Page 344 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

John sighed, and took a seat opposite to his cousin sitting behind the large desk. Beside the furniture slept a dog who hadn’t even perked his head up at John’s arrival or the exit of the other men. Then again, Snaps was so accustomed to the three of them coming and going from his master’s office that he no longer cared.

That was, unless Andino wasn’t in the office. Then, Snaps became something else entirely, and he behaved as though he didn’t recognize them at all. Nonetheless, the ruddy-colored Pitbull slept happily, snoring away.

“Getting things crossed off my to-do list,” John replied. “And you know, getting everything back the way I like it after my break.”

Andino nodded. “I had everything handled.”

“Not like I handle it, though.”

That had his cousin chuckling.

“No, I suppose not, John.”

“No offense,” John added quickly.

Andino shrugged his broad shoulders and leaned back in his chair to fold his arms over his chest. He’d rolled his dress shirt up to his elbows; a sure sign that the man planned on doing very little for the rest of the day and was ready to relax. That’s always what it meant when he removed his blazer and rolled up his sleeves.

“No offense taken,” Andino replied. “It’s better we understand now that you and I aren’t the same men, and we’re not going to handle our business the same. Although, it seems you might have finally figured out what to do about the whole underboss and consigliere thing, no?”

“I’m not following, and Leonard’s going to be here soon for a session, so—”

“Michel and Pink.”

Ah.

“Listen, it’s not been explicitly said or anything,” John explained, “but they do what they do, and it works for me. I know they’re not made men—”

“They don’t have to be. They just have to be your men. There’s been many bosses who had right-hand men that weren’t in with the family in one way or another. Associates, or whatever the case may be. No one is going to think less of you or them because they’re not made men.”

“Might it cause trouble, though?”

Andino smirked. “Well, we’d handle that, yeah? Easy. Same way we handled it when you took over the Calabrese faction. It’s really that simple.”

But was it?

John didn’t know.

“It’s not just everyone else,” John told his cousin. “It’s also them. Lev and Michel, I mean.”

“What do you—”

“I haven’t asked them, Andi.”

“Michel is spending his afternoon picking up his son before making a trip to see your Capo, and Pink is waiting for your therapist so that you can take your breakfast in peace without interruption while you have a session. What more needs to be said?”

John stared hard at his cousin. Andino looked right back, unbothered.

Nothing new to see here.

“I don’t know,” John murmured.

Andino nodded. “Yeah, me either.”

His conversation with Andino lingered in John’s mind long after it finished. He was halfway through his breakfast and chat with Leonard before he’d blinked, and yet his mind kept going back to his cousin and what he’d said.

“John?”

“Hmm?”