“You can go down to the changing room to meet him if you wish.”
Ria stepped away, heading in the direction Nicholas had disappeared.
“Ria, ask him about Matthew.” Emiliano’s hard face stared at her, and Ria paled.
Before she could say anything, he turned, walking away, and Mitchell followed, giving her a grim look.
Ria shakily went down the steps, her mind trying to form some idea of why she should ask Nicholas about Matthew. They couldn’t have known each other, could they? They were just a few years apart in age, but Nicholas had grown up on the other side of town. Did he have a connection with the cartel she hadn’t known about?
She went down the hallway, seeing several doors. She knocked on three before Nicholas opened the last door, wearing a small towel around his hips.
“Come in. I won’t be a minute getting dressed.” He walked over to a large table, picking up his slacks.
Ria watched quietly as he dressed. He only had a small bruise on his cheekbone. He had come out of this fight looking much better than he had the others.
“I thought he was going to kill you. He was huge.”
Nicholas grinned at her as he put on his shirt. “That made him slow.”
He sat down on a bench against the wall, sliding on his shoes. Everything about him screamed money. Ria noticed how happy he looked. Nicholas loved fighting.
When he finished, he came to her, lifting her in the air and twirling her around.
“Let’s go celebrate. I gave Emiliano the money, and he agreed to let you go. After we eat, we’ll go by your place and pick up your things.”
“What money?” Ria frowned.
“He said if I gave him five hundred thousand dollars, he would let you and your mother go. I fought until I could get my dad to release my money, but I got paid for the commercial and endorsements I signed a few weeks ago, so I didn’t have to wait for the money from him. It’s all over. We can—”
“He made you give him five hundred thousand dollars for me?”
Nicholas put her down. “Yes.”
“Why would you agree to that? You barely know me.”
While Nicholas’s face became shuttered, Ria’s stomach clenched.
“Why, Nicholas?” she yelled. “No one would do that. Why didn’t you go to the police? Did you know my brother Matthew?”
He paled.
“Nicholas? Please tell me. I don’t understand. Why would you give five hundred thousand dollars to Emiliano for me? It couldn’t be because you felt guilty over me losing my job; you had already straightened that out.” Ria was becoming frightened. She had spent the last weeks with him in her bed. She had been falling in love with him. Now she was finding out he had been keeping something concerning her brother hidden from her.
He stared back at her, seeing the pain in her eyes. Even if they put him away, it would be easier than keeping it buried inside of him. He had to tell the truth if he wanted any kind of future with her.
He cleared his throat, trying to find a way to tell her the truth.
“My mother was killed when I was sixteen,” Nick started at the point his life had changed.
“I’m so sorry. I assumed she had passed since you never mentioned her,” Ria said sympathetically.
Nick nodded his head. “She was a school teacher. She loved her job. I remember listening to her stories about the students she had helped out of a rough situation at home. Many of the students came from troubled homes and a lot of violence occurred at the school. My father was always worried, begging her to quit, but she refused.”
Ria listened quietly as he spoke.
“The day before she died, her school had been awarded a grant to implement safety measures to reduce the violence in the school. The money would cover a metal detector and called for a policeman to patrol the school for several hours a day. Our family celebrated her success that evening. It is one of my best memories of my childhood. Our family was the happiest we had ever been.”
Nick saw the tears brimming in Ria’s eyes and knew those tears of sympathy were about to turn to tears of hatred. He continued the story anyway.
“Before Melanie and I went to bed that night, my mother asked me to pick her up after school the next day. We were going to shop for a spring break trip. After I picked up Melanie, we went into the school to meet our mother. When we walked in, there was a circle of students standing around a fight. I had no intention of getting near it; I was going to stay back with Melanie until it broke up.” Nick took a deep breath. He had relived this moment so many times in his thoughts and nightmares. It was difficult saying it out loud.
When Ria reached out, squeezing his hand, Nicholas looked down at their joined hands.