by Bethany-Kris
“No, you’re pushing your food around on your plate and staring at it.”
Damn it.
Lily was far too observant for her own good. When she was a kid, Theo used to think that perceptiveness would be a good thing for her. Then again, five years separated the two siblings with Theo being the oldest at twenty-seven, so he’d always kind of hoped Lily had something inside to keep her going. God knew her brothers wouldn’t be able to carry her forever.
Dino was already gone, after all.
Theo’s gaze flicked in Damian’s direction. The man wasn’t watching anything but his wife. It was the one thing Theo took solace in over the last few months. Lily was okay and despite how crazy it was that her marriage to Damian worked out in her favor, she had someone who could keep her safe in the hurricane that was the Outfit
Yeah. A hurricane. It was an apt description for their lives and the craziness around them.
“Theo,” Lily said again, quieter the second time.
“What, little one?” Theo asked.
“What is up with you?”
A lot.
Mostly, it made Theo feel ten different kinds of awkward whenever he entered Dino’s house. His older brother was marked over every inch. It reminded Theo that he’d spent a lot of time trying to be someone else other than Dino DeLuca’s brother. By the time he understood none of that was important, it was too late.
“Lily, go get us a couple of drinks, huh?” Damian asked.
Frowning, Lily nodded and pushed out of her chair. Once she was gone from the dining room, Damian turned his attention on Theo. The slate-blue eyes of Theo’s companion barely flickered with any emotion or care. Theo didn’t mind. The only time Damian cared to show emotion was toward his wife.
“There’s a difference between grief and anger,” Damian said.
Theo leaned back in his chair. “Oh?”
“Yes, but it’s a very fine line.”
“So I’m learning.”
“Have you learned yet that they often walk hand in hand?”
Theo chuckled dryly. “What are you, the resident therapist, Ghost?”
Damian smirked. “No, just your brother-in-law.”
It was automatic. Theo couldn’t stop it. He flinched at the word brother, but Damian didn’t say a thing. Theo wanted to get the hell off this topic and fast.
“How’s the Rossi crew coming?”
“Tedious,” Damian replied.
That was life as a Capo.
Damian had finally gotten a crew to control when his cousin Tommas stepped up as the front boss for the operation. With nobody else familiar enough to run the Rossi side of things in the Outfit as a proper Capo, Damian was the first nomination to get the seat.
“I never wanted to be a Capo,” Damian said, shrugging. “Someone always fucking needs something. Someone else is whining about this or that. And then you’ve got all the little pricks on the streets testing your patience at every turn.”
“Take a few out,” Theo suggested.
“Out?”
“Yeah, whack them, D. Clean it up and spill some blood. Make them afraid. Scare them into compliance. You know this game. Killing is your thing, isn’t it? So go on out and do what you do. Trust me, they’ll catch on quickly enough and cull the nonsense.”
Damian’s cool expression didn’t change. “Taking a few men out isn’t likely to do me any good when I want a strong crew, Theo. Unless, of course, you think dropping my numbers is a good thing to do when there’s still a lot of unrest between the families.”
It was a valid concern. There was little to no love between the three highest men in the Outfit currently. The boss, Riley, couldn’t get his underboss and front boss to work together. Joel Trentini faced off with Tommas Rossi at every chance he could. Tommas brushed Joel off with his usual nonchalance and disinterest.
It made for a bad boss when he couldn’t handle his men.
“Bad apples will infect the rest,” Theo warned.
“There is no such thing as a bad apple. By nature’s course, something will come along and pick up the discarded ones.”
“True.”
“Have you picked up a few of your own along the way?” Damian asked.
“What is that supposed to mean, D?”
“I think you know, Theo.”
“Let’s say fuck the runaround and get straight to the dirty point of it all, huh? Besides, I didn’t come over here to play word games with you, Damian. I came over here to have dinner with my sister.”
Damian chuckled. “Then why aren’t you eating?”
Before Theo could answer, Lily slipped back into the dining room with two bottles of beer in hand. She set one in front of Theo before giving her husband the other and then taking her seat.
“As you were saying,” Theo said, waving at Damian.
“Maybe you’ve let a few of the bad apples bleed their way into your good ones.”
“I’m not an idiot. There are a hell of a lot of rumors about Dino’s death. And I certainly haven’t tried to hide my blame and contempt for Riley where that is concerned.”
“But you can’t deny the whispers of other men’s involvement, either.”
Men like Joel Trentini.
There were issues with Dino’s death and Riley’s possible involvement. Dino’s murder did little to move Riley along in gaining power and position other than inciting fear in the Outfit. Any person’s death would have worked just as well. It didn’t make sense. Theo was waiting patiently. Someone was bound to fuck up. Someone, on their way to the top, was going to screw up something and fill in all the blanks.
He would be there waiting when they did.
“Do you think I’m stupid, Damian?” Theo asked.
Lily clicked her tongue chidingly, but both men ignored her quiet warning.
“No, Theo. Not stupid. I think you’re grieving.”
Theo’s jaw clenched. “Maybe so, but let’s be real here. Say whatever it is you’re chewing on.”
