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My father is at the ice rink when I arrive. After the attack on the soda factory, we had to move the cocaine lab, and between the funerals, taking care of Cal Higgs, and propositioning Eve, I’ve been too busy to make an appearance.
I didn’t even plan on making an appearance today. After my confrontation with Eve, I walked down the hallway, down the stairs, and through the front door before I realized I didn’t know where I was going. I just needed to get away from the house. I needed space to think and breathe.
“I thought you would be busy planning your wedding,” my father says when I walk into the room. He is sitting in the middle of the lab on a metal chair, one leg crossed over the other while men scurry around him, setting up tables and equipment. Even sitting in a dingy basement in the middle of the night, he finds a way to make himself look like a king. “There is a lot to do if we want to make sure we don’t all get killed.”
My father thinks marrying Eve is a risk. It is, of course, but everything in our lives is a risk. At least marrying Eve is a risk that could greatly benefit us in the long run. I don’t insult my father by explaining this. He knows what it could mean for our family and our future. He just doesn’t understand why I care about Eve. I wish he did, though. Maybe then he could explain it to me.
“I have it all figured out,” I say, waving away his concern. “The date of the wedding will be a secret until the day of the ceremony so they cannot pre-plan an attack. Everyone who walks through our gates will be checked for weapons before they are allowed to get inside.”
“Real men do not need weapons to kill,” he says, tipping his head towards me. “You know that better than anyone.”
“I do, which is why there will only be enough room for Benedetto and three of his men on the guest list.” I spread my feet and cross my arms, and my father raises an eyebrow at my defensive posture.
“You’ve taken the lead on this from the start,” he says, referring to my spontaneous proposal in the restaurant. “So, I expect you to see it through. If it falls apart, it will be on your head.”
I’m the underboss, second only to my father, but that does not make me safe. My father has made it clear to me many times that if I ever become a threat to his control over his men, I will be removed, and I know better than to think he would bluff. He wouldn’t. I stepped outside the circle of his control to propose to Eve. When she refused me, I met with her father to ensure he knew about the deal and would pressure her to end our feud. I had every opportunity to walk back my mistake and pretend it had never happened, but I doubled down, and now I, and I alone, will pay the consequences if anything goes wrong.
“I know.”
My father nods once to let me know we understand one another, and then he places both his feet flat on the floor, rests his elbows on his knees, and looks up at me, a mischievous smile pulling on his thin lips. “So, how is she?”
“Eve?” I ask.
“Yes, Eve. Do you have another fiancée I should know about?”
“She is fine.”
“Not exactly what I meant, son.” He rolls his eyes, impatient. Then, the smile is back, a wicked glimmer in his eye. “She is a beautiful woman. I know I’m not the only man in the family wondering whether the expectations match reality.”
A chill like ice water creeps across my chest.How is she?He wants to know what it was like to sleep with her. Because that is what I would have done with any other woman. It is what anyone would expect of me. And yet, I couldn’t even bring myself to be close to Eve. Just the brush of her skin against mine was enough to send me reeling. I’m not sure if my heart could stand actually being with her. It would be like sticking a fork in a socket. But I can’t tell my father that.
“Today has been busy,” I say, turning to watch the men drill metal shelves into the walls. The Furinos may have done us a favor with that ambush. Aside from the lives lost, this lab is half-finished and already looks like it will be nicer than the soda factory ever was. It is twice as big, too.
“Busy?” My father’s eyes narrow. “You’ve been home all afternoon.”
I shrug. “We are having a wedding in five days, so there is a lot of planning involved.”
“That is for her to worry about,” he snaps.
“And she can’t worry about it if I keep her trapped in my bedroom,” I bite back, my words harsher than I intend. I swallow a growing lump in my throat and shake my head. “Besides, I don’t have much interest in fucking a Furino woman, anyway.”
“You should have thought of that before you proposed to her.” He crosses his legs again, hands folded in his lap, and leans back. “You need to put that woman in her place. If you don’t, she’ll start thinking she has control over you. All women will become that way if you let them. So, I suggest to you: don’t let her. Show her who is boss.”
I know he is right. I saw the way Eve looked at me in the hallway when I pinned her against the wall. She could tell it wasn’t anger that motivated me, but something else. Something she will use against me if I let her.
* * *
The Floating Crown is my father’s hangout of choice, for God knows what reason, but the Furinos prefer a bar called the Heavy Hammer. It is dim and grimy and loud. Metal stool legs scrape against well-worn wooden floors and neon lights buzz in the background of raucous conversations. Still, everyone hears me walk in, and there are twenty guns pointed at me within a second.
Benedetto is sitting at the far end of the bar, a drink in his hand. He looks up when the room goes quiet, but makes no immediate move to call his men off. It is a power play.
“Is this how you treat your future son-in-law?” I call over the heavy metal music.
He stares at me for a second longer before finally smiling and waving his hand. His men, while half-drunk, don’t hesitate to lower their weapons and return to their conversations. But I can still feel their attention on me as I make my way across the bar and claim the stool two down from Benedetto’s.
He doesn’t look like Eve. They share the same warm brown eyes, but beyond that, he is wide and soft and drooping where she is lithe and angular. Benedetto has the frame of a man who was once strong, but has lost definition over the years.
“Care for a drink?” he asks.
