Nicco - Season 2

7. A Goddamn Villain

ARIA

Panic flashes over my face as I size up Nicco's threat.

Is he going to fuck with my plans?

I try not to jump to the worst-case scenarios. First, I need to know how much time I have left at Jackson & James. It'll be difficult to monitor Manning's activities if I'm no longer an employee. I have to remain in the office until this waiting game with Manning is over. Stress eats at my nerves. Manning can't pour Jaime's money into Sossaman-Hewitt's sinkhole soon enough for my liking.

I clear my throat. "I think it would be pretty safe to assume that our engagement is to be dissolved—"

"No shit."

With as much dignity as I can muster, I demand, "But... what about my job? Are you going to fire me?"

He answers my question with more questions, "Tell me, principessa, if you were poisoned by a snake, would you set the beast free so it can wreak more havoc? Or lock it in a cage so you can keep an eye on her fangs at all times?"

As Nicco's gaze burns into mine, I don't know how I feel about being compared to a bloody reptile, but I digress. It sounds like he's leaning toward keeping me at his side. Like a prisoner of war. "So... you plan to keep me as your assistant?"

"Until you become useless to me."

Whatever.

A win is still a win.

I can stay at Jackson & James and keep an eye on Manning.

I use sarcasm to mask my relief, "You sure know how to make a bitch feel special."

A feral gleam enters his eyes. "It is funny. Not too long ago, I would have claimed the stars and stolen the moon. Just to make you look my way."

The masochistic part of me dares to prompt, "And now?"

"The sight of you makes me want to gouge my eyes out."

"An eye for an eye makes the world blind."

"I am not blind. If anything, my vision has never been better. I finally see your true colors."

"All sunshine and rainbows, I assume?" I quip to keep from crying.

"If rainbows were made of toxic fumes and hellfire."

Oof.

Nicco's vehemence cuts me like knives. I struggle not to let the jagged edges in his voice get under my skin. "Despite what you think of me, I know the truth, and I'll prove you wrong."

His expression darkens. "From this moment on, you are nothing more than a means to an end, and you will resign from Jackson & James the moment I tell you to go. If you wish to leave in peace, learn to be Juan Pablo's bitch and mine over the next few weeks. Become my eyes and ears, and betray him as you have betrayed me."

Nicco's hatred feels so potent, and I'm in agony over how ruthless and calculating he has become as an enemy. "Is this all I've become to you? A means to an end?"

It's obvious that Nicco intends to exploit my ties with Manning and Jaime. He'll use me to his advantage, and I won't stop him. Everything between us has become so twisted, and everything inside me screams to let the truth out. My heart aches with the need to tell Nicco that I'm his, I've always been his, and, more than anything, I wish I didn't have to break our fucking hearts to save everything and everyone I love.

He gives a dismissive shrug. "I must keep my enemies close, no? Given what you know about the Gravinski account, I cannot let you out of my sight until this issue is... resolved. Besides, if I dismiss you too suddenly, Manning may grow suspicious. Once he snitches, Juan Pablo will switch modes from defense to offense, which will make my objectives more difficult to achieve."