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Prima viene la famiglia. Family comes first.
Marzanos carried this deep in their bones. Nothing else mattered more than the family, their empire. And someday Nico would have a son who would inherit all of this as the next Don Marzano.
His phone buzzed on the counter, so he checked the screen. It was Sergei, reporting that he’d found a weak link on the IOC, a committee member ripe for blackmail. Perfetto. Nico responded by saying Sergei should send all the information to Filippo. They’d take it from here. “News from Sergei,” he told Filippo in Italian. “The stadium deal. See that it happens today.”
“Understood.”
When his phone buzzed again, he assumed it was Sergei with another piece of information. It wasn’t.
It was Bennett, asking, Are you free today at one o’clock?
Che cazzo? Why was he asking about Nico’s schedule? For the most part, Nico set his own daily schedule—a perk of being the boss—but he wasn’t answering until he knew more.
To annoy the other man, he typed, Who is this?
Captain: Fuck off. You know who this is.
Captain: Answer my question.
Nico: Maybe, Why?
Captain: Because I don’t have a game tonight and want to see you
Nico: What does that have to do with one o’clock?
Captain: Just humor me, Marzano
The request made no sense, unless Verreault was talking about spending the afternoon in bed together. That sounded nice, actually. Locked inside the apartment, fucking until they both passed out. Filippo might be willing to cover for Nico so no one asked any questions. Nico’s dick twitched at the idea.
Nico: I will meet you at your apartment
Captain: No
Captain: Meet me at this address
A location popped up, one Nico didn’t recognize, and it made no sense. Why not meet at Bennett’s apartment? Was this a trap of some kind?
Nico: Forgive me for being suspicious but I will need more information
Captain: You don’t need to be worried
Captain: This isn’t dangerous
Captain: It’s going to be fun
Nico’s idea of fun involved sex or guns. There wasn’t anything else. He frowned at the message, wondering what Bennett was up to.
“Is that your secret hookup?” Sofia asked, catching Nico’s attention and his head shot up to find both Sofia and Filippo staring at him.
“You two need to mind your own business.”
“I can’t believe this.” Sofia grabbed Filippo’s arm excitedly, practically bouncing on her toes. “Zio Nico is down bad.”
Nico glanced at Filippo helplessly. “Do you understand anything that comes out of her mouth?”
Filippo snickered. “I keep telling you to get on social media.”
Nico muttered a creative Italian curse, then returned his attention to his phone when another text came in.
