Nicole's Smoking Story Part 34

When Nikki returned home after Christmas, she would spend the next month focusing on attempting to expand her crew. For the operation she wanted to pursue, having five other women and a handful of men simply wasn’t going to cut it.

Her goal was to find as many women as she could, making her outfit unique. The problem was finding those women, though. Certainly she could not find any more at school, she had gotten lucky twice before, a third time was highly unlikely. Before finding more foot soldiers, though, Nikki wanted to find a few more captains to go along with Al and Greta and then task them with building their own individual crews.

In late January, Esposito invited his underboss, Carmine Barone, over for dinner. With Stefania staying at a friend’s house, it meant a night with Christina -- a mother of two young children --  whom she had become cordial with during the previous year.

Since it was a night in, Nikki wore a tight red sleeveless turtleneck tucked into a pair of tight black slacks, tied together with a thick black leather belt and high-heeled black leather boots underneath. She also wore her usual bracelets and her gold Rolex to accessorize.

The doorbell rang around 6 p.m. and Nikki trotted over to answer it, freshly lit cigarette burning in her left hand. She gave each of her guests a hug and ushered them inside, where Esposito followed suit with his greetings.

When dinner was over, Esposito and Carmine retreated to the office, while Nikki and Christina took to the couch with glasses of wine and after-dinner cigarettes. Nikki had her Marlboro Red Label 100s and Christina had Salem 100s.

The two women began to fill each other in on the new events in their lives and when Nikki was finished, she could see Christina’s face begin to get somber.

“Is everything OK?” Nikki asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Christina whispered.

“I call bullshit,” Nikki said. “What’s the deal?”

“Ah, it’s just that you are doing so great,” Christina said. “I’m jealous. I love my kids, but I wish I could be more than just a housewife.”

“So be more than just a housewife,” Nikki said bluntly.

“Yeah right,” Christina said sarcastically. “Carm wouldn’t let that happen. I’m supposed to stay home, cook, clean and take care of the kids.”

“Fuck that,” Nikki said defiantly. “If Ange ever said that to me I’d break his nose.”

“Well for me, it’s the other way around,” Christina said.

“What do you mean?” Nikki said, sitting forward. “Does Carmine hit you?”

“Keep it down!” Christina whispered.

“Does he?” Nikki demanded.

“Sometimes when he comes home drunk he gets a little physical,” Christina admitted. “It’s no big deal.”

“No, it’s a fucking huge deal!” Nikki exclaimed.

“What can I do about it?” Christina said. “If I left he’d track me down and kill me. He used to tell me things. In fact, I’ve given him advice. Imagine that.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Nikki said. “He’s not gonna hit you again. You can come work for me.”

“No, you can’t say a word to anybody,” Christina pleaded.

“What?” Nikki said with a confused look. “I’ll take care of it.”

“You can’t,” Christina said. “Just let it go.”

“Chris-,” Nikki began before Christina cut her off.

“Nicole, just let it go,” Christina said. “Promise me.”

“Fine,” Nikki said with a displeased look on her face.

The two women carried on with their night, but Nikki was struggling to let go of the news given to her earlier. She wanted to tell Esposito, but Carmine was one of his top men and one of his best friends. Would it do any good?

____________________________________________________________________________

The following day, Nikki still wanted to help Christina, but she wasn’t quite sure how to approach the subject with Esposito. The couple went to lunch and then to a movie, but neither helped get her mind off it.

Nikki didn’t care to go to the movie theater often anymore, as it was hard for her to sit through an entire film without a cigarette, so when she did go, she often excused herself around the halfway point. This day was no different, but Nikki had ulterior motives.

When she got to the doors and stepped into the brisk January air, not only did Nikki quickly light a cigarette, but she also reached for her phone. She sent Al a text message, instructing her to put one of her men on surveillance at Christina’s house in case something happened before she spoke to Esposito.

Once they got home from the movies, Esposito looked at his gorgeous wife-to-be -- standing at the counter wearing a low-cut black long-sleeve Harley Davidson shirt, tucked into a pair of tight dark blue bootcut jeans, tied together with a thick black leather belt with rhinestones and a western buckle and a pair of high-heeled leather boots underneath, along with a white bandana on her forehead, acting as a headband -- and he could tell something was wrong.

“So are you going to tell me what’s wrong or should I guess?” Esposito asked.

“I don’t think I should,” Nikki said, lighting a cigarette.

“I think you should,” Esposito responded kindly.

“It’s about Carmine,” Nikki relented. “Last night Christina told me he’s been hitting her.”

“Oh, I don’t know if I believe that,” Esposito scoffed.

“Why?” Nikki asked incredulously. “Because she’s a housewife?”

“No, no,” Esposito backpedaled. “That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean then?” Nikki demanded, followed by a long drag on her cigarette.

“He’s one of my good friends,” Esposito said. “I’ve known him since I was little. I don’t believe he would do that.”

“You don’t believe some dude that makes a living off violence would be violent?” Nikki laughed sarcastically.

“Even if I could prove that he did, what is it that you want me to do?” Esposito asked.

