King of Souls: Nicco and Ari Duet #2 (Verona Legacy) Read online

  King of Souls

  Nicco & Ari Duet #2

  L A Cotton

  Published by Delesty Books

  KING OF SOULS

  First eBook Edition

  Copyright © L A Cotton 2020

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes only.

  Edited by Andrea M Long

  Cover Designed by Lianne Cotton

  Image Licensed from Michelle Lancaster Photography

  Verona Legacy

  Prince of Hearts

  King of Souls

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Playlist

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  “These violent delights have violent ends. And in their triumph die, like fire and powder. Which, as they kiss, consume”

  ~ William Shakespeare

  Chapter 1

  Nicco

  “Come on, Nicco, is that all you’ve got?” Dane came at me, his fists swinging and teeth snarling. He was a cocky little fucker. Reckless and impulsive with impressive strength for a seventeen-year-old.

  He reminded me of myself when I was his age.

  “Keep talking shit, kid, and you’re going down.” I jabbed my finger at him.

  “Is that a threat? Because I’m shaking in my fucking boots.” His friends snickered, fist bumping and high-fiving as if the result was inevitable.

  A couple of the older guys caught my eye and smirked. They knew how it was. They knew Dane was one hit from getting his ass handed to him.

  The truth was though, I needed this. I needed to feel his sloppy fists curled against my ribs. The flash of pain as he clipped my jaw. I needed the deep burn radiating through every one of my muscles.

  I needed it all.

  He came at me again, but this time I anticipated his move, ramming my fist into his stomach.

  “Oomph.” He went down like a sack of bricks.

  “Stay down, kid,” I said, running a hand down my face. Sweat coated my skin and my knuckles were split open again, the new skin not hardy enough to withstand the impromptu sparring session with my cousin.

  “I almost had you.” He grinned up at me, blood trickling down his mouth as he did so. I held out my hand, and he grasped it so I could help pull him up. Dane staggered to his feet, shaking his head. “Next time, your ass is mine, Marchetti.”

  “Yeah, yeah, keep talking, kid.” I ruffled his hair before shoving him toward his friends.

  Grabbing a towel, I dried myself off. “Looking good out there,” Benny said, approaching me. He was one of my uncle’s capos. A typical southie who had worked his way up the ranks to become a made man.

  “Yeah, well, I’ve got a ton of anger to work off.”

  He handed me a bottle of water and I uncapped it, chugging the thing down.

  “I smell trouble with a broad.” My expression fell and he cussed under his breath. “Shit, Nic, that bad?”

  Inhaling a ragged breath, I rubbed my jaw. “Just how much did Uncle Al tell you?” My brow rose.

  “He said you needed to come lay low until the dust settled.”

  Until the dust settled...

  It was going to take a lot more than the dust settling to fix this.

  I hesitated. The less people who knew the truth about Arianne, the better, but word would get out eventually. Besides, I really needed to talk to someone because it was killing me. Every second that I was here, and she was back in Verona County, destroyed another piece of my soul.

  “Come on, I think I have some of the good stuff laying around here. You can tell me all about her over a drink.” His big hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed.

  I didn’t get out to Boston much. Uncle Alonso and his guys handled business here, just like my father and our guys handled business in Rhode Island. But Benny was as good as family. Whatever I confided in him tonight would be between us. Capo to capo. Man to man.

  I looked at him and grimaced, feeling the fight ebb away. The clench of my jaw mirroring the ache in my chest. “You’d better make mine a double.”

  “Thanks, Lyra,” Benny said to the server, letting his eyes linger on her ass as she sauntered off. She was dressed the same as every other woman in Opals, in very little.

  It was one of my Uncle Al’s clubs in South Boston. I would have preferred to go somewhere quieter, but Benny’s gym was right around the corner and he had some business to attend to here, so I went with the flow.

  Checking my cell for the hundredth time today, I tapped my foot against the stool. Despite going a few rounds with Dane at the gym, restless energy still vibrated through me. I knew the only thing that would settle me was the one the thing I couldn’t have.

  Not right now at least.

  Arianne.

  I could vividly picture her big, honey eyes. Her soft, full lips. Her irresistible smile.

  My sweet, strong, compassionate Bambolina.

  Fuck, I missed her.

  It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since I left Verona County. Since I walked away from the only woman I would ever want.

  The woman who held my heart in the palm of her hands to do with as she pleased.

  I was here for her. To keep her safe until my father discovered a way to fix my mess. But nothing about it felt right.

