Page 72 of Waste of Worth

Terrance gave Ben a look. “How would you know that Theo isn’t ready? You don’t have him under your guidance, not in the same way Dino does.”

Ben’s sharp gaze turned on Dino, and for a split second, he was sure he saw a warning flashing in his uncle’s eyes. For what reason, he couldn’t say.

Why would Ben want to keep Theo from getting his status in the family?

It would do him no good, and certainly not if he wanted the brothers to move higher in the Outfit as he always claimed he did.

“He’s only—”

“Let Dino decide if Theo’s age is a problem to his capabilities or lack thereof,” Terrance interrupted Ben without as much as a blink of an eye. Then, to Dino, he said, “Mentor him under an official capacity, make it known, and see how he does with that sort of pressure. You could use a secondary Capo to run your side of the DeLuca family—your brother is a good pick.”

“He is,” Dino agreed.

Clearly, Ben did not like that idea, but he was wisely choosing to stay quiet for the moment. Dino was thankful, if only because it allowed him to agree with his boss without disagreeing with his uncle.

He was not up for another fight with Ben.

Or one of the bastard’s lessons.

Not when he was still healing from the last one.

“You can go,” Terrance said.

Dino wasn’t ready to go, yet.

Something else came to the forefront of his mind, and while he knew better than to ask while his uncle was in the room, it wasn’t often that he was given time with the boss when other Capos were not around.

“Question,” Dino said.

Terrance’s brow lifted. “What is it?”

“Damian Rossi is still the man you send around looking for shit when you don’t want people to know someone was around, right?”

The boss didn’t respond. Dino didn’t really need him to. He knew what the answer would be.

“Someone’s been in my offices,” Dino said, “and they were quiet about it.”

His financial documents had been just one thing he noticed was missing. Since he noticed that, other things had also turned up missing as well.

One thing could be dismissed.

More was not a coincidence.

Those didn’t exist in the mafia.

Terrance stared hard at Dino, an unflinching coldness gleaming in his eyes. “Are you suggesting I had Damian Rossi snooping through your business, Dino?”

“A while back, you sent him into my warehouse where I hold the fights, wanting to know if I was paying dues on the place. It’s not a stretch if you think I’m trying to hide money from you.”

“I don’t think that.”

Terrance had offered the statement so frankly that Dino didn’t have a reason not to believe his boss. However, it did leave him feeling more uneasy about the whole situation. At least Terrance would have a valid reason, though that didn’t mean Dino would like it any better if it was his boss taking his documents.

It seemed that it wasn’t his boss, though.

That left him with very few options as to who it could be.

One of those people happened to be staring him right in the face, unbothered and calm as he always was, even when he was the one holding a gun to a man’s head. Yet, Dino couldn’t ask Ben if he was the one snooping and taking things because he didn’t have any proof to be throwing out accusations like that.