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I stand up now, if this is where the conversation is going, I’d rather leave. “I know, I know,” I say. “The family needsfamilyto move forward.”
“Yet you keep bringing hussies back to the fucking house. Or wherever you and Marco seem to hang out.” He says Marco’s name with disdain. He thinks he’s a bad influence on me, yet some of the best ideas for our businesses have come from him. My father doesn’t know though, and doesn't want to.
“Look, when the right woman comes—”
“She’ll be in your rearview mirror, getting dropped off by Eric,” my father says. “Look, I know I say this a lot, and I ain’t no fucking prude, but yougottaget a family. Thefamilydepends on it. You can’t pass the name onto thin air. You can’t pass our heritage onto a fucking nightclub.”
I glare at him.
“Look,” he says. “Your mother died visiting family. She’d gone back to the home country—”
“And she knew the dangers,” I say, before I can catch myself.
“You watch your tongue, you little shit!” my father snaps. He’s angry. Really angry. I see it in his eyes. Suddenly he’s not an old man. He could put me in my place with ease. His old nickname,the Vice,has meaning now. “Your mother went back because she fucking loved her family. Family does that. Family makes you act stupid. It makes youmakedecisions that aren’t logical. Love, for that matter, is what makes us have a reason to fight, to win, to exist. I know you’re successful Luca. I know you’re a great business man. But I also know you’re empty. God did not make you a vessel for a bank account. He made you one for a heart.”
He stares at me, unblinking, and I stare right back. My father has never been so candid. He’s never said so much about my mother’s death either.HisAndrea.
“You think you’re the only one that misses her? You think you’re the only one that gets to be angry about it?” he says. “Well, I’m fucking pissed. I’m fucking furious. But I’m lucky that I had it. I’m lucky that for a beautiful forty years, Iknewyour mother. That’s what I want you to have, Luca. I don’t give a shit about kids. Kids will happen if they’re meant to. But love? Caring for someone? I see what your mother was andwhyshe was. I’m so grateful for it.” He sighs and shakes his head. “This business will eat you alive. This business will turn you on your friends. If you just chase a dollar or a next win, you’ll never create loyalty.”
“When did you get so sentimental?” I ask, a little too condescending.
“When I fuck’n knew I had to,” he snaps back. “Being a Don isn’t a title, or making a profit. It’s more than that. Now—” He swivels and looks out his window. “Leave me. Go earn yourself another medal, sell a dress, fuck a goat for all I care. You’ve made me angry enough as it is.”
I stand there for a few beats. Suddenly I regret every word I’ve just said. It always comes to this, we argue, we butt heads. Then I leave.
I turn away to the door, open it and think to say something to my father, but he’s already picked up his drink as a sign to not say anything. But I do. “Dad, I—”
“If you don’t heed my advice,” he says. “You won’t be the next Don.”
My heart practically stops
A text from Marco comes through,We still on?
I shoot a reply back.Of course.
I’ve cooled down and then heated back up from my father’s lecture. I understand where he's coming from, I really do. But I also think he’s completely fucking nuts and still trying to grieve the loss of his wife. Sure I’ll settle down at some point. Sure I’ll have some kids, at some point. But not with him breathing down my neck. Not with him taking the fucking kingdom from me!
I exhale in anger. It’s half at him, and half at the goddess that hasn’t been accepted through my request yet in the app. It’s bugging the shit out of me. I immediately regret asking her to use an encrypted app. Why didn’t I just get her to add me on Instagram?
But that would’ve led to more questions, likewhy do I have an alter ego? Normally women are stumbling over themselves to get in with me. And she’s still silent? She’s said nothing!
I open my phone again and check the app, still nothing. I wish for the millionth time that her profile wasn’t private. Then I remember who I am.
I take a sip of my coffee and text Marco a few other things. I remind him that there needs to be plenty of booze and women. He replies,Aren’t there always?
I need to get this off my mind. I’ve never had a girl stick with me like this. Then again, no girl has ever been so hot. Jesus, it was smoldering in my office last night. She came at the slightest flick of my finger. Her whole body convulsing against me, grinding against my hard-on and me practically coming too.
“Are you going to sit there all day?” Gammie asks. Gammie is my father’s chef. She’s practically my Grandma … just without the blood.
“Sorry, Gammie,” I say. “Just getting some coffee.”
“Get it somewhere else. You stink like you’re club and I think it’s rubbing off on my bread.” She pats a small bowl nearby. “Now go on and get moving. Marco’s already put a call through to Maria down at Key West. It seems you two are partying.” She watches me with a stern eye.
Gammie feels the exact same way as my father about my relationship situation, except by not being blood, she feels she can only say so much. “I guess your talk with your father went well? Still haven’t got a clue?”
I laugh. “You know how it is. I just haven’t found her yet.” Except in my mind I see her again. Smell her coconut hair and hear her saying her name for the first time again.Sophie.
“Mmhmm,” Gammie says. “You probably met her and had her dropped off a long time ago. Now you have to settle with the second best. Or third. Or more truthfully, probably fifth best.” She winks at the last one.
