Page 100 of Assassin's Obsession

The mafia hierarchy is a lot like royalty, I guess. The higher you go, the less say the person involved has about who they marry and build a life with. At least, that's how it is in the movies.

"My position wouldn't matter. Once I saw you that first time, you became my future."

Comments like that are sounding less stalker-y and more romantic to me. Mom's expression says she definitely considers them on the stalker end of the spectrum though.

"You're missing the point, Kathleen. Two of the biggest criminals in the world thought yoursoulmatewas too without conscience to be put in a position of leadership." Mom's voice is laced with both pity and frustration.

Something about that doesn't ring true though. Why would criminals care if their leader-in-training suffered from a conscience?

"What happened?" I ask Angelo.

"To understand the dynamic, I have to give you some background on my birth family."

"I'm listening." I smile to let him know I'm doing it with an open mind.

Mom has enough walls up for both of us.

"My parents' marriage was arranged between two old and powerful Cosa Nostra families. Senior and Perla didn't love each other, but as a kid, that never bothered me."

"Because you didn't really get emotions to begin with," I guess.

"Right. I hadn't met you."

Mom makes a strangled sound, but I ignore her for the moment. This is too important for me to get sidetracked by her reaction.

"You didn't bond with either of your parents?" That would have been so lonely for him.

"No. The first person I connected with emotionally was my nonno and that was after my dad's death and my mom leaving me behind as a failed experiment in dynasty building."

"What does that mean?"

"Her father is the Sicilian godfather. Don Messino wanted an alliance with the American godfather, Don Caruso. He had two brothers. My dad and my uncle. Uncle Rico was the oldest, but he was already married to someone from the Lombardi Family."

"Who are they?"

"The Cosa Nostra mafia that runs Boston. His wife was related to the don's family and there was no way Uncle Rico would get away with killing or divorcing her."

This time, both mom and I give the same disturbed hum. He makes murder and divorce sound like pretty much the same thing and that's chilling.

"So, that left your dad."

"Senior agreed to marry Perla on the condition that their oldest son would become the next Luchesse don and eventual godfather. No one expected it to take nearly a dozen years and IVF for my mom to finally bear a living child."

"That poor woman." Mom shakes her head sadly. "IVF wasn't an option for Jakub and me. No money for it, but we tried for years to get pregnant."

"My mother's only interest in having a child was in the power it would give her as the mother of a future don and godfather. Until I went to live with my nonno and nonna, I was raised by nannies."

"Oh." Now Mom looks like she pities Angelo.

That's a step in the right direction, so I hope he doesn't say anything that might mitigate it. Like, he didn't really care because he never felt anything for her anyway.

What if he would have bonded with her emotionally if she'd been there to bond with? How different would Angelo's life have been?

"It was clear I was different from an early age and my cousin, Henrico, took every chance he could to point out how much to our uncle."

"The godfather?"

"Yes. My father was killed when I was ten. Without him alive to push his brother and my grandfather into sticking to the agreement, it was only a matter of time before they reneged."

---