Page 67 of Duty

Andino passed his boss a look. “What was that?”

“I hope you’re not so busy that you’ve let anything slip, Andino. I know you’ve got a lot going on with la famiglia and business, but—”

“Nothing is slipping,” he said firmly.

Dante arched a brow. “Nothing?”

“No.”

“Don’t act offended just because I asked a question,” Dante said. “I have a right to ask. You’ve got a hell of a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders, now. I want to make sure you’re keeping up with it all.”

Andino started listing things off just because he could, and because he felt like being a fucking shit for once. “Business is good—up by ten percent this month, but I’m sure you’ll see that come tribute. John is minding his own, and doing his thing as he’s supposed to be doing, but you know that, too, considering he’s been looking for his sister for weeks now with his father. How in the hell is John going to find himself in some kind of shit when he’s not even here to get in fucking trouble?

“There’s not been one issue between Capos or in their territories between crews; I’ve made sure to step in and keep peace whenever something came up, so you never even had to hear about it. Just like a good underboss should even though I don’t have the title just yet. But you don’t know that, right?” He smirked, and shrugged, adding, “Everything is fine, boss. Just as you would want it to be. Or do you need me to fill you in on every little step I make?”

His mother glanced down at the table, likely hiding a smile. Giovanni, however, didn’t even bother to hide his smugness as he gave Dante a look from across the table.

Dante, though, simply stared at Andino. “And what about you, hmm—are you following the rules?”

“What rules are—”

“You know exactly what and who I am talking about, Andi.”

Kim’s brow dipped as she glanced at her son, but Andino was a little too busy playing a game of fuck you with his uncle at the moment to answer her unspoken question.

No, he wasn’t following those rules.

Yes, he was being quieter about Haven, though.

“I’m doing what you want me to do,” Andino said, offering nothing more. “What more do you want?”

Dante’s gaze hardened, and he turned to Gio. “Why is everyone in this family testing my good graces and patience lately? Why?”

Andino’s father laughed. “Wouldn’t our father say that’s a good sign it’s time to pass the torch to someone else in this life—when you’ve clearly had enough?”

“Yeah, well …” Dante scowled, and gave Andino another look. “I’m trying.”

But was he really?

That was the better question.

• • •

The enforcer who regularly kept watch over Andino while he worked in the restaurant popped his head in, saying, “Hey, boss, Cross Donati just pulled up to the front of the joint looking fit to fucking kill somebody.”

Andino pursed his lips. “Why?”

“How would I know?”

“Because I asked.”

And that should be good enough to warrant an answer.

“I don’t know why the man is pissed,” the enforcer said, “but there was word making the rounds today that the big boss isn’t happy about Cross, and all that shit he pulled a couple of weeks back, you know, with the restaurant thing. Anyway, it had some guys in a fit, and they were talking about—”

“Ah, fuck,” Andino muttered.

He would bet every dollar in his overseas bank accounts that his uncle had decided to send the message to Cross that he overheard Dante talking about with his father. Even being told it was a bad idea, when Dante got something in his head, he went ahead and followed it through. One could count on it.