Page 6 of Duty

Andino was stunned. Nothing had ever caught him off guard quite as badly as this news had. It wasn’t bad, not at all, but he wasn’t sure if this was what he wanted. Being a boss had never been in his goals. Andino had focused on his crew, on being nothing more than a damned good Capo, and that was it. He’d always seen John as his uncle’s successor because he was the older Marcello between them, and John had always been included in more things than Andino.

What had changed?

He knew the answer, but he ignored it.

Would John understand?

Andino didn’t have the answer for that.

Drifting out of his stupor, Andino’s legs finally decided to work. He moved the last few feet between him and the open office doors. Standing in the doorway, his form caught the attention of his father and uncles.

Not one of them seemed surprised to see him there.

“Did you hear?” Dante asked from behind his large desk.

Andino nodded, but said nothing.

Gio stood from the couch. “This is good, Andino.”

“Is it?”

Things were beginning to make more sense to Andino. The longer he considered it, the more he understood his mother’s words to him about settling down and finding a wife. His father had likely known what was coming for him, and Gio probably took the news to Kim.

“Nobody thought to ask me?” Andino asked.

Lucian dipped his head down. “You should have known, Andino.”

“I don’t know that I should have, actually.”

Dante sighed. “What is the problem?”

Andino didn’t know if he was ready for this.

That was exactly the problem.

He was twenty-eight. Being a boss wasn’t as simple as moving up in power when people retired in the mafia. There was a hell of a lot more to it.

His uncle—his boss—seemed to pick up on his inner thoughts.

“We’re never ready, Andino,” Dante said.

“I didn’t ask for this,” he said.

“No one ever does.” Dante smiled. “We either take it, are given it, or are born to it. We don’t, however, ask anyone for it.”

“This isn’t the kind of change that will be made overnight,” Gio tacked on when Dante finished. “It’ll be done over a span of time, Andino. Lucian is ready to step down, which will allow Dante to fill his spot. Lucian’s position as the underboss will put you front row and center for the family first and foremost. You’ve acted as my middle man for years alongside being a Capo. You know how to do this, and it won’t be a stretch to anyone who sees you in the position.”

“Makes sense,” Andino said.

It would work, and Andino understood his family’s choice to advance him, especially if la famiglia was already looking at him for the spot. It was still a huge change. One he hadn’t been expecting at all.

“Good,” Dante said, smiling widely and clapping his hands together. “Then it’s settled.”

“You’ll make a damn good boss, Andino,” Lucian said.

“I agree,” Dante said.

Gio passed his son a look that Andino didn’t understand.