“DO YOU WANT the good news first, or the good news last?” John asked.
Siena grinned. “Well, where does the bad news fit in?”
“That’s the thing—there is no bad news.”
Her laughter drew the attention of the other guests eating with them at the restaurant table, but John paid his family no mind.
“Just tell me,” Siena said.
“Ginevra is coming back to the city this weekend—Greta and Giulia will be the first to greet her.”
For a split second, Siena thought her heart had stopped. But no, the beats just took a chance to recharge before picking up an even faster pace.
“Really?”
The girls would be ecstatic.
They had been asking … and asking more.
Siena didn’t know what to tell them.
“Really,” John said.
Not even thinking about it, she leaned over to give him a quick kiss. She planned to pull away just as fast—no need to give everybody else a show, but John held her there for an extra beat in time.
“Since you’re sharing news, what do you have on Andino?”
Siena frowned when John’s attention drifted away from her momentarily to deal with the men who had filed into the restaurant moments before. His uncles, and his father, each took a seat at the table.
“Good morning to all of you, too,” Siena said.
John shot her a sly smile. The rest of them had the decency to at least look a little bit sheepish.
“Our apologies,” Lucian said, shrugging. “John is not very good at keeping people updated, and so, we have to chase him around to find out things we need to know. Isn’t that right, John?”
John gave his father a look. “I update you all when there are things to report.”
“Are there things to report?” Dante asked.
The quietest of the three men—Giovanni, Andino’s father—rested back in the chair with a passive expression. It was almost like he didn’t want to give off the aura of hope, lest karma come around and see it, only to knock him back down again. Still, the conversation held his attention, and he didn’t look away once.
“Good news,” John assured.
“How good?” Dante pressed.
“You really didn’t think I would get this handled for Andino, did you?”
The three men quieted as they passed looks between one another. Siena cleared her throat, feeling just enough awkwardness to want to move to another table, maybe. John hadn’t asked her to do that, though, so she stayed.
Finally, Giovanni spoke first. “We absolutely thought you could—”
“And would,” Dante added.
“—get this done for Andino,” Giovanni finished. “What we were concerned about was the fact you chose to keep us out of the loop, and went forward with your plans alone. That’s not how this family works. We have always been a unit working together.”
“Except that’s not how I have to work,” John replied.
Lucian grinned at his son. “And they know that now, too, John. Really. Changes like that take some adjustment, though. I think all things considered, they did pretty well stepping back as much as they could, and giving you faith.”
John’s jaw ticked—to Siena, a sure sign that his emotional currents were flip flopping back and forth. He was good at hiding when his high to low swings came on strong from others, but he still felt them. She couldn’t imagine how hard that must be for him on a daily basis. The kind of struggle unique to him in his circle as no one else could possibly understand what it was like for him.
But his family was learning.
It seemed like they were getting it.
Finally.
Progress was progress. Whether John wanted to admit it or not, that progress would mean the world to him at the end of the day. He often alienated himself from his family, and his history with them kept him at arm’s length a lot of the time.
Siena wanted to change that for him. He so loved his family, and they loved him. Look at all they had done for him.
“I think you will find,” Dante said, leaning back in the chair, “that this business will be far more accommodating to you, John, once these changes become permanent.”
“Which changes are those?” John asked.
Because there were a lot, Siena knew.
John had a good point.
“You controlling your own faction, and answering to yourself,” Dante continued. “Andino—someone you trust and are close with—running his own faction, and answering to himself. I think, in ways, you will also … help Andino in a way.”
Giovanni looked to Dante. “How do you figure?”
Lucian laughed. “I think I might know.”
“Go for it, then,” Dante urged with a flick of his hand.
“John is the only person Andino wouldn’t go to war with. Consider how Andino is, Gio … you know it, and we all know it. His concern and care for others is fickle. He’s just as quick to remove his loyalty from someone, as he is to promise it if it suits him. He is a good boss, but he is also a volatile one, too. You’ve seen his games—he manipulates, and he does whatever he needs to in order to get what he wants.”
“Except with me,” John murmured.
The men’s gazes drifted to John again.
