CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Damian’s insides twisted into a million and one little knots as Lily lay beneath him, still crying. She cried silently without the sobbing from before. It didn’t hurt Damian any less. Her tears still sliced through every inch of his skin, cutting through the muscle and driving into his bones. She couldn’t possibly understand how her pain affected him.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he told her.
“You must have known it would,” Lily replied.
Damian’s hands were dirty from the ground. Blades of grass and pieces of dirt stuck to his fingertips as he wiped at Lily’s face over and over to rid the tears that were ripping him apart. He only made her dirty, too.
“Christ, I’m sorry,” Damian mumbled.
Lily laughed but even the sound was sad. “Don’t bother. I’m a mess, anyway.”
“My mess.”
“I don’t know how to feel about that,” she whispered.
“The same way you always did. This changes nothing.”
“I think it changes everything.”
Damian frowned though he wished he could hide it. Unfortunately, he was slowly learning that hiding things from Lily never worked out to his favor. “How?”
Lily sighed, using her own dirty hand to rake through her blonde hair. “Because you love me.”
Satisfaction filled Damian like he’d never felt before. If she was admitting her belief in his love, the battle was half won on his side.
“I do,” Damian said.
“And that just leaves me to wonder about everything when it comes to you.” Lily turned her head to stare off to the side. “Is there such a thing as good men who do bad things?”
“I’ve never claimed to be good.”
“I thought you were. You told me differently. Maybe I should have listened.”
“I’m still yours,” Damian said, leaning down to press a kiss to Lily’s dirty cheek.
Lily’s eyes fluttered closed. “My friend’s mother died.”
“I know.”
“Your cousin, too.”
“Lea isn’t my biggest regret,” Damian said, tilting Lily’s head back so he could see her eyes.
“What is?” she asked in a whisper.
“You already know.”
“Maybe, but I’d like to hear you say it.”
“Hurting you, sweetheart. Although Lea being caught in the crossfire shouldn’t have happened, either,” Damian said, the confession slipping past his lips before he could stop it. “I wish it hadn’t but I made my choices and now I have to live with them.”
“Stop talking.”
Damian chuckled. “Why?”
“Because when you talk, I believe everything you say.”
“I’ll never lie, not if you ask the right questions, Lily.”
“I shouldn’t have to ask, Damian.”
“I don’t want to tell you things that put you in danger or might hurt you in some way,” he said. “If, or when, you ask, I will always tell you the truth because if you have the sense to ask, you have the strength to handle it. But I will not go out of my way to purposely tell you things just so you have every little last detail about whatever. I won’t ever do that, not if knowing them could somehow hurt or harm you. Please understand that.”
“I just …”
“What?” Damian asked, cupping her jaw in his palm. “Tell me what you need, Lily.”
“I can’t understand.”
“Not yet.”
“Ever,” Lily said.
“Eventually.”
Lily sighed. “I hate this life—the mafia life. This is why. People fight and die for nothing; for a belief and rules … and nothing.”
“I know.”
He’d always known that.
“And I hate the things you’ve done,” she murmured.
“You’re allowed to.”
“I can’t accept it.”
“You don’t have to,” Damian replied quietly.
“But I love you.”
Damian nodded. “Yeah.”
“It is going to take a while for me to be okay. I need you to understand that.”
“I get it.”
Lily wet her lips. “So no matter what you say, I have to believe you’re a good man who does bad things because otherwise, you’re just a man who hurts the things you love for no other reason than you can.”
“I love you,” he said.
“I know.”
“That’s the hardest part for you, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Lily replied. “It really is.”
Damian leaned down just far enough that he could sweep his lips over Lily’s. He hated her tears; despised that he’d been the one to cause her any pain. The best way he could think to apologize, if his words weren’t doing the job, was to show her. Instead of kissing her hard and deep, demanding she pay attention to his distraction and let it do the job for him, he took his time loving her mouth with his until she slowly began to kiss him back.
“You are, Lily,” he said, stroking her cheek as he brushed his lips over hers again.
“Hmm, what?” she asked, breathless.
“Everything to me.”
Another sliver of a tear fell from the corner of her eye. Damian wiped it away with the pad of his thumb just as quickly.
“I wish that didn’t hurt you to hear,” he said.
Lily shook her head. “It doesn’t.”
“It’s true.”
“Damian?”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Stop talking and kiss me again.”
