Nikki never cared for Halloween. She disliked wearing costumes and felt it was a holiday for kids to celebrate, not adults. Daniel, however, disagreed with her sentiment. Halloween was his favorite holiday. He enjoyed comic books and fantasy, so a day to dress up in costumes without being mocked was something he looked forward to each year.
After weeks of pestering, Nikki finally relented and agreed to attend a costume party with Daniel, although she didn’t care for the costumes he picked out for them. When she waltzed down the stairs dressed as Uhura from Star Trek, Gina laughed hysterically from the couch, but Daniel beamed with pride as Spock.
Needless to say, the party was nothing like one Nikki would attend with her friends, and among Daniel’s friends, she actually could have been Uhura. She considerably more attractive than many of the other women at the party and she was certain it would be the only real party most of Daniel’s friends would attend all year.
Since Daniel was happy, Nikki was content getting through the night. She simply sipped her drink and stood quietly next to him as he talked with his friends about various comic book characters. She was also the lone smoker at the party, so she spent a fair amount of time by herself outside. Still, Nikki was hardly disappointed when it was time to go home.
When they got home, Nikki practically sprinted upstairs to take off her costume and hopefully never wear it again. As she stood in her bra and panties searching for something comfortable to put on, her phone rang on the dresser. She picked it up to hear the familiar voice of a Belleville police officer named Lombardi. When he informed her of the situation, Nikki was stunned, but also felt it wasn’t her business.
“You know, she’s not my kid,” Nikki said. “Have you called her father?”
“She has been asking for you,” Lombardi responded. “Normally we would call her parents right away, but since your name came up, I wanted to make sure.”
“No, that’s fine,” Nikki said. “I’ll be right there. Hey, keep those two girls there, too.”
Nikki hung up and texted Jasmine to come pick her up before quickly getting dressed. She told Daniel what happened, and while he didn’t understand why she had to go, there wasn’t an argument.
Jasmine drove Nikki to the alley behind an abandoned warehouse in Belleville where Lombardi was waiting with the three teenage girls. When Jasmine opened the back of the Mercedes SUV, Nikki climbed out wearing a black shirt, black leggings and black leather riding boots, along with her black leather blazer and cigarette in her left hand.
“Thanks for calling,” Nikki said, shaking hands with Lombardi. “Where is she?”
Lombardi motioned for Stefania to get out of the car and when she saw Nikki standing in front of her, the teenager squealed with relief. Nikki, however, didn’t show any emotion. She simply took a drag on her cigarette and said, “Go get in the car.”
Stefania did as she was told and gave a big hug to Jasmine, who was smiling when she trotted over. Nikki then turned back to Lombardi. “Can I talk to the girls alone? Jasmine has an envelope for you.”
Lombardi nodded and walked away. Nikki took another drag on her cigarette and let out a gigantic exhale as she checked the gold Rolex on her wrist before opening the back of the squad car. She looked inside to see Tori and Rachel sitting nervously. Nikki took one last hit on her Marlboro and flicked aside casually.
“Hey girls,” Nikki said. “Tell me what happened tonight.”
Tori and Rachel both began to babble about the night’s events, talking so fast it was impossible to comprehend anything they said, so Nikki put her hand up as a signal to stop.
“So let me get this straight,” Nikki began. “You gave Stefania weed from a stranger and then left her in the fucking bushes when the cops came?”
The girls sat in silence.
“Is that how you treat a friend?” Nikki asked in disbelief.
The girls once again remained silent.
“You’re really helping your cause, ladies,” Nikki said sarcastically.
She paused for a minute and then looked both girls directly in the eyes.
“I’m going to pay to make sure you don’t go to the police station,” Nikki said. “Only because Stefania considered you friends for some reason.”
Tori and Rachel began to thank her profusely, the screeching making it unbearable for Nikki endure so she put her hand up once more, halting the noise.
“I didn’t finish,” Nikki said sternly. “If you ever go near that girl again, I’ll put a bullet in both your heads. I don’t give a fuck how old you are. Nobody treats my family like that.”
The faces of the two teens quickly turned from gratitude to terror in a matter of seconds as they watched the back of Nikki’s leather blazer walk away.