“Except with you,” Lucian agreed. “With Dante’s daughter marrying into the Donati family at the end of next month, you taking over the Calabrese faction, and Andino heading the Marcellos … we are unlikely to ever see another war between the three Cosa Nostra families controlling this city. That’s unheard of.”
Giovanni chuckled. “Everything our father always wanted, in a way.”
“It only took three generations to get there,” Dante added with a smirk.
“You know, I haven’t officially taken over the Calabrese family,” John said.
Siena decided maybe then she should get up, and go to the bathroom. Or something to get away from the conversation. It wasn’t as though any of the men made her feel unwelcomed, but her upbringing had taught her that this was not the sort of thing women were allowed to be a part of.
“I’m just going to go—”
“You can stay where you are,” John said, giving her a look.
“It’s business, and you know women don’t entertain business, John.”
“They do in this family,” Dante said, “or they have started taking an interest over the years. You’re fine to sit.”
“See,” John pointed out.
Fine.
“It’s a matter of semantics,” Lucian said, “as they know who their new boss is, and what’s expected of them.”
“Sure, but I still have to make a show of it, too. Drive the point home.”
“We could help with that,” Giovanni offered, grinning, “if you would like us to.”
“How so?” John asked.
Before any of them could answer John’s question, the restaurant door blew open, and with it, bringing cold late-October wind. Siena didn’t recognize the disheveled looking man wearing a trench coat, and glaring, but the other men at the table seemed to. Their postures stiffened as the man came closer to their spot.
“Detective,” John greeted.
“I don’t know what you fucking did, but this isn’t over,” the man hissed.
“Now, Rosencauld—”
“Who did you pay, huh?” the detective spat out. “Who did you blackmail, or threaten? How did you do it?”
John only smiled up at the man from the side, and never once showed concern or irritation at the intrusion. “I didn’t need to do anything. The evidence was on our side.”
“Evidence like this?”
The man threw a tablet down on the table, and a video was already playing. On the screen, Siena saw a man she recognized—a Capo from the Calabrese family, although she had never had a real conversation with the man. The same Capo who had spoken against John outside of the hospital the day she pulled the plug on Darren’s life support.
He stumbled through his words on the video, tears filled his frightened eyes, though he sat straight and proud on a chair. Darkness rested behind him, and nothing else.
He admitted to the bombing, and to setting it up. He admitted to killing both Siena’s brothers, and to encouraging the feud between the families to worsen the peace in the city. He admitted where evidence could be found to connect him to everything he confessed. And then he killed himself with the gun sitting in his lap by swallowing a bullet.
Rosencauld pointed a shaking finger at John. “This isn’t over.”
John laughed. “Oh, it’s been over for a while, detective. Have a good day.”
The lesson was clear.
Don’t fuck with the Marcellos.
“Andino will be out soon,” John said after the man left. “Very soon.”
• • •
Siena carefully maneuvered between the men sitting around the table. It was not her first time being in this spectacularly large home—the Marcello mansion—but she bet it was probably the first time for a lot of the Calabrese made men.
The fact they couldn’t stop staring, wide-eyed and enraptured by the blatant show of wealth in status covering every inch, gave credence to their amazement. A few of the men had nodded to her in polite greeting as they were directed inside the home for the meeting, but more than a few wouldn’t even look her in the eye.
It was going to take time.
They would give respect.
That was just how Cosa Nostra, and made men worked. They did not have to like the situation they currently found themselves in, or even agree with the new boss in charge. They did, however, have to offer respect at every turn.
It was that, or their life.
For most, it was an easy choice.
“Thank you,” the last Capo at the table said when Siena set his glass of vodka down beside him.
“You’re welcome.”
She gave him a smile, but little else. She didn’t linger to chat, either, instead heading for the front of the dining room where John had asked her to sit once she was done. She hadn’t needed to be present for the meeting—probably shouldn’t have been, anyway—but he asked for her to be there.
Siena didn’t know how to refuse John.
Not really.
Still, she wasn’t there to entertain the Calabrese men, or make nice with any of them, either. She was simply there for John, and so he could make his point clear with these people about where they now stood, where he positioned himself against them, and even Siena’s place in the family.
As his.
All semantics.
Theatrics of the mafia.
It was what it was.
