Page 3 of Duty

Andino didn’t even remember having rules.

“Was that a new Lexus I saw out in the driveway?” his mother asked.

Andino moved to sit beside her on the couch, grinning wickedly. He had a taste for expensive things, cars most importantly. “Yeah.”

“You spoil yourself, Andino. Everybody always said we would be the ones to spoil you because you were an only child. I think they were wrong. You certainly didn’t pick up your love of expensive things from your father and me, as far as that goes.”

Chuckling, he rested back into the couch and let the familiarity of his parents’ home soak into him. “I have to spend all the money I make in some way, Ma.”

“How about on a girl?” Kim asked, smiling slyly.

“A girl?”

“Find one, marry her, and then you’ll have lots more things to spend your money on, Andi. Things other than yourself. I think you’ll find spending your money on someone else instead of yourself is rewarding.”

“Ma—”

Kim clicked her tongue, stopping Andino before he could rebut her. “I want grandbabies someday, Andino. You’re twenty-eight, it’s time to settle down. Find someone to do that.”

“I don’t think you get it, Ma,” Andino said quietly.

“Oh?”

“No. I haven’t found anyone who makes me want to settle down. I won’t force it simply because you want grandchildren to spoil rotten.”

Kim smiled, but even the sight was sad. “I know.”

Sighing, Andino asked, “Do you regret not having more children after me? Maybe if you had, you would have some bambinos running around or something.”

“Not for a second.”

Kim hadn’t even hesitated before answering him. Her words came out frank and honest. Andino believed his mother. She had never even mentioned having more kids as he grew up. Neither had his father.

“Besides, your father would have lived his life in a constant state of panic had I birthed him any girls,” Kim added, laughing softly. “When you came along, Gio might as well have skipped off to the doctor’s office to make sure we wouldn’t have any more.”

Andino grinned, knowing that was probably true. “You’re terrible, Ma.”

“I only speak the truth.”

Kim tossed the magazine she was reading on the coffee table and gave all of her attention to her son. While his mother’s eyes were a slate blue, Andino’s were a forest green like his father’s. But in features, he knew he looked more like his mother. Where Kim was soft in her lines, Andino was the more masculine, sharper version. She often told him that he looked like his uncle Cody from Vegas.

Andino had never met the man, but it was only a matter of time before he eventually would. Cody Abella was the boss for the Vegas Cosa Nostra, after all. Giovanni was careful about keeping his son away from Vegas for as long as Andino could remember, although his father had never outright explained why.

He figured it had something to do with his mother. Like how she met his father. Andino wasn’t stupid. He knew how that happened.

People talked.

“How is work?” his mother asked.

“Quiet, but busy like usual. Keeps me going.”

“And John?”

Andino remained passive at the question. “Are you asking out of concern for him as an aunt, or are you trying to pry information out of me for Dad?”

Kim smiled. “You’re too observant for your own good.”

“No, I just know you, Ma.” Andino shrugged, saying, “Dad can ask John how he’s doing if he’s worried about him. John was always closer to Dad than he was his own father, anyway. But honestly, he’s doing okay. He’s been home a few days and nothing has happened yet. He’s working and whatever. He’s got a lot to catch up on. Three years is a long time to be out of this game.”