“I know what I would do,” Nikki said sternly.

“Nicole, that’s much too rash,” Esposito said, waving his hands in the air. “I can’t get rid of him.”

“Fine, then when I take over, I’ll just do it,” Nikki said, taking another drag on her cigarette. “I want Christina to join with me anyway.”

“You can’t just do that!” Esposito exclaimed.

“Why?” Nikki asked. “You don’t think I would want my girls in positions of power too?”

“OK,” Esposito exasperated. “If we get concrete evidence that this is true then, we can talk about the next steps.”

“Good,” Nikki smiled, blowing out a plume of smoke and stubbing out her cigarette in the ashtray. “Joey is already watching the house.”

Just as Nikki and Esposito were about to move frhead to bed, Nikki’s phone rang on the counter. She checked the gold Rolex on her wrist to see that it was past 11 p.m. When she picked up the phone, it was text message from Joey, saying things had gotten a bit physical between Carmine and Christina.

“We have to go,” Nikki said.

“Go?” Esposito asked with a confused look on his face. “Go where?”

“Carmine is roughing up Christina,” Nikki said as she hurried to the closet to put on her black leather blazer.

“Nicole, we can’t just go barge in,” Esposito said.

“So what are we going to do?” Nikki demanded. “Just let him beat the shit out of her forever?”

“OK,” Esposito relented.

Nikki grabbed her black leather designer purse and the two hurried to out to Esposito’s Mercedes SUV. On the ride over, Nikki smoked like a fiend. She put half-smoked cigarette between her lips, reached into her purse and pulled out her .22 caliber Glock, checking the clip. Upon seeing this, Esposito spoke up.

“Now we have to be careful with this,” Esposito instructed. “We can’t bust in and make irrational decisions.”

“I know,” Nikki said with an annoyed look on her face. “It’s not my first time, babe.”

“Sorry,” Esposito responded.

“This is the back-up plan,” Nikki said, holding up the gun.

When they arrived at Carmine’s, Nikki got out of the car and slipped the gun in the back of her studded belt, cigarette dangling from her lips. As they exited their car, Joey got out of his dark sedan at the same time.

“What’s the deal?” Esposito asked him, while Nikki unleashed a large stream of smoke.

“It’s pretty loud in there,” Joey informed him. “But it’s hard to tell if he was hitting her. When they got home, he kinda dragged her in by the arm. He was pissed about something.”

Nikki then instructed Joey to return to the house to keep an eye on Stefania before crushing her cigarette beneath her boot and walking down the street to the house. Rather than attempting to break in, Esposito thought it best just to knock on the door.

Carmine answered the door and while he was shocked to see his boss, he was also panting from physical activity and liquor was on is breath.

“Angelo, what are you doing here?” Carmine asked.

“We’ve been friends since kindergarten and you have to ask that?” Esposito lauged. “Aren’t you going to invite us in?”

“It’s not really a good time,” Carmine said coyly. “You know, the wife and I are in the middle of something.”

“Ah, it’ll only be for a minute,” Esposito insisted. “Just a drink.”

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” Carmine asked.

“No,” Nikki interjected with a stern look on her face.

Esposito half forced himself through the doorway as Carmine backed away. Walking down the front hallway, Nikki saw Christina lying on the living room floor, sobbing with her hands over her face. Nikki rushed over and knelt down beside her. When she gently forced Christina’s head up to look her in the eyes, it revealed her left one was black.

“Oh, Carmine,” Esposito moaned. “What have you done.”

Carmine didn’t answer.

“Carmine,” Esposito began. “I didn’t want it to be true.”

“What?” Carmine asked.

“I didn’t want to believe you hit your wife,” Esposito responded.

“How did you hear that?” Carmine asked. “That’s not from me.”

“So why is your wife crying on the floor with a black eye?” Esposito asked.

“I told you we were busy,” Carmine said, lowering his voice for the rest of his statement and winking. “Chris likes it rough.”

“I don’t think anyone likes getting hit in the face,” Nikki shot back.

“You bitch!” Carmine screamed. “You told them? I’ll kill you!”

Carmine made a move towards Christina, but Esposito instinctively stepped in, half in rage and half knowing that if he didn’t Nikki likely would have shot him. He put his right fist into Carmine’s gut, sending him to his knees gasping for air.

Then it was Nikki who took control. She and Esposito took him to the basement and tied him to a chair. They decided to give him an hour to sober up before returning to talk to him.

Nikki went back upstairs to tend to Christina, who had now moved to the couch, but was still sobbing. The former went to the kitchen to grab some frozen peas from the freezer and returned to the living room, handing the bag to Christina for her eye.

“Where are your kids?” Nikki asked, squatting down in front of Christina to get to eye level, her leather blazer creaking in the process and rising up to reveal her rhinestone-adorned belt.

“They’re at my mom’s,” Christina weeped. “It was supposed to be a date night. Everything was going so well and then he started drinking a little too much and did a few lines. I told him it was time to go and he was fine. Then on the ride home he just snapped.”

