by Bethany-Kris
“But this is enough to get excited over.”
Right.
But it wouldn’t take them down.
She heard what he didn’t say.
Vanna already knew.
“So, you need more,” she said, swallowing hard.
“Exactly.”
“A lot more.”
Perfect.
To her, that spelled bad things. More risks she would have to take, and time spent with Bene. Not that time with him bothered her, as it was quite the opposite. The more time she had with him ... well, the stranger her feelings about him became.
Playing with fire, Vanna.
“Has the twin figured out who you are yet?” the detective asked. “Because that would be bad, and you’d have to step back immediately. If he does, tell me. I can get you into a program, as long as we have enough information to lawfully go against the Guzzi organization, that will keep you safe. It could mean starting over ... from everything, including Camorra.”
Yeah.
He’d made that offer before.
Did she want to take it?
“He hasn’t figured it out, right?”
Vanna pushed away from the wall. “No.”
“Then, you’re all set.”
Was she?
Vanna didn’t know about that.
She left the detective sitting alone on the bench.
Her thoughts kept her company.
9.
Bene’s father had a habit of calling his men together just to remind them that he could do it, for no other reason than he wanted to. Oh, sure, business was always had at these meetings with Gian leading the conversation, but it was more a flex of his father’s power and position as the Don of the family than anything else.
Sometimes, Bene had attended the meetings before just because he could, or his father extended an invitation. Now that he was made, however, he didn’t have a choice but to attend even if he was supposed to be across the city, picking up payments for a Capo.
While his father chatted on with one of the family Capos, discussing the recent takeover of yet another maple syrup farm that they would use to launder money, as well as make money, Bene stood between his brothers. He stayed quiet because he didn’t have anything to add to a conversation he didn’t know very much about, and like the other made men around his father’s office, he hadn’t been invited into the discussion.
Between Mafiosi, it was all about knowing one’s place.
Respect was most important.
“How’s Beni doing in Chicago?”
Bene tipped his head sideways toward Chris, an acknowledgement that he did, in fact, hear his brother’s question. “Good, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“He’s busy; me too.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Bene didn’t miss the way Chris’s brow dipped before he shot Marcus a questioning look. Marcus, to his benefit, only shrugged as though he didn’t have anything to say. “Corrado runs back and forth between Vegas and New York every other week, and my wife is pregnant ... we still find time to call each other once a day.”
Huh.
It seemed Bene had missed a lot of things happening around him while he was stuck inside his head, trying to deal with his problems. A part of him felt like shit about it, sure, but the other part simply felt like he should just move on, and be done with it. Do better now because nothing could fix the past. Right?
“How far along?” Bene asked.
“Six weeks,” Chris returned.
He nodded. “Congrats. Nobody thought to tell me?”
“You’ve been ... not yourself lately.”
Not a lie.
Bene sighed. “I get it.”
To say the least ...
Hell, he’d only seen Corrado’s kid—Caroline—a couple of times since she had been born eight months ago. It wasn’t by any fault of his brother, or Les or Ginevra, but rather, himself. They brought the baby to Toronto regularly enough to visit with his brothers, and parents. Usually once a month, but sometimes twice. Bene always found an excuse to be doing literally anything else because sitting down for dinner with his family typically meant someone pointing out how much he was partying lately, or whatever else.
No, it wasn’t their fault. Only his. Because he didn’t make the effort when he was too busy being involved with his own issues—fucking selfish—instead of focusing on what was important.
Like family.
Bene needed to do better.
He made a mental note to do exactly that.
“Besides,” Chris added, shooting Bene a small smile, “don’t feel badly. We haven’t told anyone outside of the family. Waiting a bit before we do, just to be safe.”
“Nothing is wrong, right?”
“Everything is perfect, man.”
“Good.”
After everything Chris’s wife had been through, Bene figured she deserved to be happy. Especially while she was pregnant.
“What’s Maria think about that?”
Valeria’s daughter, and Chris’s adopted child, looked at her mom and dad like they were the moon and the stars of her very small universe. She was a good kid—sweet as could be, really—but she did not like to share her parents’ time with other kids.
“So far so good.”
“The bigger issue is having control of all the production across Canada for maple syrup, not to mention the distribution and sale of it, means we run the risk of being called a cartel when we jack up the prices, boss.”
The Capo’s reply to whatever Gian had said brought Bene back to the business at hand. His brother didn’t seem to mind because now, their father was also looking their way. Not that their conversation had been loud enough to detract from Gian’s talk with his man. And really, his father was looking more at Bene than his brothers.
“And?” Gian asked, never looking away from Bene.
The Capo in question sighed. “Well, it might have us being audited year after year by the CRA—they’ll be so deep into our books and accounts that it’ll be almost impossible to hide anything.”
“Or we buy that farm that consistently bleeds cash, and make it look like it is turning profit with all the other farms helping out a bit. Falsified records that can’t be proven otherwise means we can dump as much cash into it as we want to hide it while it’s cleaned, oui?”