Damian passed his quiet wife a look and then said, “What was it that Dino always used to say when we were kids and dipped our hands in other families’ games?”
“Stick to our side of Chicago and stop playing with snakes,” Theo said.
“Yeah, so maybe you should do that, Theo.”
“I am.”
Damian cocked a brow. “Artino.”
Theo’s cheek twitched as he tried to hold back his aggravation. Ever since Dino’s passing, Walter Artino had tried taking the DeLuca reigns more and more. It was starting to get annoying. Theo couldn’t let the DeLuca name be sullied by the Artino cause.
Simple as that.
“What about him?” Theo asked.
“Not him. The family. The entire bunch.”
“Again, do you think I’m stupid, Damian?”
Damian’s lips flattened into a grim line. “You need to be careful, Theo. Nobody is out to help you right now. Once people get in, you can’t get them out.”
Theo laughed, brushing off the comment and his sister’s curious look. “There’s always a way to get them out, Damian. It’s called a bullet.”
“And this feud your guys have with the Conti crew,” Damian added.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Damian scoffed. “Sure.”
“I show up to tribute. I give Riley his dues. I follow the fucking rules, D.”
“And you keep letting blood spill all the while. Stop that before it gets out of hand again, Theo.”
“I am not the one fighting with the Conti crew.”
“Theo,” Lily said softly. “Things are quiet with the families right now. Let them stay that way.”
“Things have never been quiet,” Damian replied before Theo could. “Too much has been left unsaid for the families to be quiet, sweetheart.”
Lily frowned, but didn’t respond.
“Where is this coming from, anyway?” Theo asked.
Damian cut a piece of his steak and kept his eyes down on h
is plate. “A friend to a friend, Theo. Besides, you know me. I take care of what’s mine. Family is important.”
Sure.
Except Damian was a Rossi.
“Which family is that?” Theo asked.
“The only one that matters, of course.”
That answered everything, didn’t it?
“Are you going to the wedding tomorrow?” Lily asked.
Theo scowled. “No.”
“But—”
“Riley Conti doesn’t need me at his wedding, Lily. Walter is going, anyway. That’s enough for our side of things.”
“Is he the only one going?” Damian asked.
“Yes,” Theo answered.
“You’re making a pretty bold statement there, Theo.”
The world didn’t revolve around Riley Conti.
“Adriano—”
Theo held up a hand, stopping Damian before he could get in another word. “I’m not concerned about Adriano Conti’s little feud with some of the DeLuca crew. I told him on the night Riley became boss that I wanted nothing from him.”
“Your men’s actions on the street say differently,” Damian said.
“That’s my men, not me,” Theo replied coolly.
“Yours or Walter’s?”
“Exactly.”
Damian didn’t move as he took in that statement. “I guess you’re not as blind as I thought.”
“I like this, though,” Theo said.
“Taking the blame for Walter’s revenge because of his son’s death?”
Theo laughed darkly. “No, making Riley uncomfortable. He’s probably wondering when I’m going to strike him.”
“Are you going to?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” Theo answered honestly.
“What if I told you that Riley didn’t order the hit on Dino,” Damian said.
“It wouldn’t make a difference.”
“Why not?”
“Because right now, it’s more than just Dino. And even if it was just about him, there are only a few men who I can point the finger at. They’re all pretty high right now, Damian.”
“Your point?” Damian asked.
“Sometimes you have to take out the top and wait for the rest to crumble in on itself. It’s the only way to get out clean.”
Theo didn’t want to be the boss. It wasn’t about that at all. People could believe what they wanted. The war wasn’t over.
Not even close.
“Here, let me help you,” Theo said, grabbing the pile of plates his sister was balancing.
Lily smiled and let him take the dirty dishes. “Gentleman, huh? No wonder there are all those rumors about you and a dozen different women. They can’t say no to the charm, Theo. You should put that to use and find yourself someone to settle down with.”
Theo barely held back from scoffing. He was not a gentleman. A little rough around the edges. Cold in his heart. Bloodthirsty on the streets.
DeLuca born and bred.
DeLucas didn’t make nice, pillow-talking, sweet-touching bedfellows. A good, hard fuck that was sure to leave him satisfied, worn out, and dirty? Sure. But being a gentleman didn’t fall into that category at all.
Theo wished his sister didn’t hear anything about his bedroom activities. Lily didn’t need to be concerning herself with who he was or was not fucking. He wasn’t nasty enough to tell her to mind her business, though.
“No, but you’re my sister and all,” Theo settled on saying. “So maybe you stick to bothering me about keeping my bachelor apartment clean and not who I should be filling it with.”
“Hey, I was just saying.”
“I don’t need you to, Lily.”
Lily hummed under her breath like she didn’t believe him. “Whatever, Theo. Someone’s going to come along and you won’t even see them coming.”
“Not everybody wants someone, Lily.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
He would.
The last thing Theo needed was some female inserting herself into his life and getting him caught up in a mess he couldn’t clean. He had enough of that going on with the Outfit and his streets, never mind his family.
Women?
Not anytime soon.
