Page 49 of Duty

It was disconcerting.

To say the least …

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said, shaking his head and tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “Just business that doesn’t concern you.”

“Business.”

“That’s what I said.”

“How does taking a woman out to breakfast fall into business? Or why is it any of your family’s business?”

Andino laughed dryly. “Because, Haven, to a Marcello … family and business is one in the same. I don’t expect you to understand, all things considered.”

“No, I guess not.”

He glanced over at her. “I’m sorry?”

“I don’t know anything about you, really. Who are you, Andino?”

His eyebrow lifted curiously. “You still haven’t figured it out, yet?”

She felt like he was telling her something. Maybe she just liked living with her head in the sand. Who fucking knew?

“Maybe a part of me doesn’t want to know what you’re hiding,” she said.

Andino smirked. “That part of you is smart.”

SEVEN

Four days.

It took his boss four days before Dante finally called Andino in after the run-in with Lucian at the restaurant. Andino was impressed that his uncle had that kind of restraint—Dante Marcello wasn’t known for his fucking patience.

He got that from his own father.

“Boss,” Andino greeted from the dining room entryway.

Dante had swung the captain chair around, so his seat at the head of the table faced the large window overlooking the grounds. On either side of him sat Andino’s father, and his uncle. Lucian gave Andino a look. One that clearly said, “You should have told him yourself.”

The problem with that?

There was nothing to tell.

Giovanni, on the other hand, let nothing slip on his expression. He was a mask of cool, and calm; nothing was going to break him. Andino could tell that just by looking at his father, and he wasn’t about to try his luck, either.

“Would you like to sit or stand for this conversation?” Dante asked.

He never turned his chair around, and didn’t even look over his shoulder to glance at Andino. He didn’t really need to—Andino could hear in his uncle’s tone just how pissed off the Cosa Nostra boss was with him.

First time for everything, huh?

Dante—along with every other man in that dining room—was probably just as surprised at this turn of events as Andino was, really. Andino wasn’t the man who caused problems in la famiglia. He played by the rules, and stayed the fuck away from anything that might get him knee-deep into shit. He lived honorably, or as much as a made man could. He was just here to make money, do his thing, and make sure he was home every night to take Snaps on his walk.

Nothing more, and nothing less.

He spoke his oath to the life.

To the family.