Page 9 of Deathless & Divided

Damian froze in the chair. For the majority of a decade, the non-monetary debt Damian owed Dino DeLuca hung over his head, ready to fall at any moment. As a younger man, Damian had been rash and reckless. He’d made more than one bad decision. A particularly stupid one where he took the life of a made man in the Outfit could have cost Damian his life.

Dino stepped in, gave an excuse to the boss, took the blame for the death, and then proceeded to make Damian an understudy of sorts. Mistakes like Damian had made were enough to put a man six feet under. It had, essentially, been Damian’s first real in to the Trentini crime family. Being close to Dino put Damian straight in Terrance Trentini’s path and got him noticed.

It also meant Damian was indebted to Dino for saving his life, even if that meant years of waiting to finally give his dues.

“You owe me,” Dino repeated as if he knew exactly what Damian was thinking.

“What do you expect me to do?”

Dino pointed at the folder. “Lily.”

“Lily,” Damian echoed, more uncertain than ever.

“I liked something about you back then, Damian. Time to pay up.”

“How?”

Dino smiled a cold sight. “I have to protect what is important to me, Damian. My sister and my brother, they’re important. Theo will do okay, no matter what. He’s fucking resilient like that—as long as he keeps his heart out of the game. Lily though, she’s not the same. She’s too stubborn for her own good and I don’t want to think about somebody taking that from her. When I’m not here, somebody else needs to be watching over her. And it can’t be Ben DeLuca.”

Christ. Dino made prison sound like a death sentence.

Maybe it was to the man. Damian didn’t know.

“And I come into this how?” Damian asked.

“You’re going to marry my sister.”

Damian’s thought process dropped off the radar.

Surely he was too tired and hadn’t heard Dino correctly.

Right?

Damian’s jaw fell slack. “What?”

“A life for a life, D. That’s how it works in this life. Besides, this’ll work out to your favor, too. We both know you’re a happy little fucker in your spot doing what you do, Damian. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I don’t understand,” Damian muttered.

Well, he got the marriage deal.

Yeah, he fucking got that shit.

Dino just smiled. “Like I said, you’re going to marry my sister. Sounds pretty simple to me.”

CHAPTER TWO

“Lily, get a move on! We’re late as it is!”

“Go to hell, Dino.”

Lily refused to move the blanket covering her head. It was far too early on a Sunday morning for Dino to be going on like he was.

“I’m serious, Lily. Get up.”

“No.”

“Lily.”