“Well—”
“There’s really only one answer to that, Greg. It’s not an opportunity for a discussion, or debate about how you want things to go, considering this little scheme was my idea, family money went in to making it work, and you were just the lucky prick I put on it. Anything else is still for me to decide, as I am sure you’re aware. And so, your answer to me is ...?”
“Yes, boss, we can make that happen.”
“Good, good.” Gian’s gaze darted back to the man, and he nodded. “That’s what I want to hear. Marcus?”
“Sì, boss?”
“I want you working with Greg on this venture—I’ll feel better about it knowing you’re there to keep an eye on things, and to run it the way I prefer.”
“I can handle the farms—”
“The business side,” Gian interjected fast, pensive stare drifting back to Bene and making him feel like his father was searching for something in his son. “Marcus will handle the paperwork and getting the right accountants on everything. And if he wishes to overlook the work you’re doing there, Greg, then he will do that, too. Underboss’s right, no?”
The Capo cleared his throat but stayed quiet.
Gian, seemingly satisfied with the way the conversation had gone, gave Bene one last look before turning his attention to the men in the room once again. If anyone except him noticed the fact his father kept checking on him like he wanted to be sure he was still standing there, no one said a thing.
Not that it mattered now.
They were on to money.
Tribute was coming up.
“What’s all that about?” he asked.
<
br /> Marcus, who had been quiet for the most part at Bene’s left, checked his watch. “Pardon?”
“Papa—”
“Boss.”
Right, right.
Bene was doing better about that whole thing—you know, differentiating between his father when they weren’t doing business, and Gian as the boss when other made men were around. Someone should give him credit for that, but Marcus just liked to correct his ass.
“He keeps looking back at me,” Bene muttered. “And he only does that when ...” I’ve done something wrong, and he knows about it. Gian used to pull that shit on Bene and his twin when they were teenagers, and thought they were pulling one over on their parents. It never worked. One might think Bene would learn his lesson, but apparently not. So was his fucking life. Where was the fun if he wasn’t getting into a bit of trouble now and then?
Besides, Vanna was harmless.
Sexy as sin.
Looked good in his bed.
Fucked like nobody else.
To them, though, she was harmless.
Bene didn’t say any of that out loud because he knew that if he did, Marcus would undoubtedly hear the oncoming lie on the tip of his tongue. His follow up of and I didn’t do anything wrong. Except he had—by bringing Vanna to the mansion the previous weekend when his parents were away—and Bene was not a good liar when it came to his brothers. They all knew the difference, so it was better if he didn’t even bother to try.
“Hmm?” Marcus asked.
Bene scowled. “Nothing.”
“You sure about that?”
He gave his brother a look.
Marcus raised his brow right back. “Good weekend?”
Fuck.
All he needed was that simple question from his brother—as innocent as it seemed—and Bene’s mind was thrown back to the previous weekend, and exactly how he’d spent it. Which meant, mostly between the thighs of a woman using her pussy to sustain him like it was the only thing he wanted to eat for the rest of his life.
To be fair, her pussy was heaven.
Didn’t matter if he was fucking it, eating it, or watching her play with it ... that woman could start wars over her pussy, and Bene knew it. Besides that, there was just something about her that he liked, and he wouldn’t apologize for it, either.
“Well?” Marcus pressed.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about, Marcus.”
His brother chuckled. “Sure, you don’t.”
“We’re supposed to be having a meeting here, not—”
“Did you think Gian wouldn’t get suspicious that there was no camera footage all weekend?”
Bene chewed on his inner cheek. “No, I just figured he wouldn’t look at all since he usually doesn’t unless he has a reason to. And since the digital recordings start over every five days, by the time he did look, it wouldn’t even matter.”
“You’re fucking terrible.”
Yeah, well ...
“And you forgot that the cameras on the entrance gate are on entirely different servers, Bene,” Marcus added.
Ah, shit.
They saw him come in and out with Vanna, then.
There would be no hiding that.
Now, he understood perfectly fine why his father kept glancing his way even though it was clear he had better things to focus on in this meeting than what one of his youngest sons had done the previous weekend.
Perfect.
Bene was more than willing to keep pretending like he didn’t know what in the fuck his brother was talking about—at least, until he couldn’t anymore—but the vibration in his pocket stopped him from saying anything at all. Knowing he could get away with checking his phone while his father’s attention was on the discussion of the upcoming tribute, Bene pulled it from his pocket, and kept it hidden in his palm while he glanced down at the screen.
V the contact said.
Contents Hidden, the message read.
That usually meant someone sent him an attachment, like a picture or something. He didn’t even think about his older brothers standing on either side of him as he unlocked the phone, and clicked on the ribbon to bring up the text message.
Holy fuck.
There it was.
Or rather, there she was.
Part of her, anyway.
