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But it takes a toll on him. It takes a toll on everyone, me included. I always wondered when I would see him reach his limit. It's not as satisfying as I'd hoped.
"Coming. Not here yet?" I point out. "You said yourself, I've done well for the family. If you're so ready to tap out, why not do it already?"
"So eager," he chuckles in a rasp.
"No more pretending, as you said.”
My father nods and adjusts a paper on his desk to line it up perfectly with the others. That's another thing I got from him—my need to keep things in line, ordered as I see fit. "Before I just hand things to you, I need two things."
"Name them."
"First, I need an heir."
"I'm sitting right here."
His eyes pierce me. "Youneed an heir, Dominick."
My teeth clench, and I straighten. Is this why he called me here? He has yet to reach his limit, then. He's just laying the groundwork, making final demands. Demands on my personal life, no less. I try to keep my temper from getting the better of me.
"Very archaic of you."
"How many underbosses do you know who are biting at the bits for their chance at this, hmm? Friends, too. Loyal members of the family with established heirs and more years in service than you have."
"My entire life has been in service," I nearly snarled. "I was born into it."
"This isn't negotiable,mio figlio."
"It should be. Leave my personal life out of it. I'll simply select who's next in line prematurely if you're so concerned that I'll leave the family without aPadrinowhen I bite the dust early."
"Dominick."
His tone is glacial and scalding. After a moment of holding his gaze, I look away out of respect. It's something I rarely do. His tone takes me back to when I was a child.
My father wasn't a good man. He wasn't always bad, either, but back then, I didn't know that. When I was young, he was the monster under the bed and the skeleton in every closet. He was the one who threw away the toys my mother bought for my birthdays so I would play with guns instead.
It's not something I'm sad about. After all, I still play with guns. And I haven't been afraid of my father for a very long time.
Instead, I have a new fear: that I'll become him. What he's asking me to do is just the first step to making that happen. Bringing a child into this way of life.
"You know the family respects you. The clan does. They respect you as a brute—as a warrior. Maybe when you were younger," he shrugs, "when they still called you Boy Scout…maybe then, they didn't so much. But you've earned your title. You've earned your own money and made your own way. But you're not done.La famiglia e tutto,but you have none of your own.”
La famiglia e tutto."Family is everything." If I had a dime for every time I've heard that in my life, I wouldn't have started my own business outside the reach of the mafia. There would be no need.
I resist the urge to muss my hair in aggravation, folding my arms instead. Fine. He wants an heir. He's demanding everything in my life for the Attolini family, but it's nothing new. Damn him to hell, but I'm not letting him hang on to the family any longer than necessary.
My father's leadership has always been violent, but his reign asPadrinohas been doused red with the blood of the Gattos and so many others. I have no love for that family. Far from it. They're sick, greedy, and twisted, thriving on the worst of the many illegal activities families like mine have to choose from.
But I'm sick of the feud. My father and the elusivePadrinoof the Gattos have let this go on long enough. What started as a pissing contest of egos escalated decades ago into constant bloodshed, spite, and revenge.
I'm not immune to it, either. It's taken two of the people I loved.
No more. When I take my father's legacy and once I'm through with the Gattos, I'm purging the empire. Our family deserves better.
"Fine," I say evenly. "An heir. What's the other thing?"
He's pleased I'm giving in. Then he retrieves a stack of papers from the opposite side of the desk and scoots them towards me, a gleam in his eye. "Not so fast. The Kid reports to me on everything. Your private life included."
Damn you, Percy.
