Elsie smiles.“Yes sir.There’s plenty to keep me busy until then.”
I glance down at the text on my phone, mumbling my frustration under my breath.Layna looks up from her place at the stovetop.I put my phone on the table with a thud.“Would you make a few extra plates?Looks like the family’s stopping in for a visit.”Of all fucking mornings to have Dad and the brothers drop in.I sit to eat, knowing that I probably won’t get a moment of fucking peace once they arrive.Coffee, extra strong,” I tell Layna.“Dad’s coming.”
She grins.“I’ve got just the recipe, boss.”
“Don’t make it too good or they’ll just come more often,” I growl playfully.
Layna shakes her head, wiping her hands on her matronly apron.One that most mothers may wear but that my own socialite mother wouldn’t be caught dead in no matter the time of day.I have barely finished eating when Elsie lets everyone in.I look up and watch as Dad, Leandro, Gino, Renato, and Tristano file in, one after another, looking somber.I give Leandro a nod, a silent thanks for giving me a heads up before they crashed into my house and disrupted my breakfast.
My father stands at the head of the table holding onto the back of a straight-backed chair as the rest of his sons take seats around the table, serving themselves breakfast as Layna places more food on the table.“Feel free to have a seat,” I say to no one in particular as I take a sip of the perfect cup of coffee.
The don of our family doesn’t sit, instead he let’s go of his rage as though it’s been held in check for as long as he can stand.“This thing, with the Cassone girl.It’s gone too fucking far.Now we have the polizia investigating things that should have been buried along with the Amortes.Do you understand the ramifications of what is happening, Massimo?”
I try my hardest to hold my tone and keep respect in my voice but it’s clearly not happening today.I stand, wiping the corners of my mouth with the napkin before tossing it on the table, towering above my father as he stands beside me.“You’ll show some self-restraint and respect when you’re in my house, especially when you’re talking about my wife.”
“Your wife,” he growls.“She’s a no-good fucking Cassone.”
My hand rears back, fist made and ready to do real and deserved damage, respect for the old man be damned.Leandro grabs it with a firm hand from behind.“Brother.”
I let out a breath, heaving with anger.“Say what you came to say but remember Father, she is the same woman you saw marry your son.Not one fucking thing has changed since you watched us say I do in this very house.You welcome her one day and call her an enemy the next.”
My dad’s face turns beet red.“Everything has changed.The detective working for the Amortes?What if he decides to talk in court?Tell them that you’re blackmailing him?What about that?What the fuck were you thinking, and why wasn’t I conferred in the matter?”
I take a seat, trying to pack down my anger, resuming my breakfast if for no other reason than to piss him off.The heat of my father’s stare gets more intense as the minutes go by.“Take a seat and have some breakfast.We were waiting to hear from Emil this morning before calling you with an update.Things just came together last night.We weren’t trying to keep you in the dark.”
I text Emil to see if I can get an update, hoping Brice has reached out to him and we can put this to bed and relieve some of my father’s anxiety before he has a fucking heart attack and causes me one right along with him.
Dad pulls out his chair with a loud scrape across the floor as if to call attention to the movement.Layna’s lips twist to the side and she heads back to the kitchen to get another pot of coffee.She brings out a plate of sweet rolls and gives me a wink as she brings his favorite fare to the table and offers him the plate first.At least he’s not rambling as he looks over the assortment, selecting his next sugar fix while I read the update from Emil.
He takes a bite, savoring the sugary and jam-filled pastry before washing it down with coffee.I pass Gino the rolls, because he’s like Dad, never one to pass up the sweets, but with a strict workout routine that burns whatever he eats at tenfold.Unlike Dad, who’s beginning to pack on the pounds around the middle from overindulgence in the sugar and his Jack.
“Emil says the deal is done.The money has been paid to the Amortes from a third party on behalf of Detective Brice’s brother.The hit’s been removed, and Brice and Loch are now under our protection and work for us.That’s it, finite.”
Dad exhales a deep breath and shakes his head.“You just don’t understand, Massimo.They want more.The fucking Amortes know we’re behind it.They upped the price they want from us for you dumping their daughter.”
My jaw clenches tight.This nightmare, the one forced on me since teenage years never fucking ends.“I dumped no one.Desiree and I were never together, only in you and old man Amorte’s minds.Don’t pay him a thing, or pay him more, I’ll kick in what you want, I don’t fucking care.”
“Careful,” Dad bellows.“It’s not that simple.I’m getting pressure from the family in Italy.I told them it’s only for a year, that after that, it’s over, finite.Then, there’s no reason you don’t marry Desiree.It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved, and it will only set the plans back a year.”
“Same fucking argument, different fucking day,” I growl, tossing my napkin on the table.“Listen to me.I’m not marrying Desire, not today, not tomorrow and not fucking ever.”
“She’s a good Italian girl, a lovely girl and will make a good wife.”
“She’s all those things for someone else, not me.My wife is upstairs, trying to sleep.I would appreciate it if you kept your voice lowered because if you intentionally hurt my wife again, I’ll show you the fucking door.”
His eyes go wide.He looks like he’s going to say something but my old man’s not quite as boisterous when he’s not had half a bottle of Jack.My brothers all remain quiet, but their eyes track between the two of us.No matter how mad Dad has made me in the past there’s always been respect, but now he’s crossed way over the line that I’m willing to accept.
He’s just not going to stop with this Desiree thing and he confirms that with the next words from his mouth.“I’m getting pressure from the family for a joining of the two families, meanwhile we’ve started a war.There’s no way to explain this away.You need to fix this, Massimo.Some things, you simply cannot have in life and be the next leader of this family.The family will forbid it.You know this.”
“I don’t fucking care.”
He puts a hand over his heart.“Here, where it counts, you know in a year it will be over with this girl.Have your fun now, fuck her all you want, get her out of your system, and then you will do the right thing for the family.”
He’s fucking serious.After everything I’ve said, it’s gone in one ear and out the other.“It’s not happening.See yourself out.”
My father is unrelenting.“It’s already done.The Amortes have told the family their side.That you walked away from the arrangement.And they are accusing you of having their sons killed, saying they will not seek vengeance, which is their right Massimo, if the marriage is consummated in a year.”
“No.”
