Page 195 of Revere: A Legacy Novel

Andino lifted a single shoulder in reply, but said nothing. Catherine tried not to let her disappointment show, but she had really looked forward to seeing Cross as soon as she was back in New York. He was supposed to be the one picking her up.

As for her cousin … well, she and Andino hadn’t been on the best of terms ever since that night at his home. Sure, they talked occasionally, and got along for the family’s sake, but she was still kind of pissed at him for how he lied to her all those years simply because of money. Because for no other reason than he believed she would stop dealing if she knew that her parents were aware of her business with Andino.

“So, he sent you?” Catherine asked.

Andino held open the passenger side door of his car. “No, Dante sent me. We’re heading to your parents’ place first.”

“I want to go to Manhattan and see Cross.”

“Well, I’m just following orders, Catty.”

Catherine sighed. “Is Cross busy or something?”

“Or something,” her cousin said vaguely.

“You’re such an ass, Andino.”

He grinned wide. “I know.”

Catherine slipped into the passenger seat, and Andino closed the door. Once he was in the driver’s seat and they were making the long drive to Amityville, he turned on the radio. Likely to fill the silence as Catherine wasn’t offering much conversation.

Finally, he asked, “Are you ever going to forgive me?”

“Does it bother you that I haven’t?”

Andino cleared his throat. “I mean, family is family, Catherine. And then there’s us—Marcellos. It’s a whole different kind of family.”

“That wasn’t an answer to my question.”

She continued staring out the window, refusing to even give Andino her attention while they conversed. It was easier to stay angry and bitter with him that way. Truth be told, she did love her cousin. She loved all of her cousins because they had been brought up more like siblings than anything else.

“Yes, it bothers me,” Andino said.

Catherine did turn to look at him then, but his gaze was firmly stuck on the road. “You used me. That’s how I felt, and how I still feel. Family definitely is family, but you did not once consider family when you lied to me and used me.”

“Business is business, Catty.” Andino smiled faintly. “In business, family becomes something entirely different. I figured you knew that.”

“That’s not the kind of business I want to be a part of.”

“Yet, look at you.”

Catherine shrugged. “Yes, by my choice. Not yours. A business I went into knowing all the details; being honest. You certainly taught me how to hustle, though, so I guess I should thank you for that.”

“Oh?”

“And I forgive you, too,” Catherine added.

Andino’s gaze darted to hers, and then quickly went back to the road. “You’re like your mother, anyway, Catherine.”

“How so?”

“Too fucking dangerous for our kind of men, and too strong-willed and good for Cosa Nostra. We clip wings and keep a person caged—people like you can’t be confined when you shine free. You can’t really soar too high in this business, not when la famiglia chains you to an oath.”

“Yet, look at you,” Catherine said, echoing his earlier statement.

She knew the changes happening in her father’s Cosa Nostra, or she heard enough to know. Things like Andino becoming an underboss, and readying to take her father’s position as the boss when the time was right. How high he had risen. How different he was, too.

Andino nodded. “That’s the difference between you and me. You can’t do my thing. I can’t do yours. But we both like what it is that we do, and we’re good at it.”