Page 58 of Bene

He did his best to look innocent.

Except he wasn’t.

Not at all.

“More than worth it,” he muttered.

“Yeah, tell Dad that.”

Right.

“Bene, feel free to close the door once everyone leaves, and take a seat.”

With his back turned to his father as he was just about to leave the office, Bene cursed inside his head. He thought he might be able to skip out of the meeting before Gian even realized he left, and then perhaps they could have the discussion about bringing a woman to the mansion at a later date. Or better yet, over the phone where his father wouldn’t be looking him right in the face when he tried to lie about it.

Bene couldn’t be so lucky.

“Sure, boss,” he said, still refusing to turn around.

Marcus gave Bene a smirk over his shoulder, as he was the last man to leave the office—not unusual, considering he was Gian’s underboss. Bene responded in kind with a flipped up middle finger that only his brother could see before he closed the office door after him. Marcus was getting too much out of this, the asshole.

“Pick a seat,” Gian said once the door was closed.

Bene sighed. “Could I stand, or—”

“That wasn’t an option, no.”

Awesome.

It was going to be one of those talks, then. It was also how Bene knew that now, he was dealing with his father again, and not the boss of their famiglia. Gian was always careful about how he had discussions with his sons, but especially when it was in the form of what someone might consider discipline. He never stood over them—never made it seem like he was talking over one of his boys. Instead, they all sat down, eye-level, if possible, like they were equals to have their chats.

Bene avoided the heavy stare of his father until he took one of the two wing-back leather chairs across from the desk, and sat his ass down. His father’s face, void of amusement or anything, really, gave him a good indication about how this chat was going to go today.

“Would you like to start, or not?” Gian asked.

“Well—”

“Let me pose it a different way, son. You can tell me what you did last weekend, here when I wasn’t home, or I can do it. Feel free to make a choice.”

Bene sighed. “You already know what I did, clearly.”

“Yes, but I’m starting to wonder about what you know.”

“What?”

“Rules, Bene.” Gian leaned back in his large chair, steepling his fingers as he peered out the windows that overlooked the front property. “The same rules you grew up with here—you know them, I have repeated them time and time again. Those rules are in place not just because I don’t want you or your brothers to disrespect our home, but because it keeps us all safe. We don’t bring strangers here—that’s never, nor will it ever, be tolerated. So, go ahead and tell me why you decided to bring a woman who none of us know to our home for an entire weekend when no one else was here. Go ahead, I will wait.”

Well, when you put it that way …

“I didn’t really think about it,” Bene admitted.

“You’re doing that a lot lately, hmm?”

“Pardon?”

“Making choices without thinking.”

“Low blow, Papa.”