In the car ride on the way to...well, wherever she was going, Veronica thought of her morning. She had woken up, had a big bowl of cereal and then went into work. Never in a million years would she have thought her day would turn out this way. One minute she's separating the marshmallows from the other bits of cereal in her bowl, the next she's caught in the middle of some mob war. Life was indeed strange. Jimmy had told her to go to sleep if she could, because they had a long way ahead of them. Her eyelids were heavy, and although she protested, she was asleep in no time.Jimmy glanced in his rearview mirror at Veronica. She had her head resting against the window and her eyes were shut. She was definitely a beautiful girl. And one of the sweetest people he had ever met. He really hated that she was going through this and he couldn't imagine what Nic must be feeling. No one had ever tried to hurt Jimmy's family. Ever. He hoped that Sonny wasn't involved. Because if he was, t

The next morning, Veronica awoke with sunlight streaming down on her. She wiped her eyes and walked to the window and peered through. Her mouth dropped wide open. All she could see was plush green land, a creek and several horses. She saw a stable in the distance and a few other animals. This was a ranch. She had never been to a ranch before. She ran into the bathroom to take a quick shower.When she was done, she finally opened her suitcase. 'Damn Minka,' Veronica thought, as she rummaged through all of the short, tight designer clothes Minka had picked out for her. Nothing in her bag even remotely looked comfortable. But at least she had packed her Converse for her. She put on a cute shirt and skirt, and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.Veronica walked downstairs, to find Jimmy and Marianna sitting at the kitchen table laughing and sipping coffee."Good morning!" Marianna said in a cheery tone, getting up to give Veronica another bone crushing hug and kis

"Nic, our contact finally came up for air, but he said he didn't know who did the shooting. But he can guarantee that it wasn't gang related," Antonio reported, as he removed his coat and sat down in front of Nic's desk.Nic leaned back in his chair. "No shit, so now we're still at square one. Marsh wouldn't have been investigating if it was just gang related. He's too big for that."Raymond entered. "Mr. Marcone is waiting downstairs for you, Nic. Want me to bring him up?""Thanks Raymond. And no, I'll meet him down there."When Nic reached the bottom step, the two men quickly shook hands. Remy, Paul's right hand man was standing in the distance. Raymond stood opposite of him staring him down. Remy cleared his throat but Raymond didn't flinch."Would you like him to come in with us?" Nic asked Paul, glancing over at Remy."No, that won't be necessary. I trust you," Paul said, as he followed Nic into his billiard room. Nic closed the door and offered Pa

On the plane with Nic were Antonio, Raymond and his friend, Damon. Damon was a huge guy, ex-Navy SEAL who cashed in big checks with bounty hunting. Nic had employed him several times over the years. He was a trustworthy guy who could kill a man with his bare hands, and proudly bragged about that fact.The four of them stepped off the small plane and into the vehicle that was waiting for them. Antonio glanced over at Nic. He seemed calm, but Antonio couldn't be sure. Nic never really showed much emotion. At least not to him, but Antonio was freaking out. He felt constricted in the bullet proof vest he was wearing. And the handgun he held felt like it weighed a ton."Stop the car," Antonio whispered. They all ignored him. "Stop the car, I'm going to be sick," Antonio yelled, as he opened his car door. Raymond slammed on the brakes. Antonio hopped out and vomited on the ground. He quickly wiped his mouth, and got back into the car."Sorry," he whispered to Nic. But Nic s

Antonio walked into the bedroom to check on Veronica for the tenth time that night. Actually it was morning by then. She was still passed out and still snoring. 'God, she is so beautiful,' Antonio thought. Honestly, he never believed that she and Nic belonged together. They just seemed so different. He remembered the first night he met her at the party. She was so fucking sexy in that red dress, and she seemed so nervous. As she was talking to him that night while he was passing out hors d'oeuvres, he couldn't stop staring at her lips. She had the most perfect, plump set of lips he had ever seen.And she had this cute innocence about her, like she didn't know she was getting the attention of every straight man in the room that night. And maybe she really didn't. He could definitely see why Nic was so attracted to her...physically she was a walking wet dream, but her personality didn't really fit her body. She seemed awkward and uncomfortable around people. Like she didn't kno