Page 143 of Duty

His mother shrugged as she sipped on her wine. “I told your father about Haven because I knew if that woman—if love—was the hill you were willing to die on for this life, then we had to be ready to die on it with you.” Kim’s gaze drifted to Andino’s stoic face, and then she peered across the room. He followed her stare to find she was looking at his uncle, Dante. “And some of us … well, some of us will need a bit more time, and some help along the way to see reason. I knew that, too.”

“I—”

Kim held up a hand, quieting Andino. “You should try to put yourself in other people’s shoes at times, Andi. Your uncle is not like your father, or even like his other brother. Dante is Dante. He’s not as progressive, or open to change. He’s stuck in a place where he’s trying to maintain the status quo of what Cosa Nostra is … the Cosa Nostra he knows. The one that was given to him. But he is not so stuck in his ideals that he would be willing to burn down this entire organization and family in the hopes of it remaining unchanged. Like I said … he is not like his brothers, and he needs more time.”

Andino didn’t know what to say. His mother apparently didn’t need him to say anything at all. The women in his life were always doing this to him, it seemed.

Stunning him.

Turning his world upside down.

Being amazing.

“But we all have an image and expectations to maintain,” his mother added, “and so I hope you’ll forgive me when I keep mine firmly in place until I no longer need to.”

Yeah, he got what she was saying.

Kim nodded at the people gathered in the mansion’s ballroom. “Go, and mingle. These are your people, and many of them, your family. Eventually, they’re going to be the ones dying on your hill for that woman, too, even if it doesn’t seem like it right now. Don’t sulk in a corner—that’s not the man I raised.”

His mother didn’t even wait for him to give a response. No, she simply patted him on the cheek with her soft hand, gave him one of those looks only a mother could give, and then she headed into the crowd of people again.

Well, damn.

Andino didn’t get the chance to think about his mother’s words, or do what she told him to. Something—or rather, someone—else caught his attention instead. It seemed like that was happening to Andino a lot lately.

His cousin cut through the crowd of people looking like a man on a fucking mission. And not a particularly stable man at the moment, if Andino was to trust that unusual gleam in John’s eye.

Shit.

Andino quickly moved through the people to go after his cousin. John’s mental state had been progressively getting worse over the last couple of days, and he rarely even picked up a call from Andino. His cousin had approached him recently rambling about a fucking file, and blaming him.

John was getting worse.

And fast.

Andino made it ten feet away from John when the man approached his own father. Lucian stepped away from the guest he was chatting with to greet his oldest, and only, son. “John.”

“You didn’t think to invite me?” John asked.

Lucian smiled faintly. “You didn’t think to answer your phone?”

John shoved his shaking hands into his pockets, and his stare turned cold and hard. “Have you been talking to Andino, or something?”

Ah, shit.

Andino found his own father’s gaze meeting his from behind Lucian. Gio shook his head subtly—it was enough for him to know that, no, his father had not updated Lucian entirely on the John situation, and what had been going on when no one was looking. Andino only needed to get a good look at his uncle to know the man suspected things were seriously up with John, but that wasn’t the same as having all the details.

That was not going to be a fun conversation.

“Why would I talk to Andino?” Lucian asked.

John changed direction just as fast which was all too common when he was dealing with a manic spiral. Even the tone of his voice changed, and he spoke faster. “I don’t know if it was you, or Dante, or who the fuck it was, but I don’t need any of you sending me shit like you did last week.”

Lucian frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play fucking games with me, Dad.”

Lucian stepped forward, concern coloring his gaze. “John, are you all right?”