"... there's no conspiracy greater than a bad day getting worse..."

A few hours earlier...

Nick's POV

I wish I could disappear.

I wish I could turn back time.

I wish I would have made better choices.

I wish for a lot of things that I can't grasp.

"One last one for the road." I told the bartender.

"Sure thing." He passed me my third glass of whiskey. "Are you sure you'll be able to drive?"

"I'm not a light weight. I'll be fine."

He returned to his customers. I returned to my thoughts. I'm going to Sicily to confront Mancini for the stunt he pulled.

"Nickolas! Hey Nick!" A man shouted. I recognize the voice. I ignored him. "I'm talking to you!"

As if I need this. This morning Margaux went on a talkshow and talked a lot of shit. None of it was true and I left the house to avoid a confrontation with her. Now Jason is starting something? It feels like a conspiracy!

"If you come anywhere near me, I'll kill you." I told him.

The bar is quiet. Everyone gave me strange looks when I walked in and now this? I don't need this!

"She's my fucking wife! Stay away from her man!"

I got up from the bar stool. "The fact that you're this insecure shows just how pathetic you are."

He threw a punch at me, catching my jaw.

I retaliated with brutal force, lifting him by the neck and bringing him down on a table. I hit him as much as he hit me until we were separated by the men in the bar.

"Let me go! Let me go!" I broke away. "If you know what is good for you, don't walk up to me and talk. Stay away or I won't be responsible for what happens to you."

I walked out of the bar. Now, Mancini.

R

"Signor, are you busy?"

"What is it Russo?"

"Balotelli is here to see you."

I paid attention to him immediately. "Don Giovanni?"

"No. His grandson." I lost my enthusiasm. I need to find an excuse to see Don Giovanni. I'll make up something. I miss him.

"What does he want?"

"He is raving mad. He looks... not himself."

"I'll see him outside."

Don Giovanni Matteo Balotelli is my father. I didn't know it until I was pointing the barrel of a gun at him. I believed him without doubt because of something I call instinct. I trust my instincts and they are never wrong. My instincts tell me Nicko is a viable threat that should be er be underestimated. He just needs to cross a line and embrace his raw dark nature. I don't like him. He has enjoyed my father's affection and attention. Don Giovanni will give anything to protect Nicko. Would he do the same for me? No. If anything he threatened to kill me if I ever hurt his grandson.

"This is expected. It was just a matter of when you would show up." I smiled at him. Russo was right. He looks roughed up, fidgety and troubled. "Do you want a bottle of whiskey?"

"You stay away from Kei! Do you understand? You stay away from her!"

I smiled fleetingly.

Keira is a thing of beauty. I still remember her with the shovel. She wasn't threatening at all but just intriguing to be around. She has an addictive warmth. I would have stayed if not for Nick rudely intruding. I would have probably coaxed the dainty beauty into satisfying my curiosity. But this way, I remain intrigued.

"I'm so scared!" I faked a shiver. "You must feel pathetic to know how useless you were that night. I carried you on my shoulder. You were vulnerable. She was even more... vulnerable. You wouldn't have been able to protect her if I laid claim,now would you?"

He lunged forward with all the aggression in the world only for Russo to pull him back and hurl him to the ground. The bodyguards pinned him down. After watching the futility of his struggle, I went down on one knee beside him.

"I must admit that dark thoughts have been plaguing me. I have any woman I want because no one says no to the godfather. I'm thinking it would be my deepest desire to have her. I can have her picked up in a heart beat. I can make her a ghost. No one will ever find her. She can be my sweet indulgence."

"I will kill you Mancini!"

I chuckled. "No doubt when you are high out of your mind too. Pathetic. This is the last time you and I will be seeing each other. I promise you Nicko, I'll make your life a living hell and I will be your only salvation. Ciao."

I let the bodyguards drag him out. Russo stayed close.

"What's the next step?"

"Do you have her husband?"

"Yes. My men picked him up outside the Ballard farm. He was shot."

"Who shot him?"

"Surveillance shows the old man. Her father." On the night I visited Keira, my men set up surveillance around the farm. I wanted to keep tabs on Keira. This just got more interesting. "What are your orders?"

"Tell Margaux to follow through with the plan. Once you have what we need, kill Jason Burke. I want Nicko to have no way out but my way."

My father may not care for me because I'm a child of darkness but I'll make sure that his clean grandson has hands just as red as mine and then we will see if he will still be special.

There are days when I'm certain this job will be the death of me. I just got thrown out of a window during an arrest. My back is killing me.

"Tim!"

"Not now!"

"You'll like this." Fitz beamed at me.

"Oh really?"

"So, last night, three separate callers called 911 with information of shootings."

