Page 113 of Vow

Andino shrugged. “Why not? Wars have been started for less, haven’t they?”

“Don’t sound so flippant. This is not a small thing, Andi. It can’t be.”

“It is one thing to me. One thing amongst many things.”

Dante sighed, and glanced away. “I get the impression that you either don’t have the first clue of the uphill battle you’re about to face because you wanted something as silly as a woman you knew you couldn’t have … or you just don’t give a shit.”

“More the latter, actually.”

His uncle’s sharp gaze came back to him. “Is that so? You think you know, then, how you’ll lose control of the Commission when they refuse to accept the woman you present to them? You think you understand how it’ll stain our name and legacy? You think you know? She won’t be accepted by outside organizations, Andino. It doesn’t matter how we treat her, or if we love her. Our actions won’t factor into their opinions at all. Is that what you want for her? The constant reminder that she isn’t up to their standards?”

“She’s what I want. I don’t give a fuck about them.”

“The Commission is clear and you know—”

“Who at the Commission will deny me her?” Andino asked, smirking just a bit. “Me, when I take over your seat? John, when I put him in the seat the Calabrese holds once I bury them? Oh, how about the Donati boss—Cross. The man that is so in love with your daughter he wouldn’t dare consider making a choice that might hurt someone close to her. Maybe Chicago? An organization that has been terrified of another war like the one that decimated them decades ago—unlikely. Who’s left?”

“Vegas,” his father murmured from the window.

Andino nodded, and gave Dante his attention again “Yes, Vegas. You know, where my other uncle controls. So again, who is going to refuse me now?”

Dante blinked.

Andino smiled. “See what I did there, zio? You told me who would take her away, and so I handled it. I always get what I want.”

“And you wanted her,” Dante murmured.

“I will always want her.”

Even if she doesn’t want me.

Because that was a real fucking possibility right now.

Dante scrubbed a hand down his jaw, and stared at anything but Andino. “You know, I didn’t realize you were this manipulative, nipote.”

“I’m not sure if that’s an insult, or not.”

“Definitely not, but forgive me for being pissed that you thought to manipulate me.” Dante leaned back, and sat down on the edge of the large oak desk. He took a second before he spoke again, this time his voice quiet and pensive. “You’ve essentially started a war for a woman.”

“You said that already.”

Dante cut him with a look. “What do I tell them now? All the people downstairs who came here because they expected a party after a wedding—a celebration, Andino. What do I tell them now? That their whole lives are about to be chaotic and dangerous again because you wanted a woman?”

“You tell them that we never cower, and we don’t bend. Marcellos take, but we don’t give. Not for anyone, and certainly not for the Calabrese. That’s what you always used to tell me.”

“I wanted peace,” Dante murmured. “You think I wanted it for them, but I wanted it for you. So you didn’t have to come into this seat with carnage under your feet, Andino. You think it’s easy to be this man? This has never been easy.”

He didn’t expect it to be.

That changed nothing, though.

“I will never make peace with the Calabrese,” Andino countered. “Whether today, or tomorrow, or whenever the hell I take over … it doesn’t matter. I will not ever give them a single inch. They are not even a fraction of what we are, and they shouldn’t be allowed to think they are, either.”

Dante gave Gio a look from the side. “He’s so fucking difficult.”

Gio smiled faintly. “I know.”

“Where did this come from?”