Damian cocked a brow. “Don’t you want to—”
“I want you to shut up and kiss me again. And not like I’m some fucking China doll ready to break into pieces at any moment. Just kiss me. Please.”
How could he deny her when she asked so nicely?
Damian fisted Lily’s flimsy sleep shirt and pulled her up from the ground. The thin fabric covering her chest ripped at the force, tearing from the neck line straight down to where he held it tight. Lily gasped a second before Damian’s lips crashed down on hers with a bruising force. Her tongue fought with his, her teeth scraping to his mouth as her breaths turned ragged and harsh.
Lily grabbed his shirt in her tiny hands and moaned, spreading her legs wider. Damian couldn’t help himself; he grinded his growing erection into her core, knowing there was nothing but his jeans and soft cotton shorts separating his dick from her pussy. A pressure built in Damian’s chest the longer he kissed his girl. Nothing would ever be as honest or true as how he felt when Lily kissed him.
“Fuck,” Damian ground out when Lily’s teeth bit into his jaw. She kissed the spot with the softest touch of her lips before her tongue struck out against his skin to taste. Heat and blood flooded his cock. “Lily—”
“Shut up,” she hissed, biting him again.
Sweet Christ.
Damian hadn’t even blinked again and he felt her hands working at the zipper and button on his jeans.
“Lily, wait,” Damian demanded.
“No, fuck me,” she said forcefully, her fist hitting his chest. “Shut up and fuck me.”
“God.”
Lily laughed, the sound airless but thick. “You always know how to get me saying that in the end.”
Shit.
Damian cussed loudly as Lily’s hand circled his dick under his jeans. She stroked him once, twice, and then released him just as fast. Clearly, she wasn’t going to give him a chance to argue with her further. Lily knew what she wanted.
Him.
Damian let her shove his jeans and boxer-briefs down around his hips. When she pulled his shirt up, exposing his back and chest to the cold, early morning air, he let her do that, too. His shirt hit the grass as he began grinding his bare, throbbing dick into her cotton shorts.
Lily groaned lowly, falling back to the grass and digging her hands into the ground as Damian began yanking down her shorts. He kicked his jeans down further at the same time he pulled her shorts off her legs. Lily was nothing but bare skin, sex, and pussy under her shorts. Her juices were already glistening over her pink folds, showing just how hot she really was for him.
Damian fucking loved it.
He cupped her sex in his palm and ran two fingers through her slit.
“Just like I fucking thought,” Damian muttered.
Lily sighed as his fingers pressed into her pussy. “Hmm?”
“Hot, wet, and wanting me, sweetheart.”
Damian smeared Lily’s arousal over her folds and up to her clit. He circled the little nub, feeling her shake from the attention. He kept teasing her with his touches until she rocked her hips into his hand and begged for more.
“Please, please, please,” Lily whimpered. “Fuck me.”
Damian smirked, chuckles building in his chest. “I don’t know how to tell you no, Lily.”
Wrapping his fist in her ripped shirt again, Damian pulled her up from the ground until she was nose to nose with him and her eyes were locked with his. Lily’s pupils dilated wide, her breath catching hard in her chest.
“I love you,” he said softly.
Lily kissed his mouth gently. “I love you.”
Keeping his hold on Lily with one hand, Damian used his other to guide his cock to her sex. He rolled the head of his member through the fleshly lips of her pussy, letting her juices cover the tip of his dick. He let his cock go, letting it rest along the seam of her sex so he could grind his hardness into her soft, wet warmth.
Lily grabbed Damian’s wrist, bringing his fingers to her lips. His digits were still wet with her come. She sucked his fingers into her mouth without a word. Damian couldn’t hold back the growl forming at the sight of her lips encompassing his digits while her teeth scraped along his skin. He reveled in the feeling of her tongue sweeping at his fingers, cleaning them of her fluids.
“You taste like sin,” Damian told her, knowing it was true.
Sin. Sugar. Heaven.
Bliss.
She always tasted like bliss, too.
Lily released his fingers from the confines of her hot little mouth but not before kissing the tips of the digits. Damian rubbed his fingers along her pink lips as he rocked his body into hers one more time. As his cock came down to the entrance of her pussy, he pushed in with a slowness he knew would let her feel every fucking inch of his dick filling her.
“Oh, God,” Lily gasped.
He wanted her full, aching, and needing.
Only for him.
Lily’s head fell back, exposing the creamy expanse of her neck and collarbones as Damian’s cock seated fully inside her clenching walls. He took that moment just to feel her bare, soaking him, and taking all of him.