Sitting on a chair that was not pulled into the table, but set far enough back to make it clear Siena was not joining the men, she only took her attention away from their conversations when John came into the room. Despite the room being full of people waiting on him, he only looked at her.
Coming to stand at her side, his fingers drifted through her loose waves, and he quickly dropped a kiss to the top of her head. At home, in private, John dressed for comfort, or whatever he was doing that day.
Tonight, though, he wore one of his black Armani suits—black shirt, black vest, and black tie underneath. Black on black on black. It was quite a striking sight, and she thought he looked most handsome like this.
Sexy, too.
But she would save that for later.
“You good?” he asked her.
Siena nodded. “Of course.”
“Good.”
One more stroke of his fingers along the line of her jaw, and he turned to greet the men in the room. A wave of his hand to them, and their voices hushed.
John took the chair at the head of the table, and sat down. Glanced passes between one another, and Siena saw the arch of John’s brow when he cocked it in challenge.
“You stand when a boss sits unless he has directed you otherwise,” John murmured, “so move your asses.”
It took a beat.
And then another second.
Chairs scraped as the men slowly rose to their feet. A couple of them grumbled under their breath, but didn’t dare voice their complaints much louder than that. Once everyone was standing, John leaned back in the chair, and surveyed the men with his thumb and forefinger resting against his jaw.
“I thought you all might want to see what success in the criminal underworld really looks like,” John said, waving his other hand at the opulence of the dining room.
The chandelier was bigger than a small car.
The table?
Flaked with gold.
“You could all learn a thing or two by accepting your fate of a new boss, and a new path for this family, but I assume there are some of you who plan to make this hard for me. Nonetheless, I brought you all here so you could have your vote. As we all do—we put in nominations for positions, and vote on them. This is no different. So, we will vote on the boss.”
The men’s gazes darted fast to John, and then between one another.
“Vote,” one of the men echoed.
“That is what I said,” John replied calmly.
“Yet, you present yourself as the boss, so where is the vote really?”
John smiled coldly. “I am giving you the illusion of a choice, and then I’m going to make my point very clear.”
He lifted his fingers high, and snapped them twice. Siena stayed put on the chair with her hands folded in her lap, and quiet as could be. She knew what was coming, and it didn’t shock her like it did the rest of the men to watch a good twenty more men file into the dining room.
Marcello men.
Enforcers.
Capos.
Trusted people.
Each had a gun in hand, though they kept the weapons lowered, and pointed to the ground at their front. Each man came to stand behind every standing Calabrese man, though they didn’t speak, and in fact, didn’t even look the other men in the eyes.
“I really don’t mind wiping a family out and starting over,” John said, shrugging. “It actually seems like the easier thing to do, but this takes work, too. Building a family, and working the streets takes time. I figure it will be far more beneficial for all of us to simply … accept what’s going to happen, and move on to better success.”
“You can’t be fucking serious,” one of the men said.
John’s gaze drifted to the Marcello man standing behind the Capo who spoke up. His head subtly moved to the side, and the man lifted the gun, and put it to the back of the man’s head.
“You will, from this day forward, refer to me in only the best of ways, and with the utmost respect. You will stand when I enter a room as you should do for your boss, and you will behave as proper made men should in a family. Should I find out you even breathed a slur against me—call me crazy, inept, or anything—you will quickly find your way into a grave.”
John smile, and leaned forward as he pointed a finger at the men. “You are all replaceable. Never think different. I do not care how long you have been a made man, or what got you to this point. You will respect me, or I will be forced to teach you how to respect me. I would much rather leave it to you to figure out.”
Then, John looked over at Siena, and gave her a brief smile. “And my girl—Siena. You will see her quite frequently. With me, or at my home. She is an important presence in my life, and she is to be treated as such. She is to be treated with the same care and respect you would give to your mother, sister, or even your wife. As you want other made men to treat the women in your life, I expect the same. She is not your pet, or your servant. She does not answer to you, and what she does choose to do for you, you are to thank her each and every time you are graced with her presence.
“I intend for her to be my wife, and I expect you to treat her accordingly,” John said with a wave of his hand.
Siena’s throat tightened at those words. Of course, she wanted to marry John. She wanted to be with him forever—but he not used that word with her. He had not yet asked her, but still, happiness slipped through her veins like a drug.
