Chapter 29

GISELLE

"What are we doing here?" I asked after the waiters served our orders up.

Nicholas looked up from his phone, cocking a brow at me. "Usually when people come to a restaurant, it's because they want to eat. Correct me if I'm wrong, though."

"Haha. Hilarious, smart-ass," I said dryly, a smile tugging at my lips. "Plus, it's rude to be on your phone when you're out on a date."

"This is not a date," he deadpanned.

"This is not a date?" I mock gasped. "Usually when a man takes a woman to an expensive, five-star restaurant for dinner, the general public would consider it as a date. Especially if said man and woman aren't friends. Correct me if I'm wrong, though."

His lips tipped up in one of his rare half-smiles before it promptly disappeared. I was quick to call him out on his bullshit, and he knew it. "You're wrong. What happened to us being friends in the kitchen? Friends don't go on dates."

And friends don't fuck each other, I almost said.

"Hm," I hummed, letting the issue go. I was too exhausted to argue. "As for what happened in the kitchen weeks ago, I had a plate of food in front of me. I could've said literally anything. I didn't point a gun at your head when you asked me out on a date."

He didn't really ask me. Cara and I were in the living room when he walked in, clad his one of his expensive suits. Surprisingly, he told Cara he was on his way to a restaurant for dinner, and Cara suggested we went together. According to her, I had been a helicopter mom all day, and she needed a break away from me. Nicholas believed her, but he didn't know she had spent the entire day sleeping in her room.

"You were in a foul mood after visiting your parents' house today. I heard from Matteo that dining a woman can help her relax."

I laughed. "And you say we aren't on a date?"

"The restaurant belongs to a friend, and I haven't been here in a while."

"You don't have friends. All you have to do is stare at people, and they automatically shrink from you."

"And yet here you are. A living, breathing being who challenges me like she could take me on."

I shrugged a shoulder noncommittally. "I guess not everyone has the balls to deal with you."

"Or you're just lucky to have never seen that side of me yet because you are a woman."

"True. And that's all because…"

"Nicholas!" A man cut me off as he stopped by our table. He looked around Nicholas's age and was just as good-looking with his sleek brown hair, sharp masculine features, and light brown eyes.

He held a hand out to Nicholas, who took it for a firm handshake. 

It might have seemed like that was all they were doing from afar - exchanging handshakes. It was hard for them to be subtle when I was this close to them, so I saw the way he expertly slid a drive into Nicholas's palm like they'd done it a hundred times. Nicholas's hand disappeared under the table, and when he brought it out, the drive was gone.

My eyes almost bulged out of my head. This was why we were here. He came here for business.

Nicholas gave the man a nod. "Jordan. It's been a while."

"Yes, Nicholas. I see you brought a beautiful woman with you this time around." Jordan beamed at me. "It must suck to hang out with a man with such a sparkling personality."

I took his outstretched hand with a smile of my own. "You don't know half of it."

"A woman who has a say of her own and isn't afraid to speak up against Nicholas." Jordan mock gasped. "Where did he find you, angel? Well, it's not like I've ever seen him with a woman, anyway. For a moment there, I thought he was scared of women."

"Beat it, Jordan," Nicholas said, keeping his laid-back gait. Maybe they were really friends. Nicholas was never relaxed around others in public, even though said people were his family.

"Seriously, Niko? A middle school attempt to sound menacing? I'll give you an E for effort."

I giggled, ignoring Nicholas when he pinned me with a glare.

"My mission here has been accomplished. I got the lady to laugh. At your service anytime, miss." He took a bow, a shit-eating grin on his lips, when Nicholas shook his head at him.

"I'll remember that."

"Enjoy your date." With a two-finger salute at Nicholas, he walked away from our table.

"I like him," I said once we were alone.

Nicholas looked unimpressed. "I wonder why."

"He's the first person to kind of stick it out to you. Your entire family fears you."

At Daniella's house, I noticed his relationship with his family was stiff. I had no idea if that was because he was the Capo, or because he killed his father, and knowing Nicholas, he wouldn't share the reason for that.

"Doesn't it feel lonely?" I asked out of the blue.

"What do you mean?"

"Your life. Doesn't it feel lonely? You don't interact with your family."

He shrugged like he was unbothered by that, but I knew better than to take situations like this at face value. I knew that firsthand because I did it a lot.

"Sometimes, when you make decisions, they affect the relationships you have with others. It's up to you to choose how you live with the aftermath of the catastrophe you caused. I'm not losing sleep over them."

"Not always, though." I didn't get to choose how I lived in the aftermath of the accident. I wasn't even living at all. My family ostracized me, and the following year was a blur of doctor's visits and tears.

"What happened that night, Giselle?"

I looked up from my food to find Nicholas staring at me with furrowed brows.

This was the first time anyone had asked me that question. I was always quick to tell people I wasn't responsible before they even got the chance to ask. Now, I realized I had been doing that not because of them, but because I needed to hear it.

"I don't know, Nicholas. The little thing I thought I had right proved to be wrong. I just… don't know anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I always thought I was in the driver's seat, but when I went to my parents' house the other day, Father said Gianna had been the one driving. That was the one thing that stuck with me after the accident, but after what Father said, I don't know if it's something my brain made up."

"They told everyone you were in the passenger seat."

"I was driving the car." Or so I thought. "We were coming from Andrea's house, and Cara was crying in the backseat."

Nicholas's eyes darted around my face. "Cara was never in the car that night, and you weren't coming from Andrea's house. You were going to get pizza."

Yeah, I was definitely spitting nonsense now. I brought my hand up to massage my temple. "I'm sorry. That just slipped out. I didn't even know I said it."

"Does that happen often?"

"Random details popping out of nowhere? Yeah." I just never thought anything of them. "I don't even know who Andrea is. That just popped up out of nowhere."

Nicholas looked baffled. "You don't know who Andrea is?"

"Do you know her?" 

"She's Cara's mother. How can you not know her?" He asked, the confusion on his face increasing.

"I've heard of Cara's biological mother, but I have never met her in person. Or at least I don't think I have. Cara never talks about her."

"You're not lying about not remembering anything from that night, are you?"

I shook my head. "I never was."

"Shit." He pushed his hair out of his face.

"What's wrong?" Where was all of this sudden doubt coming from?

"It's nothing. I'm fine. Continue eating."

He didn't look 'fine', but if he didn't want to talk about it, I couldn't press further. So we ate in silence. When we left the restaurant, I noticed something in Nicholas had changed, but I didn't bring it up. It was best to give people space during times like this.

"You're not coming inside?" I asked when Nicholas made no move to get out of the car after he pulled up in the driveway. 

"No. I'm going to be busy sorting things out for a few days, and it's best if I don't do it at home where you can get possibly implicated."

"This has to do with the drive you got from Jordan, right?"

"You saw that?"

I rolled my eyes, unbuckling my seatbelt. "It's kinda hard to be subtle when I was sitting across from you."

"Pretend you saw nothing."

"Saw what?" I asked, feigning innocence, effectively drawing a chuckle out of Nicholas. "Whatever you do, don't get caught. I know you don't do things by the law, but I still kind of need your help."

"Kind of?"

"You're the only thing keeping Eduardo and my father away from Cara and me. I don't want to get acquainted with those two so soon, so yeah, stay alive."

I climbed out of the car before I ended up embarrassing myself, and it was long before Nicholas took off again.