Page 214 of Made in Love and Blood

Salvatore’s advice had yet to fail Nico.

“It’s unnecessary, and frankly, a losing battle, for you to try to be me,” Salvatore murmured, never turning around to look at Nico as he spoke. “You’ll be chasing a ghost that you’ll never reach if that’s the goal. That man came from survival, and nothing more. It’s what made him.”

“Do you know what it looked like to me, though?” Nico asked back.

Salvatore cleared his throat. “Hmm, what do you mean?”

“Me and probably everyone else,” he added, then.

The man did turn at that point. Slightly. Enough to peer over his shoulder with amused eyes tracking Nico’s fidgeting fingers that wouldn’t leave the strings of his hoodie alone. He needed something to do when there were so few things happening in the moment to sharpen his mind on.

“Me at the beck and call of Giorgio looked like what, Nico?” Salvatore asked. “Please, tell me. Because I know how it felt, so I can only imagine what you think it looked like, young man.”

“Power. It looked like power from the outside. You showed up when you wanted; or when he needed you. Never carried a gun, regardless of the reasons. You never shared them, so it let others make up the story they think fits. You spoke; everybody listened. Even him, sometimes. So, yeah, Sal, that looked like power to me.”

Silence answered back.

“And like respect,” Nico put in just for good measure. That shit counted for a lot, too. “And so maybe you think I shouldn’t want that image for myself today, and all the rest of these fucking days I’m gonna walk through in this family, but I don’t agree. I’m not chasing a ghost; I’m following a man. One I should want to be like when it matters the most. I guess being made means you get a lot of say in how I move from here on out, but you don’t get an opinion on that. You already shaped it a long time ago.”

A nod of Salvatore’s head accompanied his back turning to Nico once more.

“Sixty seconds out, boss man,” came a new voice from the doorway.

Jessie, one of Larkin’s men, stood with an AK strapped to his shoulder.

Salvatore barely glanced up to acknowledge the guy. “Thank you. Three on the roof, one in the tree, correct?”

“We’ve got a clear view of the driveway and the table, yes.”

“Good. Two fingers high, Carmine goes.”

Nico sucked in a hard breath, saying nothing. He couldn’t. He didn’t call the shots here.

“Three, and you clear the board before they hit the gate,” Salvatore ordered.

“Got it, boss man.”

A wave of one finger sent the security away.

“Do you think that’s necessary?” Nico asked after a moment.

“The all or nothing is simply the nuke I need should it all go to shit.”

Nico didn’t expect that option to be needed at all. It just made its way to the table because one should plan for the worst possible outcome so then when less terrible things happened, it didn’t feel so fucking bad. He got that.

“It’s not what I mean, Sal.”

“No, you meant Carmine Marino.”

“He’s a good guy; I’ve known him for years. He got me out of hot water a lot of times growing up, too. Not to mention, I know what’s happened in Chicago over the past three weeks. He culled anyone that spoke against you. He was the first after Big Mike to send word that he supported your seat.”

That meant something. Nico couldn’t understand why Salvatore held such a grudge for a man who seemed to be doing everything right.

Salvatore hummed under his breath, picking up that marble to spin again. Like he needed the distraction. “You’re going to learn a lot today, kid, and then we’re never going to talk about it again once we leave this room. Okay?”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Take your spot,” Salvatore demanded, his tone brokering no room for argument, “wherever you want it to be. Before someone gets here and I make the choice for you. I didn’t make you an underboss because of your winning attitude and money-making skills, Nico. I did it because I recognize that you have a brilliant mind and you see people for who they are, sometimes, before they even know it about themselves. I need that today, so pick a seat or stand somewhere.”