“Do not make me regret choosing this way with you,” John said. “Do not make me think the easier route would have simply been cleaning house one by one. That option, by the way, is still very much alive.”
Instantly, every man but one sat when John stood from his chair. Siena could not hide her smile, but her concerned gaze drifted to the one man who had stayed standing.
“Do you have something to say?” John asked the man.
“I will not—”
John swept his hand in a sharp motion, and the sound that followed was both deafening, and morbid. The Marcello man standing behind the Calabrese Capo had raised his weapon faster than Siena could catch the move.
Now, the Capo was dead. His body slumped over the beautiful, large cherry oak dining table. His blood from the back of his blown out head mixed in with the ruddy brown of the shined table top.
John sighed, and then waved at the rest of the men. “Shall we start, then?”
Sometimes, a forceful show was the way to go.
Siena couldn’t be prouder.
• • •
Siena made a run for the front door, and grabbed the bowl of mini chocolate bars on the way. “I got it this time, John!”
“I like to see them, too.”
He slid in behind her with a grin just as she opened the door to showcase three little boys and one little girl in various ninja costumes. They were by far some of the cutest that had come through for Halloween.
Bending down, Siena held the bowl out for the kids to pick their favorite treats from the mix. “Go ahead, boys … and girl.”
The little girl with the pink and black ninja costume preened at Siena. “I’s can be a ninja, too!”
“You can be whatever you want to be,” Siena told her.
John chuckled in the doorway, and helped her to say goodbye to the kids. Once they had darted back down the steps to where their parents were waiting, she and John headed back inside the house.
“Okay, those were my favorites of the night,” she declared, setting the bowl aside.
John’s laughter followed her into the kitchen. “You’ve said that for every kid that knocks on the door tonight.”
“I can’t help it. Look at them.”
“So hey, my sister is coming down from California for a week or two,” John said.
Siena turned to find he was leaning against the island. “The youngest one?”
“Lucia, yeah. She hasn’t met you yet, and I was hoping we might be able to do something with her, or … try. Then she can get to know you, or something.”
“Why try?”
John shrugged. “She’s still pissed at me for shit that happened a while back. Maybe rightfully so, but it is what it is. I can’t change the past, you know?”
Siena smiled softly. “I’m sure she’ll forgive you—whatever it was.”
“Yeah, maybe. Anyway, you wouldn’t mind, would you?”
“Of course, not.”
One of her favorite pop songs started to play from the living room, and Siena couldn’t help but dance a little to the beat. She went back to working on the food for dinner that she had discarded when the kids knocked.
She could feel John’s eyes on her as she moved, and it kind of felt like butterflies beating inside her stomach.
It was strange in some ways how much had changed in such a short amount of time. Her sheltered, carefully controlled life was gone, and she was happy.
Sure, things were still a little shaky in a lot of ways. John taking over the family. Her mother was still missing.
Siena was still happy.
She only had one person to thank for that, too.
“Siena.”
She spun on her heels to face John at his call of her name, but she had to look down. He was down on one knee, and had one hand outstretched toward her. He opened up his palm, and sitting inside was the prettiest princess cut diamond resting on a thin, interwoven gold bands.
Her heart thundered.
Her muscles froze.
Her breath caught.
John smiled. “I’m sorry it took so long for me to do this, babe.”
Siena shook her head. “Never apologize for you, John.”
“I love you, Siena. You know that, don’t you?”
God, he had to ask?
“I love you more than life itself, John.”
“I know—look at all you’ve done for me. My father used to tell me that everyone has one person who is their person. One single soul meant for theirs. I didn’t really believe that until I met you.”
She quickly wiped the one tear that escaped from her eye. “You’re my one person, John.”
“And you’re mine, mia amore.”
“Hurry up and ask.”
John laughed. “Siena, will you be my wife?”
“Yes.”
He was up off the floor before she had even finished speaking. His lips found hers as he pulled her impossibly close to his body. Love thrummed through her soul. Happiness buzzed through her mind.
Unfortunately, Siena knew …
Reality was never far behind in her life. She never seemed to hold onto happiness for very long before something came to take it away.
She hoped that wasn’t the case this time.
God.
She hoped …