"So?"

"They came from this address. This is where Keira Burke lives."

"So?"

"So, Mrs Burke is at the reception asking for help to find her son."

I got up with haste. Fitz followed me to the reception where a woman is arguing with the officer at the reception. I recognize her. She is Jason Burke's mother.

"Detective Rowland! Do you remember me?"

"I remember you Mrs Burke. What seems to be the problem"

"My son is missing."

"Why would you think that?"

"He didn't come home. I can't reach him when I call him. He's missing!"

"I'm trying to explain to her that she should wait 24 hours-'

"It's been twenty hours since I last saw him! What difference does four hours make?" Mrs Burke screamed.

"Why don't you get her some water?" I instructed Fitz. "Mrs Burke, this way please."

I led her into an interrogation room. She took a moment to compose herself. Fitz arrived with a glass of water which he offered to her. She gulped down a mouthful.

"Thank you." She sighed.

"Mrs Burke, when was the last time you saw your son?"

"Yesterday evening... at around 7pm... 7:15pm. Yes. That was the last time."

"Where?"

"I dropped him off at this address." She went through her bag and placed a sheet of paper on the table.

Fitz nodded. "That is the same address I mentioned."

"Why? What happened?" She questioned frantically with her eyes darting between Fitz and me.

"Who lives at this address?"

"Michael and Lilian Ballard. Keira too. Jason wanted to see Keira. He said they have a lot to talk about. He wanted to fix their marriage." She explained. "He said he will take a cab and I shouldn't wait for him. I dropped him off and I left. I waited all night but he didn't come back. Hours went by and he wasn't answering his phone. So I came here. Please help me find my son!"

"Did you see him enter the estate?"

"Yes! I drive him in up to the front door! I left him there. He was there, I swear!"

"I believe you Mrs Burke. I believe you. Because if the nature of the complaint he filed last time, I'll look into this with urgency. I will contact you as soon as I have something."

"And Keira? What about her? Can we go over there and ask? Their gate is always open but it was closed when I went there earlier today! Never in the twenty years they have lived there have they ever closed that gate!"

"Let us do our job. I would advise you against confronting her. It's important that this situation doesn't get out of hand. Go home, relax and we will contact you as soon as we can."

We escorted her out.

"Juicy! I told you!" Fitz chuckled.

"This isn't funny." I reprimanded him. "Shots fired in the same estate where Jason Burke was last seen? I need a thorough profile on the Ballards. I want to know everything about them. And find out where Nickolas Bale was last night."

Keira's POV

Fifteen tests.

I have taken fifteen tests and now I am sure that the results are true.

I am pregnant!

I wish more than anything that Lorraine was here to share in this joy with me! I'm pregnant! There was nothing wrong with me after all! I have wallowed in the sadness of being unable to conceive for four years and all along it was not my fault!

Jason was the problem!

I gathered the tests, all of them and put them in the bathroom bin. I smiled at my reflection fleetingly. It's a bitter sweet moment. He said we need space. He said I came into his life at the wrong time. He said he was impulsive and he should have waited. It sounded like regret to me. It broke my heart to hear him say that even after I had taken the beating of my life for him. Is it really fair to tell him about this pregnancy if I'm an impulsive mistake?

I can't answer that. For now, I'll keep it to myself. For now, this beautiful secret is mine. Just mine. When I he situation gets better, hopefully soon, I'll tell him.

I gave my mom a call. By now they must be in Amalfi. She couldn't stop gushing about it. Her phone rang continuously with no response. Maybe they are out having fun. I want to tell her she was right and possibly to ask her to let me tell Nick at my own time.

"Who could that be?" I wondered out loud when I heard the door bell. There's a guard at the front gate. He's instructed not to let anyone in. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry to bother you ma'am but a delivery man left these at the gate." One if the men watching the gate offered me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a little gift bag.

"Thank you."

I closed the door and set them down on the living room table. It's a mixture of flowers in pink and deep red. I unfolded the note.

Dear Keira,

It has been a moment since I last saw you.

How are you doing?

I'm concerned about you.

Please join me for a cup of tea tomorrow afternoon

At my hotel suite.

My number and the address are at the back of this card.

Till then ma

-Theo Sinclair-

How can I forget about the man who saved my life? I would have drowned that day but he saved me! Nick doesn't like Theo. I could tell. But Nick has excluded himself from my life. He will not hold any opinions on this.

I dialled his phone number and waited for it to picked.

"Hello?"

"Hello Theo. It's-"

"Keira. The sound of your voice is as familiar as your beautiful eyes. How are you ma chérie?"

"I'm fine. The flowers... i love them. They are beautiful."

I settled into the sofa to have a conversation with him.