Nikki thanked Lombardi again and then joined Stefania in the back seat of the black SUV. She lit another cigarette and looked at Stefania, who was finishing one of her own. Nikki sat quietly for a moment, taking another drag on her cigarette, thinking of what to say and then finally breaking the silence.
“Are you fucking nuts?” Nikki barked. “You’re 14 years old, why the hell are you smoking weed with those two barbie dolls?”
“It was just nice to be noticed,” Stefania mumbled.
“Noticed?” Nikki asked incredulously. “You look like a goddamn whore. Is that who you want to be?”
Stefania didn’t have a response.
“That should be a pretty easy question,” Nikki snapped. “You almost got yourself killed. What if that cop didn’t find your ass in the bushes?”
Stefania finally broke down in tears and all of the emotions from the previous six months poured out of her. She told Nikki how she felt about the breakup, how her father treated her and then neglected her and how she fell in with her new group of friends.
Once the story was finished, Nikki flicked her cigarette out the half-cracked window, attempting to digest the information presented to her.
“Stef,” Nikki said kindly. “I didn’t take your calls because it was hard. I loved your dad and I loved you. If I stayed in touch, none of us would ever move on and it wouldn’t be healthy.”
“I would have wanted to come with you,” Stefania cried.
“And I would have loved that, but I’m not your mom,” Nikki answered. “You have to stay with your dad.”
“But you’re the only person that has ever cared about me,” Stefania pleaded.
“Stef, I’m 20 years old,” Nikki responded. “Nobody would let me have custody of you.”
“So what?” Stefania said. “My dad probably won’t even know I’m gone. He’s hardly ever home anyways.”
Nikki once again quietly pondered what Stefania told her and then came up with a temporary solution.
“OK,” Nikki said. “You can stay with me tonight and then we’re going to see your dad in the morning.”
The temporary plan was delightful to Stefania, but Nikki still didn’t have a long-term plan for her. When they got home, Gina was stunned to see Stefania bound through the door and jump into her arms. Daniel was also quite shocked that Nikki came home with a 14-year-old house guest that also happened to be the daughter of her ex-fiancee.
Nikki brought Stefania upstairs to her bedroom and stayed with her until she fell asleep, which didn’t take long after an exhausting night. She then went back downstairs to the living room and plopped on the couch next to Daniel. “Stefania is in my bed, so you get the couch, buddy.”
“So what’s your plan?” Gina asked.
“I don’t know,” Nikki responded. “She wants to live here.”
“That’s not surprising,” Gina answered. “But also not practical.”
“I know,” Nikki said in agreement. “I can’t take care of a teenager by myself.”
“So are you just going to take her home tomorrow?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know,” Nikki said. “She doesn’t want to go back and her father clearly doesn’t want to be a real parent.”
“That’s not your concern,” Gina reminded her.
“Yes it is,” Nikki said quietly. “If it wasn’t for me, she’d still be with her lush of a mom. Ange isn’t a drunk, but he’s not taking care of her properly. If I bring her back, I’m just putting her back into the situation I took her out of the first time.”
Neither said a word for a few minutes before Nikki spoke up again.
“Plus, I’m not sure I can say goodbye to her again,” she said as her eyes welled with tears. “I love that girl. I can’t let her blow her life away.”
“I’ll be her guardian,” Gina finally said. “If Ange doesn’t want her, I’ll be her guardian.”
“Seriously?” Nikki said in a shocked tone.
“Stefania is already like my granddaughter,” Gina said. “Plus I’ve got free time. Two of my kids don’t talk to me and you don’t listen to me anymore anyways.”
“You would really do this?” Nikki asked.
“Yes,” Gina answered. “But you are just as responsible for her as I am. School functions, meetings, taking her to appointments -- those are all things I expect you to help out with.”
“I can do that,” Nikki exclaimed with a big smile on her face and gave her mother a hug. Then she turned to Daniel, who had been quiet throughout the conversation. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s a bit different,” Daniel admitted. “But I don’t think I have a choice so we can make it work.”
“Are you sure?” Nikki asked.
“Yes,” Daniel answered.
Nikki gave him a kiss and then walked back upstairs to her bedroom, where Stefania was fast asleep in her bed. She changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth before getting in the bed and putting her arms around Stefania as she drifted off to sleep.
