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“Underboss.” He shrugs. “We both know that Romeo can’t very well take it on, with him being the soulless mayor and all. And Savvy will remove Matteo’s balls if he takes the job, so that leaves me.”
I blink at him. “Is this something you actually want, Luca?” I ask.
“As long as this one doesn’t die before his own kid can take over, I’m cool with it. I don’t want to be top dog—that’s for fucking sure,” Luca says while gesturing a hand to Theo.
“Okay, it’s settled,” I tell them before adding, “This doesn’t leave the family.”
“Got it.” Romeo stands and is the first to leave the room, closely followed by Luca and Matteo.
My eldest hangs around. I can see the questions on his mind. “Not now, Theo,” I tell him. He nods and walks out.
Neo shuts the door again and heads over to the bar. He pours us each a glass of whiskey and hands the first to me. “Here’s to the end of an era.”
I clink my glass with his. “To making it this long,” I say. It’s honestly a miracle we’re both still alive. There have been so many close calls over the years.
ChapterFour
Ilook to my siblings, Enzo and Aurora. To anyone else, it would appear as though they didn’t have a care in the world. I see it though, the stress of being called into our grandfather’s office. When that grandfather is the Don of one of the five reigning mob families in New York, his office isn’t where you go to get candies and gifts. It’s where you go to get your ass chewed out… or worse.
Not that he’d ever actually cause us any real harm. Deep down, he’s a big soft teddy bear who loves and adores his family. But right now, he is every bit the mafia boss the criminal underworld knows him to be. He doesn’t say a word as all three of us stand in front of the large mahogany desk. He just stares, from one to the other.
Enzo’s little finger twitches at his side. It’s his tell and I know Nonno sees it too. Aurora wears a better mask though. The only sign of her growing anxiety is the way her right foot points inward ever so slightly. Other than that, you’d think it was just another walk in the park for my sister.
“Nonno, it was my fault. They didn’t do anything except jump in after the fact, to help me,” I say, trying to get my siblings out of this mess.
Nonno looks to me, and a small smile forms on his lips. “Nice try, Lorenzo. I admire your willingness to take the blame, but I already know what went down in that club and cost the family a hundred grand—which, by the way, I’ve deducted from all of your inheritances,” he says, though I don’t think the punishment hits as hard as what he hoped.
Because, honestly, a hundred grand is pocket change for our family. That being said, it was never the money he was worried about in the first place. It’s the family’s reputation, how we look to outsiders.
“Nonno, it was a misunderstanding—that’s all,” I try again. As much of a pain in the ass as my siblings are, they will always have my full loyalty. No matter who we’re up against, or if they’re in the right or wrong.
“Explain it to me then.” Nonno pauses to glance at Aurora. “Tell me why you thought it was a good idea to hit a biker over the head with a bottle of Dom?”
“It wasn’t her fault,” I cut in.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Lorenzo. So, unless you want to be removed from the room, I suggest you shut the fuck up and let your sister explain herself,” Nonno grunts in my direction but he never removes his gaze from Aurora.
I close my mouth and look to my sister. She smiles at me and I swear I want to shield her from the whole world. Aurora is barely eighteen. She had no reason to even be in that bar, let alone drinking champagne.
“First, Nonno, he wasn’t a biker. He was awannabe. And, second, he said something about Enzo that I didn’t like so I taught him what happens when you try to badmouth a Valentino.” She ends her speech on a grin. It’s also a total lie, one I know our grandfather doesn’t buy. But I’m not about to call her out.
“What did he say?” Nonno questions her.
“Huh?” Aurora asks, more than likely trying to buy herself more time to come up with an explanation.
“What did he say about Enzo?”
“Oh, he said that Enzo was a pussy, and that if my brother wasn’t a Valentino, he’d take him out.” Aurora shrugs.
“Why didn’t you just let Enzo deal with it, then? Last I checked, he was your big brother and you’re barely eighteen. Do you have any idea of the danger you put yourself into?” Nonno says, and we get to the real reason why he’s pissed.
My grandparents have eight grandchildren. Three of them are girls. Girls Nonno treats like princesses made out of glass. Liliana, Matilda, and Aurora. And then you have us boys: me and Enzo, Alessandro who is Zio Theo’s son, Dante who belongs to Zio Romeo, and Orlando the spawn of Zio Luca. Nonna says that our grandfather favors the girls because he always wanted a daughter and got stuck with four boys to raise instead. Which is why he enjoys having granddaughters so much.
Heaven help anyone who touches a hair on their heads. All five of us boys had it drilled into us growing up that it was our job to protect the girls always. Never let anyone get close enough to hurt them. That was a given, though. Aurora is and always will be my baby sister. There is nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for her. Being the eldest male grandchild comes with a lot of responsibility—yes, there are six of us—but really if any of the grandkids get into shit, it’s me they always call to bail them out.
“I’m sorry, Nonno. It won’t happen again,” Aurora says, although no one in this room believes that one bit. My sister has a way of finding trouble, and she’s a scrappy little fighter too. The number of full-on brawls she gets into at school is concerning, really. I swear she likes to throw a fist more than Enzo and I ever did.
“Good. See that it doesn’t. When we’re in Italy, I expect you all to be on your best behavior. Your grandmother wants a relaxing family vacation. And that’s exactly what she’s going to get. Got it?” Nonno tells us more than asks.
