Page 5 of Effortless

He had nothing.

“Is this about the gunrunning thing again?”

Tom scowled.

He didn’t even try to hide it.

His father didn’t miss it.

“So it is,” Tommas said.

“No.”

“You can’t run guns, Tom,” his father said. “I made my decision on that. I’ve told you this a hundred times already. It puts too much attention on you, and as it is, our organization already has enough attention. You want to move up in the family—gunrunning and other business will force too much of your attention away from where it should be.”

“Dad—”

“We’ve had this chat, Tom.”

They had.

A lot.

“Then why let me do it before?” he asked.

Tommas leaned back in his chair, and stared hard at his son. “Theo needed an extra pair of hands. You have a liking for guns. It worked. You made a friend with that Cross Donati while you were doing it. It’s not like you didn’t get something out of that, Tom.”

“I was good at it, Dad.”

“And you’re good at this, too.” Tommas shrugged, adding, “Here’s the thing, son. I intend to move you up in the Outfit, and you know this has always been our plan.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I will not have your attention split between responsibilities, or worse, have men in the organization thinking you’re the weak link because the top is not where you want to be. My motives for keeping you where you are happen to be well intended.”

“I’m not one for the politics of the mafia.”

“And yet, you still need to be, Tommaso.”

Tom knew he was going to get nowhere fast with this conversation. His father wouldn’t budge. He hadn’t budged an inch since Cross—the gunrunner for the Chicago Outfit—headed back to New York a couple of months back. Tom thought maybe his father would let him pick up a bit of Cross’s slack in some areas, but that was a fucking pipe dream if there ever was one.

Tom and his father were close—he loved Tommas fiercely. Just like his mother.

They had one issue.

This was it.

Tommas let out a quiet exhale, and picked up his still-burning cigar. “I think what you really need is a break, Tom. All good made men need one occasionally. Besides, it’ll give you some time to reflect on things. Issues here. How to handle them. Whatever else. You’ve earned the break, son.”

“Oh?”

“That’s what I said.”

“And where should I go for this break?”

His father flashed his white teeth in a grin. “That’s for you to figure out. Say hello to your mother on the way out. Also, don’t even think of heading out of the city without doing something with your sisters first.”

That was that.