____________________________________________________________________________
The next morning, Nikki didn’t divulge her plan to Stefania. Instead she informed her they would be going to see her father to speak with him about the previous night’s events and what led to it.
When they arrived at Esposito’s house, he was stunned to see Nikki walk through his door -- wearing a sleeveless black turtleneck, tucked into a pair of black skinny jeans, a thick black leather belt around her hips, high-heeled loafers on her feet and her black leather dress coat that came down to the top of her knees.
“Nicole, what are you doing here?” Esposito asked.
“I missed you so much that I just couldn’t stay away,” Nikki responded.
“Really?” He asked.
“No,” Nikki deadpanned. “I’m here because you have no idea what’s going on with your daughter.”
“What?” Esposito asked incredulously. “Stefania, what is going on here?”
Stefania looked at Nikki with concern in her eyes and and the latter gave her a nod that it was safe. She then proceeded to explain the what happened the previous night and what led to those events. When she finished, Esposito’s face expressed befuddlement.
“You were arrested?” Esposito said. “And you didn’t call me?”
“You never care what’s going on,” Stefania muttered. “I knew Nikki would listen to me.”
“That’s a load of garbage and you know it!” Esposito exclaimed.
“You are never home and you don’t even talk to me when you are!” Stefania shot back. “It’s like you don’t even want me here.”
Esposito didn’t have a comeback. Nikki was quick to intervene before he said something that would hurt Stefania or an awkward silence would lead her to believe he truly didn’t want her around anymore.
“Stef,” Nikki whispered. “Why don’t you go upstairs while I talk to your father?”
Stefania reluctantly climbed the stairs to her room, leaving Nikki in the same room with Esposito for the first time since their breakup. Nikki let out a large sigh, took off her leather coat and draped it over a kitchen chair, put her purse on the table and sat down.
“You know,” Nikki began as she crossed her legs and folded her arms. “I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”
“What?” Esposito asked with a confused expression.
“I almost married the biggest asshole in the world,” Nikki quipped.
Esposito rolled his eyes and threw up his hands in exasperation.
“It was all such an act,” Nikki laughed. “You let that bitch take her even though she was half in the bag. There was no blackmail, it was just easier to live your life. When she first got here you played the part, but looking back on it, after I started taking care of her more often, you stopped.”
“Oh, here we go,” Esposito said. “You’re going to spin it to make me look like the bad guy.”
“Um, you are the bad guy,” Nikki retorted. “You don’t want her here.”
“That’s not true,” Esposito insisted as he paced around the kitchen.
Nikki simply gave him a look of disbelief and after a short silence, Esposito broke down.
“I don’t know how to be a father,” Esposito cried, sitting down in the kitchen chair across from Nikki. “I’ve worked hard for the life I’ve built and now I have to give it up to cater to a teenager?”
“Yep, that’s being a father,” Nikki responded. She then reached into her black leather purse, extracted a cigarette and fired it up.
“Can you not smoke in here?” Esposito asked.
Nikki answered by casually blowing smoke directly into his face, her left arm cocked at a 90-degree angle as it rested on the table, allowing her gold Rolex to slide down her forearm. “Can you not be a terrible human being?”
“Well what would you do if you were in my position?” Esposito shot back. “You have no idea, because you are just a child.”
Nikki took a hard drag on her cigarette as she began to get angry. All of the accusations and complaints Esposito had hurled at her leading up to their split were beginning to race through her mind.
“First of all you arrogant motherfucker, when I went into that fucking dump in Florida and saw how she was living, I was the one that pulled her out,” Nikki snapped. “Second of all, who was the one that made sure we went to all of her school functions? Who spent time with her when she didn’t even want me around?”
Esposito didn’t have an rebuttal while Nikki paused to exhale a long stream of smoke.
“I stepped up to the plate because that’s what you’re supposed to do for your kid,” Nikki continued. “And she’s not even my kid. You are absolutely disgusting.”
“Well, what do you want me to do?” Esposito asked.
“I want you to grow up and be a man,” Nikki barked.
With that, Nikki stood up, took one last drag -- holding the cigarette between her index finger and thumb -- and walked to the sink, tossed the cigarette in and ran water to extinguish it. Afterwards she strolled back to the kitchen table, hands resting on the leather belt around her hips and exhaled with ideas flooding her brain. Then she sat down and looked Esposito directly in her eyes.