“Don’t you feel that?” Damian asked. “How you fit me, bella? How I fill you?”
Lily’s tongue peeked out to sweep over her lips. “Yes.”
“More?”
“More,” she echoed.
Damian pulled out from her sex just as slowly as he’d entered her. When he could feel the head of his dick at the entrance of her pussy, it took all his willpower not to slam right back inside her and fuck her until she was screaming his name and begging for every bit that he could give her.
“I adore you,” Damian murmured.
“Mmm.”
“I love fucking you.”
Lily moaned. “Jesus.”
“You’re my perfect fit, Lily.”
A shudder wracked over her body, vibrating them both. Damian’s own shiver worked its way over his spine as he held Lily in place, keeping her from rocking further into his dick. Fuck, he wanted her so badly.
“So beautiful,” he told her.
“Yours.”
He touched her lips again, feeling her tongue strike out against the pad of his fingers.
“Yours,” she said with a tenderness he hadn’t expected.
Damian thrust inside her again before retreating much slower than he entered her. Lily whined under him, her fingernails digging deep into his chest and ass. “Look at me, sweetheart.”
Lily’s lashes fluttered as she sighed in her bliss. The tight, hot walls of her pussy clamped around him as he pushed in faster, deeper.
“Lily, look at me,” Damian ordered. “Right now.”
Lily met his stare, her lips falling open with a quiet cry. “Damian …”
“Nothing else matters.”
Lily rocked into his cock on the cold grass, holding him tighter. His hand, still fisted into her ruined shirt, shook from the emotions rolling through his body and threatening to take him under. Her hand let go of his ass to weave into his hair. The slight bite of pain ricocheted through his body along with the bliss singing in his blood as she yanked on the strands and arched off the ground.
“There … right fucking there,” Lily said, her voice barely above a breath. “Oh, my God, Damian.”
“Say it,” Damian said.
Lily wet her lips under her tongue, murmuring, “Nothing else matters.”
“Just this.”
Another thrust drove his words home. Her sweet fluids gushed around his cock as he withdrew and slammed right back in, moving them both across the wet grass. Damian yanked on her shirt, ripping it more as he pulled her closer to him. Close enough that he could bite her bottom lip and taste the heat of her blood on his tongue. Lily met every plunge of his hips with her own rocking, tugging harder on his hair the more he kissed and nipped at her mouth and jaw.
Lily’s cries turned louder, like the sweetest music to his ears. “So close.”
“Just us,” Damian said through his clenched teeth.
Lily blew out a shaky breath. “Just us.”
He could feel every inch of her walls flexing around his shaft as he fucked her. Damian’s hand dug into the soft ground, needing something stable. Lily’s legs tightened around his hips, her heels digging into his lower back and pushing him into her with every thrust.
“Fuck,” Lily said, whispering the word. “Damian.”
She came undone around him shaking, mumbling his name, with a tear streaking down the side of her cheek as her nails scratched a set of lines across his chest. Damian wasn’t far behind. He finally let go of the hold he had on her shirt and grabbed tightly to her hips. Holding her still to his body so his cock was as deep as he could fucking manage to get it, Damian released into her sex in thick, ropey streams.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Damian chanted, falling forward.
Lily wrapped her arms around his torso and didn’t let go. With his face buried into Lily’s neck and the feeling of their sex still lingering around his senses, Damian was content. Far more than he had ever been. Peace—that was what this beautiful, strong woman was to him. She brought a sense of completion into his heart, filled his body with fire, and he loved it. He needed it.
“Openness,” Lily said softly.
Damian kissed her neck, the waves of pleasure still keeping his cock semi-hard inside of her sex. Nothing had ever felt quite so sublime clenching around his dick. “Hmm?”
“You need to be open with me. Everyday. No matter what. Whenever I ask. No omitting.”
“I can do that.”
“I don’t forgive you,” she said.
“This isn’t about that.”
Lily nodded. “Yeah, I know that, too.”
Damian leaned up enough to capture Lily’s lips with his own. He kissed her hard and let his tongue war with hers as she sighed into the kiss. Weaving his fingers into her hair, Damian kissed a path over her jaw, down her dirty neck, and over her collarbones.
“Tell me you love me,” he said against her skin.
“I love you.”
“Need me.”
“So much,” Lily breathed, writhing under his wandering hands and desire.
“Marry me.”
Lily stilled.
