Andino stepped out of his house, and eyed the quiet street. The sky was bright, and near cloudless. Despite the cold, it was a beautiful morning. The street looked peaceful, and Andino’s presence on his doorstep hadn’t changed that fact.
It wasn’t that he expected something to happen the moment he left his place, considering enforcers had been posted at his door, and all that good shit, but still. He hadn’t left the house since the shooting a few days earlier—doctor’s orders. Well, and Dante’s.
So, that first step felt … cautious.
Yes, that was as good of a word as any.
He didn’t for a second think the Calabrese brothers were stupid enough to attack him the very second he left his house for the first time, but it was hard to tell what those bastards were capable of sometimes. Hadn’t they already proven that they were more than willing to kick a man when he was already down if that meant getting what they wanted?
Andino was not that stupid.
Fool me once, and all that nonsense.
He was not going to allow them to get one over on him a second time. He’d eat the barrel of his own gun first, and that wasn’t even him being dramatic.
Snaps trailed close to Andino’s side, but kept his nose to the ground. Apparently, even the dog wasn’t going to leave anything to chance today.
So was his life.
“Come on, then,” Andino said, pulling open the passenger door to a rental Mercedes. His fucking Lexus was still in the shop getting patched up. It’d taken ten bullets, and he didn’t want the car back unless it was in perfect condition. Snaps gave the vehicle a look, clearly recognizing it wasn’t the car he preferred. “Get in—we’re leaving.”
The dog huffed in that way of his—solemn and irritated at the same time—but was quick to follow the order, and jump inside the car. Andino closed the passenger door behind his pup, and then rounded the front to slide in the driver’s side.
But not before giving the enforcer who was trailing him today a look. The guy had parked on the other side of the road, and given the cold March air, had stayed inside his running vehicle. Andino didn’t blame him.
It wasn’t long before Andino was on the road, and heading for the heart of the city. The faint sting in his arm kept him from getting too comfortable every time he had to move the steering wheel even a fraction of an inch.
Fuck.
That bullet graze was not going to let up.
His phone chimed with a call just as he pulled onto a familiar block in upper Manhattan, but he didn’t bother to pick it up even as the car’s speakers told him who the caller was. His father. He’d see Gio in less than ten minutes, anyway. Surely, he could wait.
Andino pulled the Mercedes into a back alleyway, and parked. Snaps wasn’t allowed inside restaurants, but certainly not businesses that didn’t belong to Andino. Sure, this place was his uncle’s, but that didn’t make a difference to the health code, and inspectors. It only took one person making a goddamn complaint.
That just meant Andino had to be … careful.
With Snaps close to his side, Andino approached the back exit door of the business, and knocked twice with two knuckles. Quickly, the door was opened to showcase Lucian’s enforcer who always kept watch at his post as long as his boss was working inside the private dining section of the business.
“Andino,” the enforcer greeted.
Soon, the man would be calling him boss.
Andino had … sort of … resigned himself to that fact. He wasn’t as fucking stuck in his feelings and emotions as he once had been about the whole thing. It might not have been what he would have chosen, but it was for the best.
And wasn’t that what counted?
Apparently so.
“Your father and Lucian are in the private section,” the man said.
Andino nodded, and stepped in the doorway. Snaps was quick to follow even when the enforcer gave the pup a look like he was going to say something. The man wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.
Going through the back was an easy way to keep Snaps from being seen. The hallway led past the offices, and into another section that allowed someone to go to the main floor, into the kitchen, or the private area. A patron never even saw someone coming in and out of the back.
Made for easy, clean business.
Lucian was smart like that—all his restaurants had this sort of design in the back.
It wasn’t the first time the dog had been inside this particular business, but he did know it didn’t belong to Andino. So when they entered the private section, Snaps was quick to sit his ass down next to the doorway just inside the room, and he didn’t move even when Andino greeted his uncle and father.
“Starting without me?”
Gio grinned around the bite of waffle in his mouth. “We weren’t sure how long it was going to take for you to drag your ass out of bed, son.”
Lucian pointed a fork in his younger brother’s direction. “Exactly that.”
“Excuses.”