“Let her live with me,” Nikki said carefully.
“I can’t do that,” Esposito said. “You’re hardly older than she is.”
“And I’m more responsible than you are,” Nikki snapped and then quickly returned to a more calm state. “My mother will be her technical legal guardian.”
Esposito pondered the idea for a moment. Nikki could tell that he was warming to the idea, which was what she wanted, but also repulsed her in the same vein, which resulting in her sparking another cigarette.
“OK,” Esposito answered. “How much will it cost me?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” exclaimed Nikki, nearly choking on the cigarette still firmly between her lips, causing smoke to spurt out of both sides of her mouth. “That’s the question you ask?”
“Well, it’s not cheap to raise a child,” said Esposito, who couldn’t seem to understand why his previous question angered her.
“Your daughter is going to live with someone else and you talk about money,” Nikki said with a laugh, holding the cigarette inches from her face in preparation for her next drag.
Finally, it hit Nikki. A small amount of money wouldn’t make a dent in Esposito’s checkbook. She wanted to make him pay for the rest of his life and she knew exactly what would do the trick. He was choosing his business and mob life over his daughter, and Nikki was going to take a piece of that away from him.
“OK, Ange,” said Nikki, sitting forward in her chair. “I’ll take Stefania, but you’re going to give me the trash business.”
“What?” asked Esposito in shock. “That’s too steep.”
“It’s too steep for your fucking daughter?” Nikki asked. “You’re going to give me the trash business. Then you’re going to stay the fuck away from Stefania unless she reaches out to you because you’re a horrible human being. If you don’t agree to those terms, I file a report with the cops about your neglect and you know I’m just as connected with that department as you.”
“Fine,” Esposito said.
“Make the call to the union,” Nikki said, handing him the phone. She watched Esposito the call and then walked back to the sink to discard her cigarette and then called Stefania back downstairs. They informed the teenager that she would be coming to live with Nikki and she leaped with joy.
Stefania returned to her room to gather as many of her belongings as possible and they loaded them into the back of Nikki’s Mercedes SUV. As they pulled out of the driveway, Nikki had managed to get a stranglehold on the evasive trash business, but more importantly, she also gained custody of a child she adored and missed desperately while they were apart.
After weeks of pestering, Nikki finally relented and agreed to attend a costume party with Daniel, although she didn’t care for the costumes he picked out for them. When she waltzed down the stairs dressed as Uhura from Star Trek, Gina laughed hysterically from the couch, but Daniel beamed with pride as Spock.
Needless to say, the party was nothing like one Nikki would attend with her friends, and among Daniel’s friends, she actually could have been Uhura. She considerably more attractive than many of the other women at the party and she was certain it would be the only real party most of Daniel’s friends would attend all year.
Since Daniel was happy, Nikki was content getting through the night. She simply sipped her drink and stood quietly next to him as he talked with his friends about various comic book characters. She was also the lone smoker at the party, so she spent a fair amount of time by herself outside. Still, Nikki was hardly disappointed when it was time to go home.
When they got home, Nikki practically sprinted upstairs to take off her costume and hopefully never wear it again. As she stood in her bra and panties searching for something comfortable to put on, her phone rang on the dresser. She picked it up to hear the familiar voice of a Belleville police officer named Lombardi. When he informed her of the situation, Nikki was stunned, but also felt it wasn’t her business.
“You know, she’s not my kid,” Nikki said. “Have you called her father?”
“She has been asking for you,” Lombardi responded. “Normally we would call her parents right away, but since your name came up, I wanted to make sure.”
“No, that’s fine,” Nikki said. “I’ll be right there. Hey, keep those two girls there, too.”
Nikki hung up and texted Jasmine to come pick her up before quickly getting dressed. She told Daniel what happened, and while he didn’t understand why she had to go, there wasn’t an argument.
Jasmine drove Nikki to the alley behind an abandoned warehouse in Belleville where Lombardi was waiting with the three teenage girls. When Jasmine opened the back of the Mercedes SUV, Nikki climbed out wearing a black shirt, black leggings and black leather riding boots, along with her black leather blazer and cigarette in her left hand.
“Thanks for calling,” Nikki said, shaking hands with Lombardi. “Where is she?”
