Page 168 of Vicious Addictions

He drags his hand over his weary face, his mind going to that particular time in our lives.

It’s true. I was more shell than a man during those first three years I returned home. However, I never realized that my parents saw it, too.

“I just wanted to help you, son, but I didn’t know how since I didn’t understand why you were so melancholy in the first place. It was your mother who made the intuitive choice to call Victor. If something happened in London to make you change so much, then maybe he would know.” My father then takes a deep breath and says, “You can imagine your mother’s surprise when Victor told her that his daughter was suffering from the same affliction. It wasn’t hard for us to piece together the puzzle after that.”

“I told your father that you must have fallen in love with Mina,” my mother then chimes in. “So we assumed heartbreak was the reason behind your drastic change. We thought our Jude returned to us half the man we knew him to be because you had left the best part with Mina—your heart.”

I swallow dryly at the pain in both my parents’ faces. I was so wrapped up in my own suffering that I had no idea they suffered right along with me. But my broken heart had never been their responsibility to mend. That would have to be my doing and mine alone.

“I told your mother it couldn’t be possible.” My father shakes his head. “If you really had feelings for the girl, you would never return home. If you cared for Mina a fraction of what I feel for your mother, it would have been impossible to leave her behind. You would have moved heaven and earth to keep her. That couldn’t be the reason for your depression.” He then pauses for breath. “But then I watched you pull a gun on Marcello and Dominic. In a fucking capo meeting, no less,” he starts to roar. “I knew you’d never kill them, but in that moment, I also knew that you would drop them to the floor in a heartbeat if it meant preventing the woman you loved from getting hurt. That’s when I had proof that your mother had been right all along. In that meeting room, you didn’t see blood. You didn’t see family. You only saw her. And that, son, told me everything I needed to know. It cleared up my doubts about why your heart was never in this because you left it in London with her just like your mother predicted. Now… will you stand there and deny what we know to be fact, or will you be the man we raised and admit what your mother and I already know?”

Emotion clogs my throat at the intensity in his eyes.

“You didn’t answer my question,” I try to deflect, demanding we move off the subject of Mina and what leaving her did to my heart. “Am I to be your successor or not?”

Disappointment bleeds out of my father at the question I repeatedly throw at his feet.

“No, Jude. My succession has an heir. And that’s Marcello.”

As I swallow that hard pill down, it dawns on me that losing my birthright pales in comparison to having to watch the woman I love walk out of my life.

“Marcello has proven his loyalty more times than I can count without having to resort to extortion,” he adds with that disappointed taint in his voice.

I’m about to agree with him when Marcello steps inside the room, having heard the whole sordid conversation.

“No, Father. I don’t want to lead the Outfit when you step down. It was always Jude’s birthright to beCapo dei capi.If Jude wants the throne, it’s his. He deserves it. I’d follow my brother proudly, regardless of that fact. So give it to him. I don’t want it. I never wanted it,” Marcello states with conviction.

And then I see something that I had hardly ever seen from my father as he looks at Marcello—utter devotion and fatherly love.

He grabs Marcello by the nape and presses his temple to Marcello’s.

“It’s because you don’t want the crown that you’ll be a good king. I promise you, son. I’ll help you every step of the way, but you will take my place when the time comes.”

Marcello closes his eyes, breathes my father’s heartfelt words into his body, and releases all doubt.

“If that is your will, I will abide by your rule.”

Proud tears water my father’s eyes as he leans in to press a hard kiss on Marcello’s forehead. After collecting himself, he pulls away from him and turns to me.

“You wanted an answer, and I’ve given it to you. Now it’s my turn to ask the questions.”

I brace myself for his wrath, for his fury and indignation, but all I get is the same devoted stare he showed Marcello reflected back to me.

“Have I failed you so badly, Jude, that you have your priorities so screwed up? I know you love Mina. I saw it in every interaction you had with her. So tell me this, son, will you fight for what is really important in this life, for the only real treasure any man can hope to find in this world, or will you let it slip away from your fingers for a second time?” He then steps toward me and places a protective hand on my shoulder. “Take it from me, Jude. If you don’t do everything in your power to fight for your true heart’s desire, you will regret it for the rest of your days. I didn’t raise a coward. Don’t be one now.”

Chapter 29

Mina

“Cousin,” Remus murmurs curiously, eyeing the same two large boxes in the middle of the airplane aisle that have caught my attention, “care to explain why someone left their rubbish on our private jet?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I reply, genuinely baffled by who would have the audacity to smuggle them aboard a crime syndicate plane.

“Do you think they’re booby-trapped? Like in the movies?” Rolo asks excitedly, striding straight toward the boxes, eager to find a bomb with red and green wires inside.

Only Rolo would get a sick kind of thrill from the thought of impending death by plane bombing.

“Not a bomb?” I grin teasingly, watching his bright smile dim when he opens one of the parcels and finds nothing of the sort.

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