Damian didn’t relent. “Marry me, Lily. Marry me because you love me; because you don’t have to like everything I do or even understand the reasons why I do it. Marry me because you want to; because you want to walk down the aisle and see me waiting there to meet you. Marry me because you need that like I need it, too. Marry me.”
“I—”
Damian met her gaze, quieting her instantly. “It’s a yes or no question.”
“I don’t have a choice,” Lily said.
“I’m giving you one.”
“You can’t do that. Dino—”
“Stop,” Damian interjected firmly. “I am giving you one, Lily DeLuca. I am giving you what he didn’t. You can say no and I will refuse to follow through with Dino’s arrangement, regardless of what might happen. That doesn’t matter. It will never matter. What does matter at this moment is a yes or a no. That’s all.”
Tears slipped from the corners of Lily’s eyes. For once, Damian didn’t try to wipe away the proof of her emotions that usually hurt him so badly.
“Yes or no,” he said again.
Lily blinked. “You’ll always love me.”
It wasn’t even a question.
“Yes.”
“Forever,” she said.
“Yes.”
“You shouldn’t propose during sex, Damian.”
His laughter rocked them both. “It’s after, technically.”
“No, you’re hard again. Every part of me can feel it.”
Damian was. “Point taken. But you’re deflecting.”
“No, I’m not,” Lily said, never breaking his gaze. “Be there to meet me at the end.”
“Always.”
“Then yes.”
A grin split Damian’s lips. “Yes?”
“Yes,” Lily echoed. “But I’m still so angry with you.”
“That’s okay,” he said.
A familiar rumbling woke Damian from the daze he was in. Lily barely reacted at all to the sound, or she didn’t hear it like he had. He scrambled off the wet grass, pulling a confused Lily up with him. He fixed his pants and pulled his wet T-shirt over his head. Damian helped Lily back into the shorts he’d pulled off earlier. Quickly, he grabbed her flats she’d kicked off and held them out for her to slip her feet back into. Her shirt was ruined, but at least it wasn’t falling off her.
Damian had a hard time keeping his baser instincts under control as he looked Lily over. He’d bitten and kissed her lips a rosy red. Her hair was a mess from his hands and their frenzied fucking. She looked goddamn gorgeous. Like he’d been all over her.
“Is that …?”
“Dino’s car,” Damian said.
“Crap,” Lily muttered.
“Don’t worry about it. Just go inside, go back to sleep, and don’t act surprised when you see me sitting at the kitchen table in the morning.”
Lily frowned. “But—”
Damian interrupted whatever she was going to say by pulling her in close for a kiss. “What did you see, Lily?”
She didn’t even think about it.
“Nothing. I saw nothing.”
Damian stared at the colorful screen of his laptop, wondering if he should make the call.
“What are you doing?” Tommas asked, tipping back his beer to finish what was left.
“Thinking,” Damian replied.
“It’s a little late to be having second thoughts.”
Damian flipped his cousin the middle finger. “Not about the wedding.”
“Good, because you’re due at the altar in …” Tommas trailed off, checking his watch. “Fifteen hours.”
“Thanks for the reminder.”
“You should sleep, Damian.”
Damian had too much shit to consider before he could sleep.
“What are you still doing here?” Damian asked. “The party ended hours ago.”
Well, if you could consider a few friends hanging around drinking and doing nothing else a party. Tommas refused to let Damian get married without some kind of final goodbye to his single life. Damian consented to his cousin and a couple of Tommas’ friends coming over to his apartment for a few beers and a game of poker.
Damian won the poker match. He always did.
“Giving you company,” Tommas finally answered.
Damian passed Tommas a look. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Yeah, well, fucking deal with it. I’m not giving you anything else.”
Tommas didn’t have to. Damian already knew. Abriella Trentini was on a shorter leash than ever before. With the families fighting like they were, it was probably damn near impossible for Tommas to get any time around the girl.
“You’re sulking about Abriella again, aren’t you?” Damian asked.
Tommas scowled. “I thought you didn’t want to know.”
“I don’t, but I figure it would be rude if I didn’t ask.”
“That, and you like to know everything.”
“Partly,” Damian agreed.
“I just … it fucking sucks,” Tommas decided on saying.
Damian could understand that. He wouldn’t like it very much if the thing he loved was kept from him, either. Even if Tommas’ and Abriella’s situation was a precarious one simply because of their ages and other minor details. Like her grandfather.
“My place feels empty,” Tommas added.
“If you grow a uterus and your dick turns inside out, don’t call me to whine about it,” Damian said, chuckling.
