Page 55 of Bene

He nodded. “Congrats. Nobody thought to tell me?”

“You’ve been … not yourself lately.”

Not a lie.

Bene sighed. “I get it.”

To say the least …

Hell, he’d only seen Corrado’s kid—Caroline—a couple of times since she had been born eight months ago. It wasn’t by any fault of his brother, or Les or Ginevra, but rather, himself. They brought the baby to Toronto regularly enough to visit with his brothers, and parents. Usually once a month, but sometimes twice. Bene always found an excuse to be doing literally anything else because sitting down for dinner with his family typically meant someone pointing out how much he was partying lately, or whatever else.

No, it wasn’t their fault. Only his. Because he didn’t make the effort when he was too busy being involved with his own issues—fucking selfish—instead of focusing on what was important.

Like family.

Bene needed to do better.

He made a mental note to do exactly that.

“Besides,” Chris added, shooting Bene a small smile, “don’t feel badly. We haven’t told anyone outside of the family. Waiting a bit before we do, just to be safe.”

“Nothing is wrong, right?”

“Everything is perfect, man.”

“Good.”

After everything Chris’s wife had been through, Bene figured she deserved to be happy. Especially while she was pregnant.

“What’s Maria think about that?”

Valeria’s daughter, and Chris’s adopted child, looked at her mom and dad like they were the moon and the stars of her very small universe. She was a good kid—sweet as could be, really—but she did not like to share her parents’ time with other kids.

“So far so good.”

“The bigger issue is having control of all the production across Canada for maple syrup, not to mention the distribution and sale of it, means we run the risk of being called a cartel when we jack up the prices, boss.”

The Capo’s reply to whatever Gian had said brought Bene back to the business at hand. His brother didn’t seem to mind because now, their father was also looking their way. Not that their conversation had been loud enough to detract from Gian’s talk with his man. And really, his father was looking more at Bene than his brothers.

“And?” Gian asked, never looking away from Bene.

The Capo in question sighed. “Well, it might have us being audited year after year by the CRA—they’ll be so deep into our books and accounts that it’ll be almost impossible to hide anything.”

“Or we buy that farm that consistently bleeds cash, and make it look like it is turning profit with all the other farms helping out a bit. Falsified records that can’t be proven otherwise means we can dump as much cash into it as we want to hide it while it’s cleaned, oui?”

“Well—”

“There’s really only one answer to that, Greg. It’s not an opportunity for a discussion, or debate about how you want things to go, considering this little scheme was my idea, family money went in to making it work, and you were just the lucky prick I put on it. Anything else is still for me to decide, as I am sure you’re aware. And so, your answer to me is …?”

“Yes, boss, we can make that happen.”

“Good, good.” Gian’s gaze darted back to the man, and he nodded. “That’s what I want to hear. Marcus?”

“Sì, boss?”

“I want you working with Greg on this venture—I’ll feel better about it knowing you’re there to keep an eye on things, and to run it the way I prefer.”

“I can handle the farms—”