Page 112 of Duty

“It is exactly the same.”

“It’s not!” Dante straightened a bit in his seat after his outburst, but his next words came out a hell of a lot calmer. Maybe that should have been a sign to Andino that he was seriously pushing his luck when it came to his uncle. But he figured—shit, he’d already gotten the man to this point, how much further could he push? “It is not the same and you know it. It’s not the same because it is not just me who will decide if that woman is appropriate enough to stand alongside you, and represent this family. There is a Commission of men who make that decision, Andino. Bosses from organizations all over this continent who sit down at a table with you, and get a voice about what you seem to think is no one else’s business. So, please, tell me how you’re going to avoid that when none of us ever have.”

Yes, that was a problem.

Andino wasn’t stupid.

“If they object,” Andino countered.

His uncle stilled. “Yes, if they object.”

So, what if those who sat at the Commission didn’t object?

That was the question.

Could that be possible?

It was a very faint hope dangling from a line in front of Andino, but still a hope nonetheless. And it was not one he was willing to let get away just because someone else might think it was an impossibility.

“But frankly, we have other problems,” Dante muttered.

At that statement, the other two men in the room became visibly uncomfortable. Andino had missing something—he knew it right then and there.

He missed something big.

“What?” Andino asked.

Maybe a little too sharply.

Dante nodded, and pointed at Andino with a wagging finger. “See, that right there. That is a problem, Andi. This is an issue you should already know, and you have no fucking clue. I can see it in your face. You don’t know anything about what I’m going to say—at least, not the things you should know.”

“Stop fucking around with me.”

“John.”

Andino blinked. “What about my cousin?”

“And the Calabrese woman.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

“That again?” Andino asked. “She’s just a woman—she’s harmless.”

“Do you know where John was last night?”

Andino’s jaw worked to ease some of his tension, but it wasn’t helping. As much as he wanted to lie and say, yes, he knew where his cousin was the evening before, Andino let the truth slip out. “No.”

“Take a guess?”

“Somewhere you probably don’t approve of, but shit, that’s a lot of places, Dante.”

“Andino,” he heard his father warn from the side of the room.

The first time Gio had spoken up at all.

“Dinner,” Dante said, ignoring Gio altogether. “He was at dinner with the Calabrese family.”

“All of them?”