Page 97 of Vicious Addictions

I crack my neck from side to side, feeling the build-up tension starting to weigh on my shoulders.

“I just want him to initiate me. It’s my birthright. I’m entitled to it.”

“And you still believe that he won’t?”

“I’m twenty-three years old, Victor. Twenty-four in a couple of months. Most take the oath of the omertà when they turn eighteen. I’m well past my prime.”

“I wouldn’t say that. It’s not unheard of formade mento be inducted well into their twenties.”

“Not one that is supposed to becomeCapo dei capi,” I object under my breath.

Victor is smart and sensible enough not to add anything to my comment. He knows as well as I do that a real boss starts showing the mafia world what he’s capable of at an early age. So that when his eighteenth birthday comes around, no one questions his capabilities.

As far as the Outfit knows, I’m soft. A civilian, or as Gio would say, anormal.Too unfit to rule. My parents made sure of that.

“I’m curious,” Victor starts, his expression pensive, “is being the head of a family truly that important to you, or is it being head ofyourfamily that is?”

“I don’t understand the question,” I reply, feigning ignorance.

“Yes, you do,” he retorts poignantly. This time, I’m the one who remains silent, refusing to take the bait he just threw at my feet. “You know my situation, Jude,” he continues, sensing my reluctance to have this conversation with him. “Some within The Firm believe that I have no heir to speak of.”

“That’s not true. You have Mina,” I defend with too much bite in my voice for it to go unnoticed.

“Yes, I have Mina.” He smiles as he always does when anyone mentions his one and only daughter. “But though as hard as I’ve tried, I’m unsure if the Firm is ready for a woman to lead us, even one as exceptional as my princess.”

I fucking hate misogyny, but even I have to admit that our world is no place for a woman. Not even one as fearless as Mina Crane.

Though I yearn for home, the thought of leaving Mina behind… unsettles me. I know that it shouldn’t. I should pocket my feelings and let Mina live the life she was always destined to live. But if I’m honest with myself, Mina Crane is the real reason I’ve been hesitant to leave London, even more so than leaving her father’s tutelage.

“I could initiate you. Here. To the Firm. As my heir,” Victor says with a friendly smile.

“Your heir?” I ask, feeling my chest tighten at the offer.

“Any man that marries my Mina will be in line to inherit my throne. You know that as well as I do.”

My jaw clenches so hard I fear it will break.

“You’d sell your daughter to a man just because he’d be a good candidate as boss?”

Victor’s gray gaze turns instantly deadly, his nostrils flaring in contempt.

“Careful, lad. Though I’ve grown fond of you over the years, I wouldn’t lose sleep in gutting you like a pig if you use the wordssellanddaughterin the same sentence again,” he forewarns, offended at the insinuation.

“Then why make me such an offer?”

“If you don’t know the answer to that question, then you are more blind than I thought,” he quips back, getting up from his seat to fetch another glass.

I do know the answer, but I refuse to say as much.

Instead, I say the only thing I can.

“Mina is barely twenty-one. Far too young to be caged into an arranged marriage.”

“Younger than her have wed for much less,” he scolds. “And if we are talking about age, may I remind you that you came knocking on my doorstep younger than she is now. You knew your own mind at that age. What makes you think my daughter doesn’t know hers?”

I swallow dryly.

“Did she ask you to make me such a proposal?”

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