Page 74 of Worth of Waste

He’d watched the winter leave almost too slowly for his liking, replacing the snow with spring showers and warmer days. Usually, he wouldn’t have noticed the seasons changing around him, it was just another season, but he’d started counting the time passing in a different way.

Days he spent with his son and Karen.

Days he didn’t see a detective or federal agent waiting outside one of his places.

Days he was still free.

On the outside, Dino was the perfect picture of composure. He didn’t show how much it bothered him that officials were digging into his businesses and keeping him from making the money he should be through his more illegal ventures. He didn’t bother explaining to the other Capos in the family who were less than willing to work with him because of his increased attention that he’d begun hiding and funneling funds into accounts that couldn’t be touched by officials when the time came for them to once again, freeze his accounts.

Outside, he was perfectly fine.

Business went on to the maximum he could work.

He showed his face when needed or asked.

The world kept turning.

But inside?

Inside, Dino was panicking.

Ostracized by a lot of men in the Outfit for fear they too would come under investigation, he used his brother’s position to get things done when needed. He didn’t tell Karen how close he felt it was to something big happening with the investigations that were currently underway because the very last thing he wanted her to do was worry about him.

It was going to happen.

It was just a matter of when.

Dino was so painfully aware of that fact as he sat at his desk, signing paper after paper, getting asset after asset allocated to where he needed them to go. He didn’t think of very much else, except his current task.

It was a task he had been working on for months.

If he could help it, Dino wouldn’t go to jail. He wasn’t going to spend his life behind bars because officials had some kind of hard-on for him, and hoped that at some point, he would turn for them and work for their benefit.

As much as he hated the Outfit, Dino would never turn rat.

He had far too much pride for that.

But it seemed someone had their eye on him—someone was determined that if they couldn’t get a leg into the Outfit, then they would start smaller by chipping away at what chunks they could, until it all began to crumble in on itself.

Dino refused to be the starting piece to that puzzle.

And also, he had promised.

He’d promised his son to be there for his birthdays.

He’d promised to be there.

Dino was not going to be there from behind bars.

His arrest was inevitable.

The rest was entirely up to him—he just hadn’t figured out a plan yet.

Except this part, he thought, opening up the last folder in front of him.

Last Will and Testament, it read.

Carefully, and privately, he’d worked on things like this over the winter and leading into the unusually warm spring. It had taken a while, and with very well-placed steps and calls, he had gotten a particular lawyer in another state but with a license to work in Illinois under his payroll.