Page 67 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

John rested into one of the two leather chairs. His fingers clasped around the curved edges of the armrests, and he waited.

For what, he didn’t know.

But something …

Matteo gestured at a glass crystal filled with golden liquid. “Bourbon?”

John shook his head. “The whiskey was enough, if you wouldn’t mind? I have to drive home.”

Of course, he had to pose it like a question to Matteo. As though the man would get to decide whether or not John was done drinking for the night. He couldn’t outright refuse the boss, so he had to try a different approach.

Matteo shrugged his large shoulders, and leaned back in the chair he dwarfed with his stature. “Yes, we wouldn’t need you getting in trouble, all things considered.”

John’s jaw tightened. “Considering what, exactly?”

“Well, you’ve only been out of prison for what … a couple of months?”

“Five at the end of December, actually.”

Matteo pointed a finger at John, and wagged it. “Ah, see. And I bet you’re still on some kind of parole conditions, aren’t you?”

John stayed quiet.

The boss didn’t seem to mind. “Mmm, I bet you are. If I remember correctly, your sentence was a five-year term. Yes, but you came out at, what, three years or so served before release?”

That time, Matteo did look to John for him to speak.

“Yes,” John settled on saying.

Seeming satisfied with that line of questioning, Matteo came forward a bit to rest his beefy arms along the edge of the desk. He tipped his head to the side, and regarded John for a long moment before he spoke again.

And when he did speak, he completely changed directions.

“I heard some interesting information the other day, Johnathan,” he said.

John cocked a brow. “What was that, boss?”

“Your cousin—Andino—has moved up in the Marcello family. An underboss, they told me. We didn’t get the chance to properly speak about it at the restaurant. I’m expecting a meet with Dante and his new right hand soon, and it’ll all be official then.”

Typically, Cosa Nostra families didn’t talk specifics about their respective organizations. It just wasn’t good business practice. Despite the fact they all took the same oath, each family kept their secrets safely guarded.

For good reason …

Matteo didn’t seem to need John’s confirmation, however. “I did find it a little strange though, all things considered.”

The man seemed to like that phrase a lot.

John didn’t like it at all.

“Considering what?” John asked.

This all felt like one big circle. Matteo talked about what he wanted, and he led John exactly where he also wanted him to go in the conversation. It might have appeared like an open conversation from the outside looking in, but it definitely wasn’t.

Matteo drummed his jeweled covered fingers to the desk. “Oh, come on, John. I’m sure you know that the Three Families in New York are always keeping up with the politics of the family next to them. It keeps us all in the loop.”

“Sure, I guess.”

John wasn’t one-hundred percent sure why Matteo was doubling-down on this topic about his family, but he didn’t like it. At the moment, there wasn’t much more he could do other than sit there and listen to it.