  Not a single fucking thing.

  “Easy, Nicco.” Benny pushed a glass of scotch toward me. I unclenched my fist, curling my fingers around the glass. “Now tell me about this girl of yours.”

  “I don’t even know where to start,” I admitted, flicking my weary gaze to his.

  “Al hinted that she was forbidden fruit.” He gave me a knowing look. Benny was at least twenty years my senior, as were many of the capos in Dominion. Age was but a number when you were the son of the boss though.

  I ran my thumb around the rim of the glass, trying to focus on something—anything—except the shitstorm brewing.

  “Loving her could start a war.” My voice wavered.

  “That bad, huh?” There was a teasing edge to his words. “She must be some broad.”

  “She’s...” Everything, the word teetered on the tip of my tongue.

  “It takes a strong woman to stand by a mafioso’s side, Nicco. And you’re so young...” I cut him with a hard gaze and he smirked, a deep rumble of laughter shaking his shoulders. “All I’m saying is, are you sure she’s the one? Be
cause from the sounds of it, ain’t no coming back from this. And the family has enjoyed a certain amount of peace for the past two decades.”

  “That’s what we’re calling it?” My brow rose. “So what was that bullshit with Dane a few weeks back?”

  “The kid’s a hothead. Wades into a situation all guns blazing. Like we weren’t all the same at his age.”

  I knew what he was saying, but Dane should have known better. Uncle Alonso might have been second in the chain of command, but he was still the head of the family in Boston. One day that responsibility would fall to Dane. He would be Alonso... and I would be my father.

  And if Dane was going to hold the power one day, he needed to learn how to respect it.

  Bringing the glass to my lips, I knocked back the scotch in one. The burn was sharp, but I didn’t flinch.

  I couldn’t resist digging my cell phone out of my pocket again and checking for any messages.

  “You could call her, you know.”

  “She’s pissed at me.”

  “When ain’t a broad pissed at her guy?”

  “I left her.” I’d just upped and left without saying goodbye. But I’d known if I woke her, if I held her and kissed her, that I would never let her go.

  Arianne was having a hard time understanding that though, refusing to take any of my calls or respond to my texts.

  I didn’t blame her.

  I couldn’t.

  Not when I was the one who pulled her willingly into this world, into my life.

  I should have walked away. The second I found out her true identity, I should have walked away and never looked back.

  But how did you walk away from something so vital as the other half of your soul?

  The answer was, you didn’t.

  You couldn’t.

  Leaving Arianne, forcing myself to deny our connection, would have killed me.

  Over time, it would have killed us both.

  She wasn’t just some girl. A fleeting crush. Arianne Capizola was my heart. The better part of me.

  She was the woman I was going to spend my life with.

  I let out a long breath.

  If only it were that simple.

  “A wise man once said,” Benny said, pulling me from my thoughts, “love keeps no record of wrongs. If she is half the woman you claim her to be, she will come around.”

  “Niccolò, Benny, there you two are.” Uncle Alonso joined us at the bar. “Where is that hothead son of mine?”

  “Nicco taught him a lesson in the ring.”

  Alonso chuckled. “I hope you put him on his ass enough times to drill the message into his thick skull?”

  “He’s not a bad kid,” I said. He reminded me a little of Bailey. Misguided and confused about his place in the world. But unlike Bailey, Dane didn’t have any problem throwing his weight around.

  “I’ll talk to him again,” I said. It had only been a few weeks since me, Enzo, and Matteo had driven out to keep Dane from the clutches of one of the gangs operating out of Boston. Alonso and my father felt that perhaps I could reach him, since I was only a couple of years his senior.

  “That kid will be the death of me. He turns eighteen next year.” Alonso shuddered. “And then what the fuck am I going to do with him? He’s lucky the Diablos didn’t put a bullet through his brain for that little stunt he pulled.” He drained his drink, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

  “The Diablos don’t want any trouble,” I said. When we’d sat down with their leader, Manny Perez, he’d been clear he didn’t want war. But he did want compensation for Dane’s attempt at moving in on the Diablos' territory in and around Roxbury. A compensation my uncle had reluctantly agreed to in order to save his son’s life.

  “Yeah, well, it’s created a problem we didn’t need.”

  “Sounds like Dane isn’t the only kid causing trouble.” Benny smirked at me, clapping me on the back.

  “Vai a farti fottere,” I growled, my blood itching for another fight. “It wasn’t like I planned on any of this.”