Andino dropped into the chair beside his father, and didn’t miss how Lucian was quick to press a button on the table. Less than a minute later, a server came in with fresh coffee, and a hot plate of breakfast food. She set it down in front of Andino with a smile before making her presence scarce.
“See, I didn’t forget about you, nipote,” Lucian said. “Eat first, business later.”
Andino couldn’t find it in himself to argue. Even though he’d gone several days being locked inside his house to rest after the shooting, and that meant he’d needed to let business slip a bit, this was a good way to start the day.
Food.
Family.
Business last.
Usually, business always came first.
The three ate in a comfortable silence. Snaps only left his position beside the door when Andino offered him two strips of bacon as a treat for behaving, but he was quick to go back to his spot once he had the meat.
It was only when Andino had finished his plate, and was sipping on the black coffee that his uncle decided to break the silence.
“We have a problem,” his uncle said.
Gio was still working on his plate, so he said nothing. Andino, on the other hand, was all ears.
“We have a lot of problems,” Andino returned, “so you’re going to have to be more specific.”
“John and Siena.”
Shit.
Yeah, that.
Andino set his cup down, and scrubbed a hand down his face. “With the way things are right now, I don’t see how the two of them can—”
“We made her a promise,” Lucian interjected quietly. “She wants to be with my son, and he is happy with her. I don’t give my word if I can’t keep it.”
“And you think I do?”
Lucian gave Andino a look that spoke volumes without actually needing to say anything at all. No, his uncle knew him well. Andino’s word meant the world. If he gave it, then he kept it. That was the end of it.
But this … this was fucking complicated.
All sorts of messy.
John was still in the psychiatric facility working on his shit, and Siena Calabrese was now locked away by her brothers. There were the beginnings of a street war echoing through the city between their family, and hers.
Nothing about this was easy.
“Dante wants a peaceful resolution,” Giovanni said, finally finishing with his plate. He pushed the dish away as he glanced up, adding, “So, I don’t know how that factors into the John and Siena thing, but not in any way that ends well for them, I imagine.”
To say the least …
“A peaceful resolution would be best,” Andino agreed.
From the perspective of a boss, he understood the need. As a man who had been wronged by the Calabrese, and knew just how much damage they had already done, he figured burning them to the ground would be the better choice.
Yeah.
Not easy at all.
“She makes John happy,” Lucian repeated.
“I’ll keep my word,” Andino replied.
A look passed between him and his uncle, silent and contemplative. An agreement without either of them actually saying a thing. Gio cleared his throat, and sat back in his chair to fold his arms over his chest, but he didn’t add anything to the conversation.
“Dante intends to make peace,” Lucian said.
“Well, he can try.”
Andino didn’t intend to let that happen; at least, not in the way his uncle wanted. There were things he would never bow to—the Calabrese was one of them.
His father frowned. “Dante might take that as—”
“Dante doesn’t have to know,” Andino said vaguely. “Not now, anyway.”
Gio let out a sigh. “This is not how Marcellos work.”
“If it isn’t how we work,” Andino countered, “then this breakfast never should have happened. You shouldn’t have invited me here. And we shouldn’t have agreed to move forward with our own plans in the first place. But here we are, and it needs to happen.”
“It does,” Lucian agreed.
No, Dante wouldn’t like it. For now, Andino simply needed to worry about other things, and in the meantime, keep his uncle happy. When it was all said and done, what could Dante really do about Andino’s plans for the Calabrese?
Nothing.
“All right,” Lucian said, glancing at his phone. “I need to head out.”
“You’re going to see John, yeah?”
Lucian nodded. “I’m due a visit. Or at least, see Leonard. The man keeps me informed as much as he can.”
“Say hello for me,” Andino replied.
“I will.”
It was only once Lucian was gone from the private room that Gio picked up his coffee cup, and took a sip. He turned his gaze on his son in that contemplative way again. Andino fully expected his father to ask about the Dante issue again, but the man surprised him.
And not in a good way.
“You’re messing with Haven again,” his father said. “You need to be careful.”
Andino downed the rest of his coffee, and stood from the table. “How about you let me handle that, Dad.”
“But are you?”
“Pardon?”
“Handling it, Andino. Are you?”
“In the way I want to.”
For now.
It was the best he could offer.
