Page 50 of Effortless

Appreciation and gratitude filled Tom, but he shoved it down. Adriano was not the type of man who liked platitudes or other nonsense. When he gave advice, he simply intended for it to be put to use, and little else.

“And while we’re on the topic of your father,” Adriano said after a minute.

Tom relaxed in the chair. “What, now?”

“You need to go pay him a visit.”

“I will.”

He’d been over to see his mother and younger sisters since he got back from Chicago. His mother made him pork chops like promised. He had left the mansion before his father got home, though. He wasn’t in the mood to chat with Tommas, yet.

Tom was still a little sore on the gunrunning thing, after all.

“He might have mentioned to me that you’re avoiding him,” Adriano said.

“So?”

“Why?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because beyond business, he’s also your father, Tom.”

“Who doesn’t seem to want me to do the kind of business I want to do, Adriano.”

His uncle smiled faintly. “The gunrunning?”

“Did he tell you that, too?”

“No, I just know you. Let it go, Tommaso. You don’t have the time to be running the Outfit’s guns with Cross Donati, and handling this crew as the head Capo.”

Tom sucked air through his teeth as an idea filled his mind—one he wasn’t very pleased about. “Was that why the position was finally handed over to me when I got back from New York? Dad got the idea in his head I was going to come back heavy on the gunrunning thing, and figured out a way to keep me busy?”

Adriano just stared at him.

Tom didn’t look away, either.

“Well?” he asked. “Is that why?”

“You can handle this, and you were ready for it.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, Adriano.”

“I’m not required to,” his uncle replied.

Because yes, that’s exactly what his father had done. It only pissed Tom off even more, and made him want to keep avoiding his father, if possible.

“I’ve let you know your father wants to see you,” Adriano said like he could read Tom’s mind, “and you know how this business goes.”

“Never shun a boss.”

It was a rule.

Adriano grabbed the stack of cash still sitting in the machine and said, “No, you never shun a boss, Tom, even when he’s your father.”

Fuck.

It took Tom another week before he finally went to see his father. Sara and Rebeka were showing off their new shoes and dresses when Tom strolled into the living room. Instantly, his little sisters might as well have been crawling up his damn legs.