Page 12 of Waste of Worth

“Find Theo a wife—he needs the same thing Lily does. It might even settle him down a bit.”

The laugh that broke free from Dino’s chest was both sardonic and bitter.

“That’s never going to happen,” Dino told Ben, knowing it was true. “If you want to keep Theo compliant and happy doing what you want him to do, then your best bet is to leave him the hell alone. Theo will get married to whoever the fuck he wants, whenever the fuck he wants, and you’ll get no say in it all, Ben, so don’t waste your time.”

Dino knew better than to poke at his uncle in such a way that was almost taunting in nature. Ben had no patience for that, and had zero qualms with reminding Dino of just how powerless he could be against him.

But it had been the truth.

Ben needed to hear it.

“Is that so?” Ben asked.

“I say it for your benefit,” Dino replied, “not mine. It’d be a headache, and nothing more.”

“I suppose that only really leaves us with one person to move our family up in the Outfit, then.”

Dino’s confusion must have been obvious in his expression, because Ben smiled in that cold way of his, tipping his glass toward his oldest nephew.

“You, Dino.” Ben shrugged, taking another drink of whiskey. “That only leaves us with you.”

Well …

“I don’t want a wife,” Dino said quietly.

Why would he ever want to bring someone into the hell that was the mafia? How selfish of a creature would he be to trap a woman in a life where the next day was not promised and the world that should be safe and happy was constantly in an uproar and unstable?

As for him …

Dino was a broken man, unable to even sleep at night, and he wasn’t even sure he knew how to love a woman properly, let alone give her a happy life.

No, marriage was not in his future.

“Want and need are two very different things. And it isn’t about what you want or need, Dino, it’s about la famiglia. That’s the problem with the Outfit—when a family is quiet for too long, when they do nothing to better their position, then they fade into the background and are seen as weak. Is that what you want for the DeLuca family—to be a target?”

In a way, Ben was right.

That was the culture of the Outfit and the families within it.

They were always competing, always fighting. It never ended, though it was tiring.

“How much higher do you want to be exactly?” Dino dared to ask.

Ben eyed him from the side, taking in the question. “I beg your pardon?”

“You said this was to move the family up in the Outfit—our family specifically. Exactly how high do you want to be, Ben? You’re the underboss, and we both know you have zero interest in running the streets as the front boss like Riley does. So where are we going exactly?”

Ben smiled that cold and familiar sight again.

It made Dino sick.

His uncle always smiled before something bad happened, especially where Dino was concerned. He’d seen that smile too many times to count before he’d ended up in a hospital, making up some lie as to how he’d earned himself another broken bone or one of many bruises.

“We’re going up,” Ben said. “All the way up, Dino.”

“The boss is your friend,” Dino replied, referring to the Outfit’s leader, Terrance Trentini.

“There is no such thing as friends, Dino. Haven’t I taught you that over the years?”