Her Last Night in the City Chapter 08

The movie was Spider-Man. Luca loved it. Nico texted me a photo of Luca asleep in the car, half a box of

candy still in his hand.

Things slowly fell into a new rhythm. Nico wasn’t the Don anymore. He was more like a dad trying not to

screw up. Sometimes he’d bring dinner over. We’d eat at the table and Luca would talk about school.

One evening, Nico stayed after dinner. Luca was asleep. We sat drinking coffee.

“I went to see Elena today,” he said suddenly.

I set down my cup. “Why?”

“To close it out, I think. She looks frail now. She said she was sorry. Can you believe that?”

I didn’t answer.

“She told me something,” he said quietly, “about the night you left. She said she threatened you. Said if you

didn’t disappear, she’d kill you. She said you begged her to let you say goodbye to me.”

My stomach turned over. I’d buried that night so deep.

“I didn’t know,” he said softly. “I swear to God I didn’t know she threatened you. I thought you just left.”

I looked at him. Something in the ice around my heart cracked.

“You were so consumed by her,” I said. “Consumed by the past. You couldn’t hear anything.”

“I can now,” he said. “I’m listening.”

He reached across the table, his hand hovering just above mine.

“I’m not asking for a second chance,” he said. “I’m just asking. Can we be friends? For Luca?”

I looked at his hand, then at my own, at the scars. I remembered the fear of those years. All that kneeling. All

that blood.

“Friends.”

I repeated it. It sounded strange.

“Yeah,” he pulled his hand back. “Just friends.”

He left after that. I locked the door and leaned against it. My phone buzzed. It was a text from Nico.

Thank you. For everything.

I didn’t reply. I went to check on Luca. He was out cold, his new Spider-Man toy tucked under his arm.

I sat by his bed for a long time. Moonlight fell across his face, and for a second he looked exactly like Nico.

The federal indictment hit the Costa family like a wrecking ball. Nico’s father was arrested. Their assets were frozen, and reporters swarmed the neighborhood.

Nico showed up at my apartment unshaven, shirt wrinkled, looking like a different person.

“They took everything,” he said, leaning in the doorframe. “The house, the cars, the accounts. All of it. I’ve got five hundred dollars cash and a duffel bag.”

Luca peeked out from behind me, clutching his dinosaur toy.

“It’s okay, buddy,” Nico said with a forced smile. “Dad just can’t find work right now.”

I let him in.

“I found a security job in New Jersey,” he said. “The pay’s decent. I’ll find a place. I just wanted to tell you in person. And I wanted to ask. Can I still see Luca?”

“Of course,” I said. “But you’re not staying at some motel.”

I told him he could take the couch until he got back on his feet. Luca needed stability, not a father bouncing between cheap motel rooms.

That night I heard him crying in the dark. I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling. I thought about the man I’d watched command an entire room with nothing but his presence. He had nothing left.

Nico took the job. Long hours, dangerous work. He’d come by after his shift smelling like sweat and motor

oil, help Luca with his homework, and fall asleep on the couch.

He never brought up the past. Never asked for anything I hadn’t offered. He just stayed in the space I let him

have.

One Saturday I got home from a night shift and found Nico and Luca in the kitchen. They were making

pancakes. Flour was everywhere. Luca was laughing so hard he could barely stand.

Nico looked up. For just a second, I saw the man I’d fallen in love with.

He caught my look and pulled back behind that familiar wall. “Sorry about the mess,” he said quickly. “We’ll clean it up.”

“It’s fine,” I said.

Luca ran over and grabbed my legs. “Mom! Dad taught me how to flip a pancake! Watch!”

Nico flipped one. Perfect. Luca cheered.

After Luca was asleep, Nico cleared his throat. “I got my first paycheck today. It’s not much, but I want to start making regular child support payments. For Luca’s future.”

I shook my head. “I’ll handle it.”

“Please,” he said. “It’s the only thing I can do right. Let me.”

I looked at him. This man who once owned the whole city, asking permission to buy his son a pair of shoes.

“Alright,” I said.

He exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for eight years.

He got up to leave. At the door, hand on the knob, he stopped.

“Natalie,” he said, not turning around. “Thank you. For not making me a stranger to him.”

Then he was gone.

I went to the kitchen. It was a disaster. Flour on the counter, syrup spreading across the table.

I started cleaning. When I wiped down the counter, I noticed a small folded piece of paper tucked under a

magnet.

It was a safe deposit box receipt, along with a key.

I didn’t need to open it. I knew. It was the gold bars Elena hadn’t managed to steal. The last of the Costa

fortune.

He’d put it in a box in my name. For Luca.

I crumpled the receipt.

Outside, the city glittered.

I walked to the window. Down below, Nico climbed into his beat-up old car. He looked up at the building once,

then drove away.

I pulled the curtain closed.

The key was heavy in my hand. I didn’t need it. Luca didn’t need it.

But I kept it.

Just in case.