Tommas opened his mouth to speak, but shut it just as fast. “Asshole.”
“I try.”
“I should get going,” Tommas said, sighing. “Try to sleep.”
Well, Abriella would be at the wedding tomorrow standing with Lily. As long as Tommas kept things clean, he could probably get away with at least talking to his lover.
“Are you good?” Tommas asked Damian.
Damian nodded toward the apartment door. “I’m fine, Tommas. Really.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Damian had never been surer of anything in his life like he was of Lily. He adored that woman—loved her entirely.
“Yeah, get out of here,” Damian said.
Tommas smiled and pushed up from the chair. “I’ll be here to pick you up bright and early. Confession before pleasure, as the saying goes.”
Damian scoffed. “I never confess anything.”
He had nothing worth confessing. Nothing he wanted forgiveness for, anyway.
“Whatever. It’s tradition for the Rossi family. Suck it up. Knowing you, you’re going to need a couple of extra hours for penance.”
“Hey—” Damian stopped himself before adding, “Probably. Get the hell out of here already.”
Tommas’ hands flew up. “Going, going.”
The moment his apartment door closed, Damian picked up his cell phone and dialed a familiar number. Lily’s cheerful voice picked up on the second ring. Damian cringed at the noise level in the background.
Approved club, he reminded himself. There were also a group of body guards Terrance had appointed for the girls for Lily’s last hurrah. That did not help the swell of jealousy building inside Damian’s chest.
“Hello?” Lily asked.
“Sweetheart.”
Damian could practically feel her smile as Lily said, “You’re not supposed to call me tonight.”
“I think what you’re looking for is that I’m not supposed to see you,” Damian replied.
“Same thing.” The slight giddy tone she sported told Damian his girl had been drinking those ugly green things again. “Oh, he’s cute, Ella.”
Damian felt the growl-like sound claw outward from his throat. “Lily.”
“Hmm?”
“How many drinks have you had?”
Lily laughed. “Definitely not seven.”
“You’re awful.”
“You love it,” she shot back.
Damian smirked. “I do.”
“Good,” Lily hummed.
The final couple of weeks leading up to their wedding had been hard. Not just because of the mess going on around them but because Damian knew how he hurt Lily by keeping what he had from her. They didn’t talk about it a lot but he figured they didn’t have to for her pain to be clear to him.
She didn’t understand. She didn’t act like she did.
But Lily loved him.
That was what mattered most to Damian.
“Why are you calling?” Lily asked.
“I just wanted to make sure you weren’t making a run for it.”
“Liar.” Damian flinched. Lily caught what she said quickly enough and muttered, “Kidding. You’re still going to be waiting at the other end for me?”
“Always.”
“Then I’ll meet you there.”
“All right. Love you,” Damian said.
“Love you,” Lily whispered.
Damian ended the call and dropped his phone on the couch cushion. For another twenty minutes, he stared at the screen of his laptop again, letting the opened window for the conference call option taunt him further.
He didn’t need to ask for permission to do the final job Dino asked for. Well, the job wasn’t only for Dino. Killing Terrance Trentini would work to Damian’s favor in a lot of ways. It would take him out of the spotlight as the potential for a future boss and nobody would ever believe that Damian could kill Terrance. Not being as close as they seemed to be.
They weren’t really close at all.
Nonetheless, killing a boss could come with consequences. Not just from inside the Outfit, but from families in other states aligned with them. Syndicates had protocols and rules for that sort of thing. They expected some kind of say at the end of it all.
Before he could overthink it further, Damian reached forward and hit the call button on a contact he’d purposely changed the name of in case anyone ever got a look at his list. The trip he’d taken to New York for the Commission and meeting of the bosses had been beneficial in more ways than one.
Just because Terrance didn’t like certain families didn’t mean Damian couldn’t have connections with them. Keeping friends close but enemies closer had a whole different meaning in the mafia.
Damian checked the clock on the bottom, right-hand corner of the screen and noted the late time. He probably shouldn’t be calling a New York Don without first going through some form of connections between other men in the family, but Damian didn’t have that option at his disposal. Not considering everything.
Just when Damian was about to hang up the call, Dante Marcello picked up on his end. Dante ruled over the dominating family in New York as their leader. Being the Marcello Don also meant Dante had a great deal of control and influence with the other major families of the Commission. He was also what many men considered to be the Boss of bosses. Damian didn’t want problems from other families arising because of Terrance’s death. Having Dante on his side, one of the most ruthless crime bosses in North America, would certainly help Damian’s cause.