Lombardi motioned for Stefania to get out of the car and when she saw Nikki standing in front of her, the teenager squealed with relief. Nikki, however, didn’t show any emotion. She simply took a drag on her cigarette and said, “Go get in the car.”
Stefania did as she was told and gave a big hug to Jasmine, who was smiling when she trotted over. Nikki then turned back to Lombardi. “Can I talk to the girls alone? Jasmine has an envelope for you.”
Lombardi nodded and walked away. Nikki took another drag on her cigarette and let out a gigantic exhale as she checked the gold Rolex on her wrist before opening the back of the squad car. She looked inside to see Tori and Rachel sitting nervously. Nikki took one last hit on her Marlboro and flicked aside casually.
“Hey girls,” Nikki said. “Tell me what happened tonight.”
Tori and Rachel both began to babble about the night’s events, talking so fast it was impossible to comprehend anything they said, so Nikki put her hand up as a signal to stop.
“So let me get this straight,” Nikki began. “You gave Stefania weed from a stranger and then left her in the fucking bushes when the cops came?”
The girls sat in silence.
“Is that how you treat a friend?” Nikki asked in disbelief.
The girls once again remained silent.
“You’re really helping your cause, ladies,” Nikki said sarcastically.
She paused for a minute and then looked both girls directly in the eyes.
“I’m going to pay to make sure you don’t go to the police station,” Nikki said. “Only because Stefania considered you friends for some reason.”
Tori and Rachel began to thank her profusely, the screeching making it unbearable for Nikki endure so she put her hand up once more, halting the noise.
“I didn’t finish,” Nikki said sternly. “If you ever go near that girl again, I’ll put a bullet in both your heads. I don’t give a fuck how old you are. Nobody treats my family like that.”
The faces of the two teens quickly turned from gratitude to terror in a matter of seconds as they watched the back of Nikki’s leather blazer walk away.
Nikki thanked Lombardi again and then joined Stefania in the back seat of the black SUV. She lit another cigarette and looked at Stefania, who was finishing one of her own. Nikki sat quietly for a moment, taking another drag on her cigarette, thinking of what to say and then finally breaking the silence.
“Are you fucking nuts?” Nikki barked. “You’re 14 years old, why the hell are you smoking weed with those two barbie dolls?”
“It was just nice to be noticed,” Stefania mumbled.
“Noticed?” Nikki asked incredulously. “You look like a goddamn whore. Is that who you want to be?”
Stefania didn’t have a response.
“That should be a pretty easy question,” Nikki snapped. “You almost got yourself killed. What if that cop didn’t find your ass in the bushes?”
Stefania finally broke down in tears and all of the emotions from the previous six months poured out of her. She told Nikki how she felt about the breakup, how her father treated her and then neglected her and how she fell in with her new group of friends.
Once the story was finished, Nikki flicked her cigarette out the half-cracked window, attempting to digest the information presented to her.
“Stef,” Nikki said kindly. “I didn’t take your calls because it was hard. I loved your dad and I loved you. If I stayed in touch, none of us would ever move on and it wouldn’t be healthy.”
“I would have wanted to come with you,” Stefania cried.
“And I would have loved that, but I’m not your mom,” Nikki answered. “You have to stay with your dad.”
“But you’re the only person that has ever cared about me,” Stefania pleaded.
“Stef, I’m 20 years old,” Nikki responded. “Nobody would let me have custody of you.”
“So what?” Stefania said. “My dad probably won’t even know I’m gone. He’s hardly ever home anyways.”
Nikki once again quietly pondered what Stefania told her and then came up with a temporary solution.
“OK,” Nikki said. “You can stay with me tonight and then we’re going to see your dad in the morning.”
The temporary plan was delightful to Stefania, but Nikki still didn’t have a long-term plan for her. When they got home, Gina was stunned to see Stefania bound through the door and jump into her arms. Daniel was also quite shocked that Nikki came home with a 14-year-old house guest that also happened to be the daughter of her ex-fiancee.
Nikki brought Stefania upstairs to her bedroom and stayed with her until she fell asleep, which didn’t take long after an exhausting night. She then went back downstairs to the living room and plopped on the couch next to Daniel. “Stefania is in my bed, so you get the couch, buddy.”
