Page 63 of Unruly

“Ciao, Cece,” John replied with a wink. “Don’t you look pretty today.”

“Careful,” Catherine warned with a laugh, “she’s like the mouse and a cookie. Feed her a compliment, and you need to give her another and another.”

Cece preened. “I is always pretty.” Then, she lifted her leg to show off the new pair of sparkly shoes her father had gotten her. “Likes my shoes, Uncle John?”

Catherine lifted a hand as if to say, see.

John only laughed.

Catherine set Cece on the floor, and patted her on the back. “Go find Daddy, and let Ma have a chat with Uncle John. Okay?”

“Okays!”

Cece darted out of the office without a look back. Once Catherine was alone with John, she set her mind on putting the family side of things away for the moment. They had business to deal with.

“Our shipments from Italy haven’t come in,” John said.

Right to the point, as always.

“I’m aware,” Catherine replied.

John leaned back in the chair, and crossed his arms. “Andino wants to know what’s going on with this, Catherine.”

“Andino could have made his way over from his cushy little house in Tuxedo Park to chat with me, too.”

“Come on, now.”

“I’m just saying,” Catherine said, putting her hands up. “He’s just as much a part of the Three Families as you or Cross, but he leaves the dirty work between you two when shit comes up.”

“Because he’s in a position to do that, Catty. The bigger family—more territory. He’s the boss with the most control between the three of us. That’s why he gets that pleasure to sit back and delegate bullshit.”

“You only say that because he’s your best friend.”

John shrugged. “I respect Andi, that’s all.”

Catherine wanted to move off the topic of her other cousin because, all too soon, he was going to come back into the conversation anyway.

“When are the shipments of cocaine coming in from Italy?” John asked.

“They’re not.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Catherine chewed on her inner cheek, deciding how to phrase what she needed to say next. This conversation was a long damn time coming. She had avoided telling her cousins anything about the issues with the cocaine, or what happened with the Giuseppe meeting.

She had hoped that by the time she had to bring it up to John and Andino, she would already have the answers to their problems. Cocaine coming in, a new supplier, and nothing to worry about.

That hadn’t been the case.

“Giuseppe Bianchi will no longer be supplying my business,” Catherine said.

John’s gaze darkened for a moment before his expression blanked.

Catherine hated that about the men in her life. It was like they had all been raised to behave the exact same way. They shut off, or shut down, when they needed to. Suddenly, they no longer had feelings, emotions, or empathy to share in conversations where she needed to see those things to gauge where she could go next.

“That’s you,” John said quietly, “but not us.”

Catherine lifted a hand and said, “As you said, John, your shipments haven’t come in. What does that tell you, cousin?”