“Well don’t worry, it’s over now,” Nikki said.

“Did you kill him?” Christina asked with tears in her eyes.

“No, not yet,” Nikki assured her. “We’re waiting for him to get right.”

“Wait,” Christina said, jerking her head in the air. “How did you know?”

“I put a tail on you after you told me last night,” Nikki told her. “You didn’t want me to say anything, so I sent Joey to make sure nothing happened.”

“You guys should go,” Christina said as she stood up. “You’re just going to make it worse when you leave.”

“Chris,” Nikki said, shaking her head. “It’s not going to happen again.”

Christina started pacing around the living room and then stopped abruptly.

“Where’s my purse?” She asked. “I need a smoke.”

“Hold on, honey,” Nikki said. “Let me find it.”

Nikki went back into the kitchen and found Christina’s purse on the kitchen counter. She opened it and scooped up her pack of Salem’s. She returned to the living room and handed her the pack. Christina put an all-white cigarette between her lips and Nikki extended her lighter to the tip before lighting one of her own.

“So what happens now?” Christina asked through an exhale.

“I’m not sure yet,” Nikki answered. “Life is going to be different for you now though.”

Nikk sat with Christina as she chainsmoked on the couch until Esposito returned to inform them Carmine was sober enough. Nikki escorted Christina down the stairs to Carmine, who was still tied to the chair.

“How could you betray me?” Carmine spat at her.

“How could you hit your wife?” Esposito asked incredulously.

“The notorious Angelo Esposito all of a sudden has respect for women?” Carmine laughed. “After all the women you slept with before you decided to marry a teenager?”

Nikki had to be restrained by Esposito as she tried to take a swing at him.

“What are you going to do sweetheart?” Carmine taunted. “Still playing gangster?”

“Carmine,” Esposito said firmly. “That’s enough.”

“What are you going to do?” Carmine asked Esposito this time. “If you’re going to kill me then just get it over with. Although you don’t like to get your hands dirty anymore.”

“No, Carmine, I don’t,” Esposito admitted.

“You either have to kill me or let me go,” Carmine said. “If you let me go, wait until everyone hears how you went soft. I’ll be running things after that. I bet you don’t even have a gun on you.”

“Nope, he doesn’t,” Nikki chimed in. “But I do.”

Nikki removed her gun from that back of her belt and placed it on the table in front of Carmine.

“You don’t have the guts to use that, you little skank,” Carmine joked.

“Now is that anyway to speak to your future boss?” Nikki asked with a smile on her face.

Carmine clearly looked confused, but it was obvious that Esposito had yet to inform him of his future plans.

“Once we are married Nicole will be taking over all of my duties,” Esposito said.

“Instead of me?” Carmine asked.

“Yes, Carmine,” Esposito answered.

“Well, I’ll definitely be running things once the boys here about this,” Carmine quipped. “I don’t know why you are doing this anyway, it’s none of your concern.”

“Do you not have any remorse for what you are doing to a woman you love?” Esposito shouted.

“Love?” Carmine shot back. “I don’t love her. She’s a hot piece of ass that takes care of my kids and takes care of my house. She’s my property.”

Both Nikki and Esposito were about to make a move on Carmine after his despicable comments, but Christina beat both of them to the punch. She quickly grabbed the gun off the table, pointed it at her husband and pulled the trigger, hitting him in the chest.

“How dare you?” Carmine shouted, staring at his wife as she continued to point the gun at him. With that, Christina pulled the trigger, sending another bullet through his chest and taking the life from his body.

Nikki and Esposito stood there in shock, before finally pulling the gun out of Christina’s hands. This time she did not cry. She stood there with a disgusted look on her face.

“I can’t believe I wasted so much time with that man,” Christina said in disgust.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help sooner,” Esposito admitted. “I should have known better.”

“I just don’t know what I’m going to do now,” Christina said. “I’ve been a wife and a mom for almost 10 years.”

There was only 30 seconds of silence in the room, but it felt like an eternity before Nikki finally spoke up. “You come work for me.”

“I don’t know, Nikki,” Christina said. “I was a wife for so long that I’m not sure I’ll get any respect. Plus I have to be here for my girls.”

“You can’t live here anyways,” Nikki said. “I’ll give you a week to decide. If you choose not to, you’re going to have to leave town. If the answer is yes, get yourself a bike and lose your conscience.”

With that Nikki headed back upstairs and out the door. Esposito waited behind to clean up the mess. He called some of his men to take care of the body, scrub the basement and then took Christina to a hotel for the night.

____________________________________________________________________________

A week went by and Nikki had yet to hear from Christina. As she sat behind the desk in her office, thinking she had left town, Jasmine ushered Christina through the door.

Nikki looked up at her and without saying another word, she said, “So?”

“I’m in,” Christina said with conviction.

Nikki smiled, walked to the closet in her office and tossed Christina a leather vest with the Perrillo Family crest on the back. Then she said, “Let’s get you some ink.”

Nikki had found another captain in yet another unlikely place, but she still wanted one more to round out the group. This time, she may not have to look far.