All he could see in the picture Vanna had sent was the image of her legs in fishnet, thigh-high stockings, the stark red heels on her feet, and the tiled floor beneath her. The photo had been cropped up near the fucking promise land, keeping what was between her thighs hidden from him, but damn ... this had been more than enough.
Because now his throat was tight.
His cock perked to life.
And he was in no position for any of it.
“Damn.” Marcus whistled low.
Bene clicked the home button quickly. “Shut up.”
“That the same one? Kind of hard to tell when you can’t see her face and—”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Chris chuckled on the other side of him. “Whoever she is, she better be worth bringing her to the mansion when Ma and Dad weren’t home to meet her, Bene.”
His father looked their way again.
He did his best to look innocent.
Except he wasn’t.
Not at all.
“More than worth it,” he muttered.
“Yeah, tell Dad that.”
Right.
• • •
“Bene, feel free to close the door once everyone leaves, and take a seat.”
With his back turned to his father as he was just about to leave the office, Bene cursed inside his head. He thought he might be able to skip out of the meeting before Gian even realized he left, and then perhaps they could have the discussion about bringing a woman to the mansion at a later date. Or better yet, over the phone where his father wouldn’t be looking him right in the face when he tried to lie about it.
Bene couldn’t be so lucky.
“Sure, boss,” he said, still refusing to turn around.
Marcus gave Bene a smirk over his shoulder, as he was the last man to leave the office—not unusual, considering he was Gian’s underboss. Bene responded in kind with a flipped up middle finger that only his brother could see before he closed the office door after him. Marcus was getting too much out of this, the asshole.
“Pick a seat,” Gian said once the door was closed.
Bene sighed. “Could I stand, or—”
“That wasn’t an option, no.”
Awesome.
It was going to be one of those talks, then. It was also how Bene knew that now, he was dealing with his father again, and not the boss of their famiglia. Gian was always careful about how he had discussions with his sons, but especially when it was in the form of what someone might consider discipline. He never stood over them—never made it seem like he was talking over one of his boys. Instead, they all sat down, eye-level, if possible, like they were equals to have their chats.
Bene avoided the heavy stare of his father until he took one of the two wing-back leather chairs across from the desk, and sat his ass down. His father’s face, void of amusement or anything, really, gave him a good indication about how this chat was going to go today.
“Would you like to start, or not?” Gian asked.
“Well—”
“Let me pose it a different way, son. You can tell me what you did last weekend, here when I wasn’t home, or I can do it. Feel free to make a choice.”
Bene sighed. “You already know what I did, clearly.”
“Yes, but I’m starting to wonder about what you know.”
“What?”
“Rules, Bene.” Gian leaned back in his large chair, steepling his fingers as he peered out the windows that overlooked the front property. “The same rules you grew up with here—you know them, I have repeated them time and time again. Those rules are in place not just because I don’t want you or your brothers to disrespect our home, but because
it keeps us all safe. We don’t bring strangers here—that’s never, nor will it ever, be tolerated. So, go ahead and tell me why you decided to bring a woman who none of us know to our home for an entire weekend when no one else was here. Go ahead, I will wait.”
Well, when you put it that way ...
“I didn’t really think about it,” Bene admitted.
“You’re doing that a lot lately, hmm?”
“Pardon?”
“Making choices without thinking.”
“Low blow, Papa.”
Gian smiled faintly. “And yet, not entirely untrue, either.”
Bene shifted in the chair under the intense weight of his father’s stare. He didn’t need Gian to verbally cut him down, not when the man’s gaze did it for him. He knew what he did was wrong, and now it was just a matter of admitting as such and apologizing. That was really all his parents asked of their sons when one of them stepped out of line.
Still, Bene stayed quiet.
Gian didn’t miss it.
“Who is she?” his father asked.
“Does it matter?”
“Matters to me, if you’re willing to bring the woman to my home and go as far as erasing my video footage to try and hide her.”
“It wasn’t hiding her.”
“What would you call it?”
“Avoiding this situation,” Bene returned.
Gian chuckled. “Because you didn’t want us to know you were seeing someone, or—”
“I wouldn’t call it that. It’s just ... she gives me something to do, instead of focusing on all the other shit going on. It’s not that deep, you know.”
“Oh.”
His father’s quiet proclamation had Bene lifting his head to meet Gian’s gaze. He shrugged when his father waited for Bene to say something else. He wasn’t sure what he should say.
“But would you like it to be something else?”
That was a tricky question.
“I like her,” he said simply.
“Hmm.”
“Could you give me something else?”
Gian grinned. “Well, that’s not for me to do now, Bene. You’re the one who is apparently seeing a woman you liked well enough to bring to my home when you know you’re not allowed to bring anyone here that you don’t want to sit down to chat with your mother or me. And you know, that’s the only reason why I haven’t chewed your ass off over this yet. Because you brought her here, and you do know the rules. Which means ...?”