Theo followed Lily into the kitchen, deposited the plates where she directed, and then he proceeded to help Lily rinse them off before filling the dishwasher. The two siblings stayed quiet as they worked. Damian had excused himself after supper saying he had phone calls to make.
“It’s the house, isn’t it?” Lily asked quietly.
She didn’t take her eyes off the dishwasher as she pressed the buttons. She’d left her crystal wine glass sitting on the counter to wash by hand.
“What about the house, little one?”
“It reminds you of Dino. Right?”
Theo shifted restlessly, leaning back against the cupboard. “Why would you think that?”
“You don’t come over much anymore.”
“I didn’t come over much when Dino was alive.”
It was the truth.
Theo had spent too many years trying to get out from under Dino’s name. He hadn’t wanted to be just Dino DeLuca’s younger brother growing up. He wanted his own name being carried through the streets and the men in the Outfit.
He’d gotten his wish.
In all the wrong ways.
Before Theo realized all the good his brother had done by actually giving the DeLucas a well-positioned, safe spot in the Outfit, it was gone. And so was Dino.
Theo felt the ice slip back into his veins like a familiar friend giving him comfort. It wouldn’t leave now.
“You were coming around a little bit more,” Lily said.
“Like any good brother would do.”
Dino was dead. The brothers never got the chance to fix their burned bridges.
“It’s better to leave the dog where he is than wake him up and beat him,” Theo told his sister.
Lily’s lips pursed like she wasn’t pleased with his answer, but thankfully, she didn’t push him on it. “Fine. Are you going to stay a while?”
“No, I need to head out. Big day tomorrow and all that.”
“I thought you weren’t going to the wedding.”
Theo smirked. “I’m not. That doesn’t mean I won’t be around, Lily.”
Riley Conti wasn’t the only man Theo had to keep an eye on, after all.
“Thanks for helping me clean up, Theo.”
“Of course.”
Pushing off the counter, Theo’s eye caught sight of a familiar bottle of red wine. He’d brought it over for his sister because he knew she liked red wine with her steak. Plus, it wasn’t nice to show up to someone’s home without bringing some kind of a gift.
“Is that not the brand you like?” Theo asked, plucking up the bottle to read the label.
“What are you going on about?”
“The wine, Lily.”
Lily’s gaze widened as she noticed the bottle in his hands. “Shit, I meant to put that away.”
Why?
Theo glanced down at the bottle again. This was Lily’s brand, circa 40s and specially imported from Sicily. It was expensive as hell, but his sister was worth the money.
“Saving it or something?” Theo asked, amused.
Lily’s teeth caught her bottom lip, and Theo knew right then a lie was on the tip of her tongue. She wasn’t any good at lying and her brothers had always known when she did tell one.
“Lily,” Theo said quietly, “you were drinking from a wine glass tonight.”
“Yes.”
The glass was a blue colored crystal and still sitting on the counter.
“Not the wine I brought you.”
Lily sighed. “God, why can’t you leave things alone?”
“Because you’re my sister and I worry,” Theo replied.
“About which brand of wine I drink?”
“No, about why you wanted me to think you were drinking this wine. If you didn’t wa
nt it, you could have—”
“I can’t drink wine, Theo, and I didn’t want to be rude.”
Theo’s brow shot up high. “Excuse me?”
“I can’t drink wine. Not for another eight months.”
It took Theo far too long to realize what his sister was saying. He grew still as his gaze flicked between the wine in his hands and the smile playing on Lily’s mouth.
“We’re not ready to start telling people, Theo,” Lily added softer. “There’s a lot of unhappiness between the families and problems happening. Plus, Adriano and Alessa just announced their pregnancy a few weeks ago and that’s still sinking in.”
“Yes, but you two are married and weren’t sneaking around behind your families’ backs,” Theo said, trying to figure out how Adriano Conti and Alessa Trentini’s pregnancy made any difference to his sister’s.
“I know that,” Lily replied. “The fact still remains, they shouldn’t be shamed any more than they’ve already been by the Outfit, Theo. It’s a baby, people should be happy. They’re getting married next month. It’s all settled. I’m not the kind of woman who will flaunt my pregnancy for others to use it, and say that’s how it should be, not how theirs happened to come about.”
Theo rubbed at his temple as he set the wine bottle down. “The whispers won’t stop after they get married, Lily.”
“Maybe not, but I still think they should be able to enjoy this time and have a bit of happiness just for them.”
“Selfless girl.”
“She is,” Damian said from the kitchen entryway.
Theo tried to not to react to his brother-in-law’s sudden presence. Damian did that shit far too often. “Congrats are in order, I guess.”
“Thank you,” Lily said, smiling.
“It didn’t take you two very long.”
“Theo!”
Damian chuckled, but stayed quiet.
Theo shrugged. “Just saying it like it is.”
“I’m sorry for lying about the wine but I’ll put it in the cellar.”
Winking, Theo ticked his sister under the chin.
“Do that,” he said, “and the day my niece or nephew is born, we’ll bring it out and celebrate. I’ll even sneak it into your hospital room.”
Lily grinned wide. “Yeah?”
“Absolutely.”
“That’s awful,” Damian said under his breath. “I’m going to pretend like you two aren’t planning something like that.”