Page 4 of Vow

“I’m making a drive over to the club. You around today?”

Terrance sighed, and Andino heard the rustle of papers in the background of the call. “Define busy, boss.”

“Too busy to have a chat with me?”

Andino already knew the answer to the question before the Capo even answered. It was simple, and the rules of their life were clear. When the actual boss of the organization wasn’t out and about, the underboss was the next best thing.

No shunning a boss.

It wouldn’t end well.

“I’ll make time,” Terrance said. “What did you want to discuss?”

“The Calabrese.”

The man made a disgruntled sound. “Listen, it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“So, they have been overstepping their bounds with your place.”

“Is it overstepping if I’m in their territory?”

“Are you causing problems?” Andino returned.

Terrance chuckled dryly. “Do I ever cause problems?”

“No.”

And he didn’t.

Terrance was good like that. All he really gave a fuck about was making money, and paying his tribute every month on time. He cared about bottom lines, and profits. He made sure to keep his head down, and his business as clean as possible.

If there was ever a Marcello Capo that Andino figured the Calabrese would leave the fuck alone, it should be Terrance. The man wasn’t even trying to get in between the problems happening amongst the two organizations. Sure, his loyalties lied solely with the Marcellos, but he wasn’t going out of his way to antagonize, either.

Andino needed to get this shit figured out, and soon.

“I’ll be over in about twenty minutes,” Andino said, “and we’ll figure it out. Traffic is a bitch today.”

“It always is in Brooklyn. See you when you get here, then.”

A quick goodbye later, and Andino hung up the call. Beside him in the passenger seat, Snaps chuffed as he sat up a little straighter, and glanced out the window. Usually the pup liked sprawling out across the back seat when they drove, but today, he wanted to be up front. Andino didn’t care either way—whatever made the dog happy.

“What are you getting excited for over there?” he asked.

Snaps passed him a look with those big, dark eyes of his. His stubby tail wagged as the traffic crawled along. For no particular reason, the dog became progressively more excited the more the traffic moved.

“What?” Andino asked.

Snaps let out one loud woof. He turned his big body in one circle on the seat—although with his size, he slipped on his paws a bit—and stared out the window. His head kept moving back between looking out the window, and staring at Andino.

It took Andino a second to realize where exactly they were, and what had his dog so excited. He didn’t know if every dog was like his, or if Snaps was just a special fucking case, but the animal always seemed to recognize wherever they were going when they drove. He remembered who lived or stayed where, and if those were people he liked.

Snaps barked again as they came to a red light, and Andino pulled to a stop. He hadn’t turned his blinker on to turn right, but he looked down that way anyway. He knew why Snaps was alerting, and what the dog was excited for.

It’d been a while since he came down this way.

Too long, maybe.

Just looking down that street made his fucking heart clench, and his chest became tighter with every breath. It physically hurt to look that way, and wonder …