“Ciao,” Dante greeted as the screen flickered with the Marcello Don’s picture. “Marcello speaking. If you talk any louder than a mouse, the next time I see you will not end pleasantly.”
Damian laughed under his breath. “Oh?”
The live shot of an office Damian didn’t recognize filled the background as Dante sat down in a large, leather chair. Even more surprising was the toddler boy Dante held, snuggled into his chest. The young boy’s face was hidden into Dante’s neck. In footie pajamas and with just a peek of a thumb sticking out, Damian guessed the boy was sucking on the digit.
Damian grinned at the sight of Dante holding the child like the two were in the midst of snuggling. It was such a contradictory sight compared to the man Damian knew Dante to be. While Damian had been aware Dante had a young, adopted son, he didn’t realize the man was such a hands-on Dad.
Apparently even cold men could be daddies.
“Damian Rossi,” Dante said, grinning. “This is a surprise.”
“Sorry for the late call,” Damian said, keeping his voice down for the child’s sake.
Dante shrugged. “If it were any other night, you wouldn’t have caught me. Michel is having problems with his molars coming in. He keeps us up a great deal of the time. What can I do for you?”
Damian had struck an unlikely friendship with Dante during that meeting of the bosses. Dante was sharp, quick, and brutal when he wanted something. Damian appreciated that. They’d exchanged contact numbers just in case something came up in the future. Damian supposed something had, now.
“It’s an interesting situation,” Damian said vaguely.
Dante chuckled. “They always are. No beating around the bush, what do you want?”
“Hits on high members should always go through the Commission, shouldn’t they?”
“They should,” Dante said slowly, raising a brow high. “Usually it’s passed through the grapevine and not a direct call with an actual face behind the hit, Damian.”
“I’m not the usual, I guess.”
“I guess not.” Dante sighed, patting the bottom of his son as he asked, “Who’s it for?”
“Terrance.”
Dante’s expression didn’t change on the screen at all. “Why?”
Damian shrugged. “Nothing is ever simple and getting into it all would be pointless on your end.”
“It would,” Dante agreed. “I’m curious though, so indulge me.”
“I don’t want to be you,” Damian said.
Dante smiled. “That was not the answer I expected to hear.”
“There’s more but that’s the most important part.”
“I heard whispers about trouble in Chicago, but I wasn’t sure,” Dante said. “They say it’s bad enough for a war.”
“Something like that.” Damian raked a hand through his hair and asked, “I know the request is supposed to go through all the bosses, but I figured one was enough as long as it was the right one.”
“Why am I the right one, Damian?”
“Capo di tutti capi,” Damian murmured.
The Boss of bosses.
“I’ve never claimed that title,” Dante said quietly.
“You don’t have to.”
Not for it to be true.
Dante sucked in a deep breath like he was considering it all. “Regardless of what I say, the hit will go through, won’t it?”
“Probably,” Damian said honestly. “But I know you’ve got a few chips in the pool down here and a new boss might do you some good, too.”
“Who would take it?” Dante asked.
“Hard to say.”
“A new boss would do well. Lucian would love to finally get that apology he’s owed.”
Damian shook his head. “Is that all?”
“Believe me, in Cosa Nostra, an apology means more than anyone could possibly understand. It isn’t too late for the Outfit and the Marcellos to reconcile their issues if the right boss were to take the seat. A boss with the right motives and morals.”
“Who’s the right boss for you?” Damian asked, throwing the man’s question right back at him.
“That’s not for me to decide, just make sure he’s married when he comes to his first meeting. Make the hit, Damian. What else do you need from me?”
“Keep my name out of it. On all sides.”
“Will do,” Dante said. “You should have put the feelers out to the other bosses just to be safe.”
Damian wasn’t worried. “You can say I did.”
Dante laughed. “Yeah, that works, too. One more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“I heard you’re getting married.”
Damian cleared his throat, unsurprised. “Tomorrow, actually. Didn’t you get an invitation?”
“We did, but declined. I appreciated the thought but you know how it goes.”
“No apology, no Marcellos.”
“Exactly. Is your marriage for love?” Dante asked.
“Was yours?”
“No, but my wife has a way about her. Are you marrying for love?”
“It wasn’t for love,” Damian said.
“But?”
“My girl has a way about her.”
Dante laughed darkly. “The good women always do. Congratulations.”