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She walks around and smiles at me. “He’s not as bad as you think he is.”
“You said he’d kill me if I didn’t go to dinner with him.”
“I didn’t. You inferred that.”
“Whatever. He’s an asshole.”
“He’s hard, sure. You’ve got to be hard to succeed in this business. His brother is the real asshole around here.”
“His brother?”
“Giovanni Casella. Douchebag supreme as I like to call him. Beats his wife. I swear, if I could take him out myself, I would.” She pulls me to my feet. “Go take a look in the mirror.”
I walk into the closet and look at myself. She’s tied my hair up above my head but with curls cascading from the bun like I’m a Greek goddess. “Wow,” I shout through to her. “It looks amazing.”
“My work here is done,” she says, bowing theatrically. “Now you just wait here a few minutes. I’ll go see if dinner’s ready.”
Twenty-Three
Nico
* * *
I’m about to head through to the dining room when I get a call from Giovanni. He’s out of town with Santina. A romantic trip to try and kickstart their baby making. He’s not been having any luck so far despite the doctor saying both of them are fertile. It’s starting to piss him off but he’s not worked out the reason why.
It doesn’t seem to have occurred to him that Santina might be on birth control. He’s got such a low opinion of women that he has no grasp of the concept of her doing something behind his back. Doesn’t think she’s capable of hiding anything from him.
I’m not going to tell him anything about Rory. Not yet anyway. Once we’re married and she’s pregnant, that’s when I’ll break the news.
I become the Don of the famiglia. I do it the right way.
Of course, I could simply have him whacked and take over but bloodshed leads to bloodshed. There’d be a war. It would take a lot more violence to quell everything.
Far better to do it this way. No war in the family. Let us wage war on the other families, not on ourselves. Family above all else.
He doesn’t greet me when I answer the phone. He sounds like he’s trying to be reasonable. “Going well back there?” he asks.
“Cut the small talk,” I reply down the line. “What do you want?”
“I’m going to make you an offer.”
“Not interested.”
“Hear me out, Nico. At least do me the courtesy of that.”
I grunt.
“That’s very mature of you. Listen, we both know you’re never going to settle down. You don’t want to settle down. It’s not your thing. Why not back out now? Tell the commission you’re out of the race. They crown me. I take over. I’ll give you a million bucks to walk away. You could go anywhere in the world. Just leave the city to me and the planet’s your oyster, little brother.”
I wonder if he’s heard something about the wedding plans. Or maybe he’s starting to think he might not get Santina pregnant and this is his best chance of taking over.
A million dollars isn’t nothing but it’s a lot less than I stand to make when I become the Don. It’s also chickenfeed to Giovanni. I know how many kickbacks he’s been getting the last couple of years.
I pretend to give the offer some thought before rejecting it. “I say we honor our father’s wishes. The best man wins.”
“I am the best man,” he snaps down the line. “The elder brother. I should inherit by rights. You know you’ll never marry and get your girl pregnant before I get Santina up the spout. Just give up now, Nico. Take the money.”
“Or what?”
