Page 60 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

Once the office door was closed, John gave his attention to his two uncles, and Andino. For the most part, Giovanni sat in the corner and worked on lighting his cigar. As the consigliere to the boss, it wasn’t as though Gio really had to handle the men all that much. He was middle man for Dante in a grander sense.

John liked his uncle, though. Gio was the fun one, so to speak.

“How’s the new crew going?” Dante asked.

“It’s good,” John replied.

“Just good?”

“Andino’s crew might as well be a bunch of fucking saints, compared to some of them.”

Andino chuckled darkly. “That’s because I put the fear of God in to them.”

Gio looked over the tip of his burning red cigar. “Not his crew, anymore. It’s yours now, John.”

John passed a look between his uncle, and then to his boss. “I was told this was temporary.”

Dante smirked a little. “I wanted to make sure you could handle it again, John. It’s been months since you were released from prison—you’ve done everything I asked you to do.”

He had.

No messes.

No nonsense.

Business kept clean.

Attention low.

Dante’s demands had been clear. John had even taken extra care with his disorder, and managing it because he didn’t want to disgrace his family when they welcomed him home after everything he had done.

“It’s not my crew, though,” John said, gesturing at Andino. “It’s his.”

“The whole underboss gig keeps me busy,” Andino replied.

Yeah, he bet.

“Or spoiled,” John muttered.

Andino smirked, and flipped John the middle finger.

Dante continued talking like the interaction hadn’t even happened. “I told you that the babysitting was only temporary, too. It’s time to get back to being a proper Capo, Johnathan. It’s what you’re best at, nipote.”

“It is,” he agreed, chuckling.

Dante jerked a thumb in Andino’s direction. “So, he’s got a few dealings between crews of other families. Some schemes that get run on other territories, and things like that.”

“A warehouse is shared on schemes that run between families to make it easier and keep the peace,” Andino added. “You’ll need to handle meeting up with the Capo of that crew. It’s like a once a month thing or something.”

“Who?”

“Darren Calabrese,” Andino said.

John stiffened, but hid it.

Andino passed him a subtle look. “You okay with that?”

The question was loaded.