  “Relax, Nicco, I’m busting your balls. What better reason to go to war than over love?”

  “Benito,” Alonso hissed, motioning for his capo to leave.

  “I’ll see you around, Nic.” Benny took off.

  “Excuse Benny. He is one of my most trusted men, but he is a fool.”

  I smirked at that. “It’s okay. I know people won’t understand my reasons.”

  “The Capizola heir.” He let out a strained breath, rubbing his neatly trimmed beard. “Antonio must have blown a fuse when he found out.”

  “If it wasn’t for the fact she was...” I swallowed the words, pain squeezing my heart like a vise. Seeing Arianne hurt like that, the blood and bruises, it made me murderous. It made me want to drive back to Verona County and make Scott Fascini pay for his sins.

  “He told me she was hurt.” I nodded. “We are all guilty of losing our cool now and again, but to defile a young girl so brutally...”

  The words hung between us, only fueling the anger swelling inside me. It was like a fire, sweeping through me, threatening to scorch me to nothing but ash and bone.

  “It is a rare thing to find what you have found, Niccolò.” Alonso’s hand landed on my shoulder, heavy yet reassuring. “But don’t let it consume you. I have seen many a man driven to madness by love.”

  “You sound like my father,” I said.

  A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Antonio is a wise man. It would do you well to listen to him.”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  His smooth chuckle washed over me, easing some of the storm raging in my chest.

  “The Family must always come first, Niccolò. It is the burden we bear.”

  My eyes flashed to his. I’d never heard one of my uncles refer to this life as a burden before. Being mafioso was in our blood. Ingrained on our souls. You entered this life alive and you left dead. There was no other way.

  I raised a brow and he chuckled again. “We all have stories, son. But some of us prefer to keep them close to our chest.”

  “I keep thinking it would be easier not to love her... to let her go, instead of binding her to this life.” A life of secrets and heartache.

  “You truly think you could do it?”

  “No.” My hand curled into a fist once more. “And I hate myself for it.”

  “Antonio has filled me in on the details and it sounds like her life was decided long before your paths crossed, the same way your life was decided. Setting her free is not the answer here.”

  “So I fight?”

  “You fight. This thing is bigger than you and Arianne, Niccolò. It is a broken history demanding to be righted. The Capizola and Marchetti were always supposed to be united.”

  It wasn’t the first time someone had suggested it, but I couldn’t see past the war heading our way.

  And to think I'd trusted him.

  I'd trusted Roberto to do the right thing and be the father Arianne deserved. But instead he'd deceived me. He'd played me like a fool, and I'd left.

  I'd fucking left her there and now she was... engaged to that piece of shit Fascini.

  My knuckles turned white as they clenched the glass again.

  “Niccolò.” Concern coated Alonso’s words. “You will get through this. We are Marchetti. It is what we do.”

  I gave him a sharp nod. It was all I could do, while the inferno raging inside me burned hotter and hotter. It was my duty to protect her. To shield her from harm and keep the monsters at bay. Yet, here I was. Banished to some far away land unable to reach her.

  My head knew it was the right call, knew it was the only option. But my heart... my foolish fickle heart was quick to forget the vows I’d taken, the responsibility that lay squarely on my shoulders.

  I wasn’t just a capo in the family, I was my father’s son.

  The Marchetti Prince.

  I had an entire legacy to uphold.

  A legacy that w
ould one day see me crowned King.

  But every King needed his Queen...

  Didn’t he?

  Chapter 2

  Arianne

  “How are you feeling?” Nora handed me the mug of coffee and sat down beside me.

  We were in our new apartment. The one I’d convinced my father to let us move into.

  My gaze was fixed on the hall and beyond that my bedroom. The same bedroom Nicco had made love to me in, less than forty-eight hours ago.

  He’d loved me... and then he’d left me.

  And now I was bereft, lost at sea without an anchor.

  Nicco was gone.

  And he’d taken my heart with him.

  “I still can’t believe he left.” I ran my thumbs around the mug.

  “He had no choice, Ari. I know it hurts, but it would have hurt a damn sight worse if you'd had to watch him be dragged away in handcuffs; or worse, a body bag.”

  A violent shudder ripped through me as I smothered a whimper.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

  “No, you’re right. It’s not so much that’s he’s gone, it’s that he didn’t tell me himself, face to face.” If I’d have known it was the last night I was going to get with him, I would have savored every second. I would have begged him to make love to me over and over again.

  I would have imprinted every touch, every kiss, and sigh to memory.