Page 31 of Waste of Worth

“Well, you certainly seem …”

Dino sighed inwardly, knowing it was coming.

“Distracted,” Ben finished.

Yeah, there it was.

“One of my managers is having a problem with an employee. You know they defer to me on problems,” Dino replied, wanting to keep Ben as far from his private, personal life as he could. He knew it was impossible, or rather, he wouldn’t be able to keep Karen a secret forever. He was sure as hell going to try for as long as he could. “I’m here—where is Terrance?”

At his question about the Outfit boss’s whereabouts, Ben seemed to accept the change in topic.

“On his way, Dino. He is on his way.” Ben drummed his fingers to the table, peering across the room to where Theo sat at another table beside Damian Rossi. “Your brother is very cozy with the Rossi family.”

Dino resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “He’s cozy with no one but himself and whatever woman he’s chosen to fuck for the weekend.”

It was the best he could do for Theo. It may have come across as brash or rude, but it was true enough to keep Ben from Theo’s personal life. What more could he ask for?

“You and I have different views of what being cozy means,” Ben murmured, still watching Damian and Theo chat between one another.

“They’ve been friends since they were kids, Ben.”

“I offered Damian a spot in the DeLuca family once.”

Dino’s brow rose at that statement. He, too, had a history where Damian Rossi was concerned, though he doubted it was near the same as Ben’s. A long time ago, when Damian was much younger and much more … volatile, Dino had hidden an incident caused by Damian that would have taken his life by the Outfit’s rules. It was an easy choice to make, because he had been that age once, and he’d made mistakes. He knew Damian was a good kid after watching him with Theo and their younger sister Lily for a good many years when they were just young, for the most part, and so he did what he needed to do.

It left Damian with a debt of sorts.

Owed to Dino.

He would collect when he needed to.

“He refused me, of course,” Ben said, still talking to himself. “I hadn’t a need then to explain how wrong he was. I’m starting to regret that choice.”

Dino’s gaze flew back across to his brother and his friend.

Ben’s statement could mean nothing good.

Not for Theo and certainly not for Damian.

It seemed innocent enough on the outside, a regret was what it was, but Ben rarely made those kind of statements without a follow-up that was almost always violent in nature, and left the victims bereft. History was a great predictor of future behavior.

Ben could not change his stripes overnight.

“Theo is too loose with his loyalties,” Ben said.

“That’s not true—he has a very small circle.”

It just so happened that Damian was in that circle.

“Yes, but look at it this way, Dino. If it was you vying for the boss’s seat, or Tommas Rossi, who would your brother choose to back? His friend’s family, or the brother he can barely stand to talk to?”

Dino didn’t care, but he was beginning to understand Ben’s circle talk a bit better.

It left him feeling cold.

Should Ben decide to control whom Theo associated with outside of the DeLuca family, it would not end well for his younger brother. It also wouldn’t end well for Damian.

Dino didn’t want to see Theo or Damian in a pot of Ben’s boiling water because his uncle was a fucking bastard.