Page 52 of Worth of Waste

Still, the number that had been the last caller lit up the screen, and all the anxiety he’d been pushing to the side and pretending didn’t exist came racing right back again, full fucking throttle.

Ben.

Dino didn’t have any contacts in the phone, he hadn’t bothered to input any yet, but he knew that fucking number from anywhere. His uncle had kept the same goddamn number for years.

The sad thing was, Dino didn’t have to wonder where his uncle had gotten his new cell number from, as he could count on one hand the people he had called after getting out, and that was only for the sake of getting some shit he needed right off hand.

Like access to his banking information to get money.

Theo.

Dino, as much as he wanted to silently curse his brother, knew that he couldn’t put too much blame on the younger DeLuca sibling. He hadn’t exactly told his brother not to give his number out when he’d contacted him, just that he was looking for a few days of peace before he made his way back to the real world.

Theo had agreed, but at the same time, he hadn’t promised much in return.

It was what it was.

The distance between the two brothers had only grown over the last year and a half since Dino’s sentencing. Whatever ground they might have been covering to get back to a level playing field with one another was lost after Dino was put away, leaving his younger brother to handle his new position and responsibilities to the DeLuca crew as a mafia Capo.

He never got the chance to tell his brother he was the one who made all that come about for him.

Dino figured it didn’t much matter now.

Theo was who he was.

So was Dino.

They just weren’t meant to be friends.

Warring with himself on whether or not to call his uncle back, Dino headed for the kitchen to boil water on the stove for a coffee. If anything, it would give him time to think.

Apparently, Ben wasn’t of the same mindset.

Not that he had ever been.

The cell phone started ringing on the counter almost the very same second Dino had set it down. He knew better than to ignore the call—one might be forgiven by his uncle, but a second ignored call certainly would not be. Ben was not the type for games, and his superiority complex could not be matched by the men around him.

Especially the men of his family.

What Dino didn’t want, no matter what, was for his uncle to come looking for him.

He’d hoped to have some time …

It probably wasn’t going to happen.

Dino picked up the call on the second ring, putting it to his ear and stepping outside of the cabin to take the call with as much privacy as he could manage. He didn’t need to be waking Junior up before the baby was ready to start his morning, and he didn’t want Karen accidentally interrupting his call, either.

“DeLuca here,” Dino answered.

“Nice of you to wake up this morning, nipote,” Ben said drily.

Nephew.

Ben used that term with affection, for the most part, as though he cared for his nephew as much as he would care for his own flesh and blood sons. Dino knew that was not the case, or hell, maybe it was, and Ben would have been just as terrible, just as abusive and vile, to his own sons as he had been to the nephews he’d raised.

“Uncle,” Dino greeted. “Theo give you my number?”

“No, I found it on his desk at the club. Where are you?”