my parents"
She took a deep breath and looked down at her lap. She didn't seem surprised or alarmed, she looked like she already knew that. Did she?
I breathed out an unbelievable laugh, "You knew?"
She swallowed and looked at people all around us, avoiding eye contact, "I did..."
I gave my head a shake, "When?"
"Stefano..."
"When?" my voice came out sharper than I wanted it to be. She was clearly trying to avoid the question.
"The morning I first saw you... Stefano was in on it, Evangeline. Stefano along with Niko's other men."
"You knew and you didn't tell me..."
She licked her lips, "What was I supposed to tell you, E? Hi, I'm the cousin of the man who murdered your parents, wanna be friends? Oh, and my boyfriend is probably the man who shot your dad or maybe, your mom... You would have run in the other direction."
I let out a scoff, the only person I thought was honest with me, shit! "You know... the thing about betrayal is that it always comes from the people you love and trust the most."
"Evangeline, I had nothing to do with it."
"But you knew, you knew all this time and you didn't tell me... not even after I told you everything that was happening between Nikolai and me."
She nodded, "I'm sorry..."
The waiter came back to our table and we ordered the food, Bianca looked uneasy the whole time like she didn't want to be here anymore. Yeah, well, I didn't want to be here either because this isn't how I imagined this meeting will go.
We ate our meal together and then I couldn't help but bring up a bit of banter. She filled me in on the details of what's been going on in her married life and I couldn't resist bragging a bit about all I've been up to lately.
We were both happy to see each other after so long, yet something felt out of place. It almost seemed like we had never really known each other, and our friendship had somehow changed.
"Why don't you come over to our house and I'll give you-"
I gave my head a shake. "I can't..."
She frowned. "Why not?"
"It's Nikolai's territory, Stefano is his inner circle man and right now he probably considers me his enemy, so, I don't think, it will be a good idea."
She frowned, her eyes wide. "That's just so weird..."
"What is?"
"You being our enemy. You shouldn't be our enemy, Evangeline, you're his wife you should be on his team," she smiled but the smile didn't reach her eyes.
"I'm not the enemy, Bianca, but I'm not on your side either, I just want a divorce. Nothing about that marriage was right... It doesn't make me a bad person."
Her eyes turned soft, "The Cosa Nostra doesn't believe in divorce, Evangeline. Especially the head of the family..."
I nodded, "I know..."
"Ma'am..." a deep voice called.
My attention snapped towards Dante, he was Enzo's little brother and one of the men assigned to protect me at all times by his brother.
"What?" I asked.
"The Costello men are all around the place. It's better we leave now..."
Bianca shook her head, "It's alright, they are here with me-"
Dante turned to Bianca with a frown, "I don't know you, Ma'am and I don't trust your men either," he turned his attention back towards me, "Evangeline, it's better we leave now."
I nodded and got up, grabbing my handbag, "Another time, Bianca?"
"I guess, I'll see you around and if you decide to leave, please, let me know this time..." I caught the sharper edge to her voice.
I gave her a smile, "I will..."
After paying the bills, we stepped out of the restaurant. There were at least twenty of the men that came with me, and I intend to keep them all alive.
There were multiple black SUVs parked outside of the restaurant. It wouldn't be a surprise if Nikolai was among them too.
All of my men had their hands over their holsters, "Don't..." I ordered.
"What if they attacked us first?" Dante asked, looking around with deep frowns.
"They won't! Let's just get to our cars and get out of here, alright? Where's Enzo?"
Dante's eyes snapped in all directions, "He is waiting for you in the car."
The next second, a car halted before us and as I reached for the door handle, I heard a chillingly familiar voice calling my name from behind. "Mrs. Costello?"
A chill ran down my spine as I braced myself to confront the man whose voice I had heard. Taking a deep breath, I slowly swerved to face Lorenzo.