Page 109 of Duty

“What did you learn?” he asked instead of answering. “About my family, I mean.”

“What you are—who they are.”

“Dante?” he asked.

“Your uncle.”

Andino nodded. “Him, yep.”

“He heads the organization, doesn’t he?”

“The family, Cosa Nostra … who calls it what depends on who you ask, but yes. He’s the boss.”

“Okay,” Haven said, confused at where he was going with this.

Andino cleared his throat, saying quieter, “He’s ready to retire—most bosses don’t even live to his age, let alone keep their seat for as long as he has in this business. Our family, though …” He trailed off with a dark laugh. “Our family reigns strong. Call it fucking luck, or say it like it is, in that we’ve got the stronghold. We’re the force to be reckoned with in this city. We control everything. But all bosses step down, and someone else has to step up, you know. That’s what I mean.”

Haven stiffened. “You?”

“Me, yeah.”

“You.”

Her voice was an echo that time.

Andino smiled over at her. “That’s how I felt, too. A little angrier at first. Mostly because nothing is ever easy in this life—every choice I make has to reflect the family and business in a good way. There are rules and customs we follow, so what I was expecting for my life was suddenly entirely different.”

“Oh.”

“You’re one of those things,” he added.

“I’m sorry?”

“Men in my position have a few expectations we need to meet before we can be considered … unchallenged in our place,” Andino murmured. “One of those things is to be married to an appropriate, respectable woman. Italian; Catholic; preferably affiliated in some way, although that’s not always a requirement. It’s a long-standing tradition.”

“Marriage?”

Her voice was fainter than she wanted it to be.

Unsure, and wary.

Confused, more than anything.

“We’re not … getting married,” Haven said. “I don’t understand why that even matters.”

“To my family, involvement with a woman that goes beyond a single event, is cause for someone to look into the relationship,” Andino explained. “And this is my fault—what happened yesterday evening, I mean. That was my fault because while you don’t understand, I do. I know you didn’t ask for this by getting involved with me, Haven.”

“I just …”

“What?”

“I wish you would have told me,” she whispered.

“I’m a selfish fucker, I guess. I always look out for everybody else first, and myself second. I started looking out for me a little bit, and here we are.”

“So, I’m not, then.”

“Hmm?” Andino looked over at her, and those green eyes of his pinned her in place. Intense, dark, stormy. His gaze was all of those things and more. “I don’t follow.”