• • •
Andino held up a single finger and crooked it inward as Pink—one of his most trusted enforcers—darkened the doorway of his restaurant’s office. He continued his conversation on the phone even as the enforcer stepped into the office, and closed the door behind him.
The man on the phone continued talking about numbers, offers, and price points. What he should do, and how he should do it.
“Listen, this is what I want,” Andino said. “That’s the offer I am willing to give on the place. They will jump at it.”
“Yes,” his lawyer—one of many, although this one was the one Andino used for the legal side of his businesses—said, “but you’re offering twenty thousand above the asking price. Why? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Because I want to win the bid.”
“It’s not worth the extra—”
“Did I say I cared about what it was worth?” Andino asked. “Because I am pretty sure that wasn’t in the fucking details, Marty. Also, how much do I pay you again? Because I am starting to think it’s too fucking much when you’re this mouthy, and combative.”
“Now, Andino—”
“I’m serious.”
“You pay me enough to tell you when you’re making a bad business decision.”
Okay, that was fair. And it was also fair to say that Andino was more the type of businessman to talk someone’s offer on a business, location, or building down, and not offer more. Which was probably why Marty was quick to point out how this wasn’t the greatest idea.
Nonetheless, it needed to happen.
“Make the offer,” Andino said, “at the price I stated. Got it?”
“Why do you want this place so badly?”
“Because I just do. And remember what else I told you, too.”
Marty sighed, clearly frustrated. “Yeah, yeah—keep the deal tied up in paperwork and legalities for as long as I possibly can. Although, that seems fucking pointless too if you’re so willing to offer more than the asking price because you want the business this badly.”
He didn’t want the business he was trying to buy at all. He just needed it not to sell to someone else. So were his ways.
Andino didn’t intend to explain that to anyone. He never explained his motives before, and he wasn’t going to start now for a fucking lawyer on his payroll.
“Just do what I fucking said,” Andino snapped. “I have better things to do today than sit here and have a verbal sparring match with you. I pay you to do what I want, and not the other way around. Make sure to let me know as soon as the offer is accepted, too. Don’t fuck around with me, Marty. You won’t like what happens, I assure you.”
There, his patience was gone.
Well, fuck it. At least he tried. That counted for something, right?
Andino hung up the phone with the lawyer without a goodbye. It was only then that Pink finally looked at his boss, and smiled.
“Rough day?” the enforcer asked.
Andino scowled. “Something like that. People regularly testing my fucking patience.”
“What patience?”
“Exactly.”
Pink laughed. “What did you need, boss?”
Finally.
Back to the business Andino wanted to do. Or rather, business that needed done as soon as possible.
“I need someone dead, actually,” Andino said. “And I figured you’re as good of a man as any to do the job.”
Pink arched a brow. “Which man?”
“A Calabrese Capo, actually. The one Kev Calabrese always keeps close.”
The enforcer whistled low under his breath. “Damn. I mean, next to Kev’s own brother, you’re striking out pretty close to the top there, boss.”
“I’m not playing around anymore.”
Dante might not want to respond for what the Calabrese did to Andino, but he was sure as hell going to respond. Then, and only then, would Andino try to make some kind of peace with the bastards like his uncle wanted.
Or, it was going to seem that way.
Andino was a damn good liar.
“Didn’t the boss put out word that we weren’t to antagonize the Calabrese, and we were to stay out of their way as much as possible until the rest of this was settled?” Pink asked. “Because something like this sounds like exactly the opposite of what he wants.”
There was a method to Andino’s madness even if it didn’t seem clear, or he wasn’t willing to give all the answers right away. This was how he worked, and he wasn’t going to apologize for it, or explain himself.
“You’ll do the hit, won’t you?” Andino asked instead of responding to the man’s statement.
“If you tell me to,” the enforcer replied.
“I’m telling you to.”
Pink relaxed in the chair a bit. “And when do you want me to follow this hit through, boss?”
“Tonight. Make a show of it. I don’t want it to look like an accident. I want it to be very clear that it was intentional, and that it came from us.”
“Us, as in … the whole family, and not just you.”
Andino smiled. “You can’t let the snakes get away with even one bite or with the next one, they’ll swallow you whole.”
He couldn’t help if his uncle disagreed.
That wasn’t his problem.
