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“I don’t love that you spared one though.”
“We made a deal. I don’t go back on my deals.”
He grunts in reply. “How’d the kid even know where Finn’s going to be?”
“He delivers drugs. I guess Finn likes to party.”
“Even better. He’ll be horny and high when we hit him.” Renzo seems pleased about that. What’s with my brothers and wanting to kill a man while he’s having sex? I don’t want to investigate that too closely.
“Carlo and I are going to discuss how we can leverage this situation. I’ve got some ideas?—”
He waves a hand, cutting me off. “I trust you to handle it. I actually want to talk about something else.”
I lean back in the chair and cross my arms. “Alright. What’s up?”
“It’s a little… uncomfortable.” Renzo clears his throat and fidgets with a pen, spinning it around his knuckle. “Your relationship with Allegra Rinaldo fell through.”
My eyebrows raise. “Yes, I remember when Gian married her right out from under me.” It wasn’t great, but at least I got the Vegas gambling business in compensation. And it wasn’t like I particularly wanted to marry Allegra.
“You’re single, and you occupy a powerful position in our family. That’s an asset.”
I go very still. My heart starts beating fast. I remember this conversation—I had it once before. Renzo’s looking at me seriously, his jaw tight, because he knows how fucked this is.
“Just say it.” The words come out steady, even though my hands are shaking.
“There’s a Milano girl. She’s Don Orsino’s stepdaughter.”
“Fuck.” I close my eyes. “You’re kidding me.”
“I want you to marry her. I know this is hard, especially after what happened last time, but a marriage alliance with the Milano Famiglia will solidify our position in the city, and their added weight will crush what’s left of the Irish and the Russians. I hear she’s pretty?—”
I don’t know what else he says. The sound of my blood rushing through my ears drowns him out.
There’s no way he’s asking this of me a second time. I did my duty once, but Gian took my arranged wife away from me. And if I’m honest, I was goddamn happy he did it. Allegra’s a pretty girl, but she was never my type. Too prim, too spoiled. I would’ve married her, treated her well, had some babies with her, but there never would’ve been love.
And if I had done that, I never would’ve met Molly.
Fuck. Molly.
“—bring the three Italian families together with us at the top. That’s why I’m asking you to do this for me.” Renzo finishes his speech and stares at me. I look down at my hands.
My wife is probably getting home around now. My beautiful, pregnant, redheaded wife is likely smiling to herself as she makes lunch, probably thinking about how I’m going to fuck her into submission the second I walk through that door. My gorgeous wife, the woman I’m in love with, and who loves me right back.
“I can’t,” I say, forcing the words out of my throat.
Renzo sits back. “I thought you might say that.”
“I just can’t, Renzo. Not again.”
“I understand how you feel, but this isn’t the same situation. You’re still single, and this alliance?—”
“No,” I say, slamming my hands down on the arms of my chair. I sit forward. “How much have I given to the Famiglia already? How much more can you possibly ask of me?”
His expression darkens. “You give what we all give. You give everything. If your Don is asking this of you, the only answer is yes.”
“My Don isn’t asking. My brother is asking.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Renzo looks pissed. He shakes his head and stands. “Think about what I said. I’m going to pretend like you didn’t refuse a direct order from your Don. Consider the correct course of action. Take a few days.”