“So what’s your plan?” Gina asked.
“I don’t know,” Nikki responded. “She wants to live here.”
“That’s not surprising,” Gina answered. “But also not practical.”
“I know,” Nikki said in agreement. “I can’t take care of a teenager by myself.”
“So are you just going to take her home tomorrow?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know,” Nikki said. “She doesn’t want to go back and her father clearly doesn’t want to be a real parent.”
“That’s not your concern,” Gina reminded her.
“Yes it is,” Nikki said quietly. “If it wasn’t for me, she’d still be with her lush of a mom. Ange isn’t a drunk, but he’s not taking care of her properly. If I bring her back, I’m just putting her back into the situation I took her out of the first time.”
Neither said a word for a few minutes before Nikki spoke up again.
“Plus, I’m not sure I can say goodbye to her again,” she said as her eyes welled with tears. “I love that girl. I can’t let her blow her life away.”
“I’ll be her guardian,” Gina finally said. “If Ange doesn’t want her, I’ll be her guardian.”
“Seriously?” Nikki said in a shocked tone.
“Stefania is already like my granddaughter,” Gina said. “Plus I’ve got free time. Two of my kids don’t talk to me and you don’t listen to me anymore anyways.”
“You would really do this?” Nikki asked.
“Yes,” Gina answered. “But you are just as responsible for her as I am. School functions, meetings, taking her to appointments -- those are all things I expect you to help out with.”
“I can do that,” Nikki exclaimed with a big smile on her face and gave her mother a hug. Then she turned to Daniel, who had been quiet throughout the conversation. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s a bit different,” Daniel admitted. “But I don’t think I have a choice so we can make it work.”
“Are you sure?” Nikki asked.
“Yes,” Daniel answered.
Nikki gave him a kiss and then walked back upstairs to her bedroom, where Stefania was fast asleep in her bed. She changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth before getting in the bed and putting her arms around Stefania as she drifted off to sleep.
____________________________________________________________________________
The next morning, Nikki didn’t divulge her plan to Stefania. Instead she informed her they would be going to see her father to speak with him about the previous night’s events and what led to it.
When they arrived at Esposito’s house, he was stunned to see Nikki walk through his door -- wearing a sleeveless black turtleneck, tucked into a pair of black skinny jeans, a thick black leather belt around her hips, high-heeled loafers on her feet and her black leather dress coat that came down to the top of her knees.
“Nicole, what are you doing here?” Esposito asked.
“I missed you so much that I just couldn’t stay away,” Nikki responded.
“Really?” He asked.
“No,” Nikki deadpanned. “I’m here because you have no idea what’s going on with your daughter.”
“What?” Esposito asked incredulously. “Stefania, what is going on here?”
Stefania looked at Nikki with concern in her eyes and and the latter gave her a nod that it was safe. She then proceeded to explain the what happened the previous night and what led to those events. When she finished, Esposito’s face expressed befuddlement.
“You were arrested?” Esposito said. “And you didn’t call me?”
“You never care what’s going on,” Stefania muttered. “I knew Nikki would listen to me.”
“That’s a load of garbage and you know it!” Esposito exclaimed.
“You are never home and you don’t even talk to me when you are!” Stefania shot back. “It’s like you don’t even want me here.”
Esposito didn’t have a comeback. Nikki was quick to intervene before he said something that would hurt Stefania or an awkward silence would lead her to believe he truly didn’t want her around anymore.
“Stef,” Nikki whispered. “Why don’t you go upstairs while I talk to your father?”
Stefania reluctantly climbed the stairs to her room, leaving Nikki in the same room with Esposito for the first time since their breakup. Nikki let out a large sigh, took off her leather coat and draped it over a kitchen chair, put her purse on the table and sat down.
“You know,” Nikki began as she crossed her legs and folded her arms. “I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”
“What?” Esposito asked with a confused expression.
“I almost married the biggest asshole in the world,” Nikki quipped.
Esposito rolled his eyes and threw up his hands in exasperation.
“It was all such an act,” Nikki laughed. “You let that bitch take her even though she was half in the bag. There was no blackmail, it was just easier to live your life. When she first got here you played the part, but looking back on it, after I started taking care of her more often, you stopped.”