• • •
Andino knew the very next minute after the hit had gone through on the Calabrese Capo because Pink was quick to call him. The enforcer knew how to follow directions, thankfully.
But even if Andino hadn’t known … had Pink decided to wait even ten more minutes before calling his boss, Andino still would have known the hit went through successfully because in their business, word like that was quick to make the rounds.
So fast, in fact, that before Andino even hung up the phone with Pink, Dante was already calling. His uncle barely said a word other than to spit out an order for Andino to get to the mansion right fucking now.
Somebody isn’t happy.
That was putting it mildly.
Andino had been listening to his uncle rage for the last ten minutes. Well, ever since he arrived at his grandparents’ mansion, anyway.
This was getting dull.
“What were you thinking?” Dante snarled.
How many times had he asked that now?
A few.
Funny thing was, Dante wasn’t actually looking for a proper response. He just wanted to shout and rage at Andino because he hadn’t followed the rules set out for him. It wasn’t that his uncle actually cared about the whys. Those weren’t important details.
“Well, talk!”
Andino gave his uncle a look. “Do you actually want me to this time? Because you’ve asked me that same question at least three times in five minutes, and haven’t allowed me to explain, so—”
“Fucking talk, Andino!”
“I was never going to let that go unanswered,” Andino said, shrugging his broad shoulders. “Not what they did to me. I will not have someone make an attempt on my life, and let it go. Peace, or no peace. They weren’t willing to sit down with us at the table even when you didn’t retaliate against them for coming after me—let’s see what the Calabrese want to do now when they see we’re not fucking around.”
Dante scrubbed a hand down his jaw, and gritted his teeth. He shot a look in the direction of his brothers who were both seated, and quiet in the office. They knew better than to speak up. Gio, because he was of the same opinion as Andino, and Lucian, because he was just fucking smart.
Since his uncle had decided to keep quiet, Andino continued talking. He had the floor, after all. “They’re snakes—we know this. They thought they had some kind of upper hand on us, and I just showed them how wrong they were by taking out one of their highest Capos, and Kev Calabrese’s closest friend next to his brother. They’re not stupid men. They know an honest to God street war with the Marcello family would not be in their best interests.”
“He has a point,” Lucian said. “And when we chose to not react against their actions, they only got worse. What might something like this change, Dante?”
“There was a point to what I wanted, brother.”
Lucian nodded. “But was it the right choice to make?”
Dante glared, but quickly turned his attention back on Andino. “You were not given permission to make a hit like that; you were out of fucking line.”
So be it.
“Are we finished here?” Andino asked.
Dante looked ready to blow his fucking top. He doubted his uncle thought that in all the people he could have chosen to take over after him, Andino would be the one to cause him this much trouble. He loved his uncle—respected the man more than anyone would ever know.
But Dante was stuck in a different time. He wanted different things for the Marcellos than what Andino knew the family and organization needed to thrive well into the future. Allowing a faction like the Calabrese to believe they had any kind of control or weight against their family would lead to nowhere good.
He understood why Dante wanted peace.
It was still wrong.
“We’re done,” Dante uttered through clenched teeth. “For now.”
That was fine with Andino.
He only needed this to start the ball rolling elsewhere.
After all … this wasn’t just for the Marcellos. This was for him, too. He was going to get what he wanted one way or the other. His uncle had given him the means and the motive when he said it would be the men sitting at the Commission who held him back from having Haven. It was the people there who would tell him no, and refuse him the woman he wanted the very most.
So, fine.
He’d make sure those who made up the Commission were people he chose to be there. That’s all there was to it.
That was the rope Andino needed—some men might hang themselves with it when given the chance, but he wasn’t that kind of man. He was the kind of man who didn’t mind using that rope to hang someone else.
And if the Marcellos came out better for it, which they would, then he didn’t see the problem. His uncle didn’t need to know that, though.
That wasn’t part of the plan.
Andino had just stepped out of the office while his uncle still muttered on behind him when his phone started to ring with a familiar tune. He grinned down at the name flashing on the screen.
Haven.
It took her long enough. He thought the note on the flowers was a nice touch … he just didn’t think it would take her this long to call about them.
Because really, what else would she be calling for?
She constantly surprised him.