“Is it Vin?”
I keep folding. “No.”
“Sophie.”
“I don’t want Vin,” I say, which is true. Or it should be. “It’s that I need to… fully put it to bed before I can be fair to someone else. That’s all.”
Olivia cringes and Siena and Giovanna exchange a look.
“Anyone who marries that man,” Siena says, setting down the sandwich, “is going to have a miserable life.”
“You’re biased,” I laugh. “But thank you for trying to make me feel better.”
Giovanna shakes her head. “No, she’s right. I love Vin, I do. He’s an asshole, but I understand how he works. Siena isright. Anyone who marries him will have to share him with the Demonio Brotherhood and will be in constant danger.”
Siena shakes a piece of pastrami at me. “You deserve someone who will take care of you on every level. Someone who makes you feel safe all the time. That’s not Vin.”
I remember what safe felt like: the weight of his arm across my waist, his voice when he called me his, falling asleep with his cock in my mouth and his hands in my hair.
I shove the thought away, but not before the girls catch me, suspicion spreading across their faces.
“On top of the job he does, Soph, he’s a fucking mess,” Siena says.
Giovanna nods slowly. “It’s true. Aurelio’s been gone almost a year, and he still hasn’t set the funeral date.”
I startle, surprised. “What? I assumed that was done the week he died. That’s tradition.”
Siena shakes her head. “He won’t even set the date. Plan the details. The size of this thing is huge. It requires time to plan. It’s practically on par with the death of a king.”
“Has Matti or Tommy mentioned why?” I ask.
All three women shake their heads.
“But Tommy and Matti are both frustrated with him. He’s acting boss unofficially until Aurelio is buried,” Giovanna says.
I nod. The funeral is as much a welcome to the new boss as it is a farewell to the old one.
“But he also isn’t really doing boss things,” Olivia points out. “He’ll do the bare minimum to keep things going, but he’s not implementing any of the plans he said he would. And he’s been drinking more.”
“A lot more,” confirms Giovanna.
“That’s strange,” I say slowly. Vin must be under so much pressure. I can’t imagine him not taking the reins and taking over.
“That’s Vin,” Siena says. “Moody and weird is his baseline these days.” She shakes her head. “Anyway. It’s not our problem.”
“Mmmm.” I’m trying to agree but the sound comes out more like a question.
Siena levels a look at me. “Sophie. Go out with Gavin. Open this beautiful restaurant. That’s what matters right now. Whatever Vin is doing, fuck it. That is his to figure out.”
I glance around the restaurant, the light from the tall windows lighting the dark wood, glinting off the copper accents. Siena is right. This is what matters.
Whatever Vincenzo Demonio is or is not doing with his life can stay exactly where it belongs: far away from me.
8
VIN
Me, Matti, and Tommy have been in this room for 40 fucking minutes and nobody has said a fucking thing that matters.
