Page 88 of Worth of Waste

He realized in those moments, when no one engaged him, either, that whether he was there, in another country somewhere away from the judicial system of America, stuck behind bars, or dead in the ground …

Nothing would change.

These people would still be the same.

The same hateful, greedy, excessive, awful people that they were. They would still hide secrets for one another, still turn a blind eye to the boy with bruises down his back, and pretend like the little girl didn’t cry for her mother after they’d murdered her.

Nothing about him being there or not being there would change.

Dino watched his brother engage with Damian Rossi and the hitman’s cousin, Tommas. He noticed Ben listening in to the conversation, and looking displeased that the friendship between those families was still there.

He considered his brother, and how difficult it would be for Theo to maintain his position and be safe at the same time, if Dino was not there to assert his position and rank on the people around him. Without a doubt, Theo would be left contending with people like Ben and their uncle’s underlings—the Artino family, for example—for control.

And if Theo wasn’t able to assert his position and control, then he would lose it.

At the least.

The more likely scenario was that his brother might find himself in a casket because he was disposable—a way to the top.

Perhaps Dino had been so … caught up in his own world and problems that he’d forgotten the people he’d protected for so many years. His decision had been cemented long ago on the prison thing—he wasn’t going back there. He didn’t care if he had to run, or what it was that he needed to do, but he promised his son to be there for his second birthday, and he was damn well going to be.

But what difference would leaving do?

His loss would be nothing to these people.

It would do nothing for his brother.

And even his estranged sister, Lily, would be left to the wolves with Dino not there to keep her freedom safe from those who might use it to gain something for themselves.

He sat there a while longer, listening to the conversations and hating them all the more because nothing would change for them—they were all puzzle pieces, some pawns, others kings and queens.

He wondered …

What would happen if he started making a few moves of his own?

Dino waved for his brother to come inside his home office before his attention went back to the person on the other end of the call.

“But, Dino—”

“It’s time to come home, Lily,” he told his sister.

She was young, difficult, combative, and stubborn.

She was pretty, smart, different, and soulfully free.

Those were all things he knew held his sister back, but also might let her fly someday. He was going to make sure she had every chance to do that, even if he had to clip her wings to make it happen.

He didn’t expect his sister to understand.

He wasn’t going to explain his motives.

She only had to listen.

“Two months,” he said firmly, “and if you’re not home in Chicago by the end of that time, little one, I will come looking for you. Do you understand that?”

Lily huffed on the other end of the call. “I get it.”

“You don’t like it, though.”