Page 131 of Forced Vows

Salvatore brings his kidnapped waitress to the family dinner. As a deterrent against Catalina's matchmaking, it's pretty effective. Especially with the way the two of them keep sneaking heated looks at each other.

Catalina doesn't throw her sister in my cousin's path once before we leave to meet in Sev's office.

Uncle Sal follows his son into the room and I bring up the rear.

My brother leans against the front of his desk. "Everything still going smoothly with the bar properties?"

Salvatore's tone is filled with smug satisfaction when he gives the breakdown to my brother. He deserves that smugness. One of the bars is in Manhattan and allowing any other mafia to own it would put us in a weaker position.

The two that are in other boroughs will give my brother leverage in his bid for godfather.

"No interference from Stellar Holdings?" Sev asks.

Henry Caruso and his cousin in the Lombardi Mafia up in Boston tried to buy the properties out from under us. It didn't work, but Henry is going to have to be dealt with sooner than later.

He cannot be the next Lucchese don, no matter what his uncle wants.

Salvatore reassures Sev that the man who sold the bars won't be a problem and therefore neither will Henry Caruso or his Lombardi cousin.

I ask about the jammer blocking texts and calls from them to the man who owned the bars.

Juniper tried to double cross us to get more money for the properties from the Lombardis, but we don't play fair.

Now, the bars are in Salvatore's name. Sev has his leverage and we have two additional properties outside Manhattan and one in it for laundering money.

Salvatore says, "Now that the paperwork is filed it is set to self-delete once he sets his device to charge."

"I'm surprised Matthew hasn't sent people to check on him." I would in his place.

"No reason to. The GPS on the woman's phone still registers at the house and the false GPS signal Domenico's people set up for Juniper's phone does too."

Which is smart on Salvatore's part, but not an excuse for Lombard's inaction. "It's still sloppy."

My cousin's expression says he agrees.

"Lorenzo called me." Sev looks at Salvatore and not me when he says this.

But I'm the one overseeing the investigation into that rat.

Our cousin crosses his arms, looking belligerent.

"He says you were very disrespectful when he came to Amuni," Uncle Sal throws his oar into the water.

Family dynamic in the mafia is always a juggling act. Uncle Sal is the consigliere. His son is a capo. They're equals in terms of rank, but they are also father and son.

It was easier for me and Sev because our father was the don. When we got made we each vowed to submit to his authority as our don.

Salvatore and Uncle Sal exchange some words.

"He's lucky I did not kill him. If he tries to touch her again, I will slit his throat," my cousin finally says, anger making his voice rough.

I don't even try to hold back my cynical laugh. "It's Severu all over again. No woman is going to turn me into a Neanderthal like you two."

Sev isn't impressed. "Good luck with that. You share my DNA."

"But not your obsession for your wife." My brother's feelings for Catalina have nothing to do with DNA.

We are both our father's sons.

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