“Oh, here we go,” Esposito said. “You’re going to spin it to make me look like the bad guy.”
“Um, you are the bad guy,” Nikki retorted. “You don’t want her here.”
“That’s not true,” Esposito insisted as he paced around the kitchen.
Nikki simply gave him a look of disbelief and after a short silence, Esposito broke down.
“I don’t know how to be a father,” Esposito cried, sitting down in the kitchen chair across from Nikki. “I’ve worked hard for the life I’ve built and now I have to give it up to cater to a teenager?”
“Yep, that’s being a father,” Nikki responded. She then reached into her black leather purse, extracted a cigarette and fired it up.
“Can you not smoke in here?” Esposito asked.
Nikki answered by casually blowing smoke directly into his face, her left arm cocked at a 90-degree angle as it rested on the table, allowing her gold Rolex to slide down her forearm. “Can you not be a terrible human being?”
“Well what would you do if you were in my position?” Esposito shot back. “You have no idea, because you are just a child.”
Nikki took a hard drag on her cigarette as she began to get angry. All of the accusations and complaints Esposito had hurled at her leading up to their split were beginning to race through her mind.
“First of all you arrogant motherfucker, when I went into that fucking dump in Florida and saw how she was living, I was the one that pulled her out,” Nikki snapped. “Second of all, who was the one that made sure we went to all of her school functions? Who spent time with her when she didn’t even want me around?”
Esposito didn’t have an rebuttal while Nikki paused to exhale a long stream of smoke.
“I stepped up to the plate because that’s what you’re supposed to do for your kid,” Nikki continued. “And she’s not even my kid. You are absolutely disgusting.”
“Well, what do you want me to do?” Esposito asked.
“I want you to grow up and be a man,” Nikki barked.
With that, Nikki stood up, took one last drag -- holding the cigarette between her index finger and thumb -- and walked to the sink, tossed the cigarette in and ran water to extinguish it. Afterwards she strolled back to the kitchen table, hands resting on the leather belt around her hips and exhaled with ideas flooding her brain. Then she sat down and looked Esposito directly in her eyes.
“Let her live with me,” Nikki said carefully.
“I can’t do that,” Esposito said. “You’re hardly older than she is.”
“And I’m more responsible than you are,” Nikki snapped and then quickly returned to a more calm state. “My mother will be her technical legal guardian.”
Esposito pondered the idea for a moment. Nikki could tell that he was warming to the idea, which was what she wanted, but also repulsed her in the same vein, which resulting in her sparking another cigarette.
“OK,” Esposito answered. “How much will it cost me?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” exclaimed Nikki, nearly choking on the cigarette still firmly between her lips, causing smoke to spurt out of both sides of her mouth. “That’s the question you ask?”
“Well, it’s not cheap to raise a child,” said Esposito, who couldn’t seem to understand why his previous question angered her.
“Your daughter is going to live with someone else and you talk about money,” Nikki said with a laugh, holding the cigarette inches from her face in preparation for her next drag.
Finally, it hit Nikki. A small amount of money wouldn’t make a dent in Esposito’s checkbook. She wanted to make him pay for the rest of his life and she knew exactly what would do the trick. He was choosing his business and mob life over his daughter, and Nikki was going to take a piece of that away from him.
“OK, Ange,” said Nikki, sitting forward in her chair. “I’ll take Stefania, but you’re going to give me the trash business.”
“What?” asked Esposito in shock. “That’s too steep.”
“It’s too steep for your fucking daughter?” Nikki asked. “You’re going to give me the trash business. Then you’re going to stay the fuck away from Stefania unless she reaches out to you because you’re a horrible human being. If you don’t agree to those terms, I file a report with the cops about your neglect and you know I’m just as connected with that department as you.”
“Fine,” Esposito said.
“Make the call to the union,” Nikki said, handing him the phone. She watched Esposito the call and then walked back to the sink to discard her cigarette and then called Stefania back downstairs. They informed the teenager that she would be coming to live with Nikki and she leaped with joy.
Stefania returned to her room to gather as many of her belongings as possible and they loaded them into the back of Nikki’s Mercedes SUV. As they pulled out of the driveway, Nikki had managed to get a stranglehold on the evasive trash business, but more importantly, she also gained custody of a child she adored and missed desperately while they were apart.
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