“You didn’t?” Ronnie asked with astonishment, her head whipping up to peer at Jay. He just shrugged, sheepishly smiling at her, then looked with nothing but love at her mother.
“Yes, he did. Now what you need to know is that if you show up on your court date all is good. You will have your day in court, and hopefully get acquitted. Your mom and your step-father will be able to keep their house and motorcycle. So, you need to listen to your attorneys, and do what they tell you.” Andreas paused for a moment and all eyes were still on him. “Now, we work with some insurance companies, and they back our bonds. We have a good name and a good reputation. We want to keep it that way. The bail was a quarter million. Your mom’s house and the motorcycle weren’t even close to what we needed. But Victor’s our cousin. So we took this, and left it there. But if you run,” he pointed at her, stared her down with the bluest eyes she had ever seen. “Your mom loses the house, your step-father his motorcycle. I am out 150K. And, I won’t be happy. I’ll be pissed.” The room was quiet despite the number of people in it. “See my brothers?” he indicated the three other Marinos in the room, Gio, Blaze, and Nikko, standing along the kitchen counter, wearing similar cargo pants, similar black t-shirts except Nikko. She turned and looked back at Andreas, and nodded again. “Well, they will be pissed too. And we will come after you. We will find you. And we will bring you straight to jail. No passing go. No collecting anything. Capisce?” His eyes narrowed and searched hers. She swallowed again and nodded one more time.
Still staring her down, he indicated the door with a shake of his head, and two of his brothers began to move. He got up, turned, and began to leave. Monica was already standing by the door. He paused to say his goodbye to her.
Patting Monica on her belly, he asked, “So when are these little guys due again?”
Monica shook her head and laughed. “Two months, the doctors want me to go another month at least.”
“We can’t wait.” He smiled down at the beautiful brunette his lucky son of a bitch cousin managed to snag. She was sweet, and loved his cousin to the ends of the earth.
“Victor too,” she smiled, reaching up to give her big cousin a hug. “Every time the babies kick, he practically jumps out of his skin.”
He smiled fondly at her envying his cousin’s good fortune in finding such an angelic soul-mate. “My place this Sunday,” he reminded her. “I love it when it is my turn to cook. Gives Aunt Mary a break.”
“Nothing spicy, please,” Monica chastised rubbing her belly. “That Shrimp Fra Diablo about did me in last time.”
“Sure, sure,” he laughed as he turned to leave. He was followed out the door by Gio, and Blaze.
“Nikko, out now,” he called from the doorway when he noticed Nikko was still rooted to his spot in the living room looking like he was a fixture. Nikko nodded his goodbyes, and followed his brothers out also stooping to give Monica a brief hug.
Ronnie watched Nikko leave, trying to keep the look of disappointment off her face. She had hoped to speak with him one more time before he left.
The door banged shut behind them, and Jay was the first to speak. “That’s some family, Mon.”
“I know,” Monica laughed. “They look tough and menacing, but they are really great. Really!” she added to the silent grim faced group assembled in Lou’s living room.
“Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for their help, but that older one has a chip on his shoulder, and I might just have to knock it off,” Ana added to the room at large that still remained quiet in the wake of the Marinos. She was pensive. Ronnie turned to the red head, her mom’s best friend. Ana was looking at her as well, curiously.
Outside, Nikko stood by his brother’s Escalade wondering what his brother had to complain about now.
“Nikko, I want you to stay in the area. Get a hotel. I saw one down the road. Check in on the girl tomorrow.”
“What?” he asked, completely taken aback by Andreas’ request. That was the last thing he was expecting. “You’re kidding, right?”
Andreas was no fool. He knew there was more than a passing interest between these two. After sizing them up in the living room, he felt it might work to their advantage having Nikko close by. Nikko looked at the girl like he wanted to eat her, and she did the same. He could tell the girl was no felon, no junkie, no drug dealer, but she was proud. Having Nikko nearby might distract her from having some crazy ideas like trying to prove her innocence on her own.
“Yeah, you ever hear of good cop, bad cop, Nikko. Well, I was just bad cop. Now, you swoop on in and be good cop, Capisce? In fact, stay a few days. Pop over, and oh, I don’t know, apologize about me being an ass or something. Then get some more info from the girl. Stick close to her. I got a feeling about this one. I couldn’t get a good read from her. I don’t know if she is a runner or not, but she’s proud. The girl wouldn’t look away when I tried to stare her down. Tough. Independent streak, I got from her. Sometimes those kinds get ideas. You know what I mean? Get more info. Check in with me every day.”