Page 16 of Dangerous Command
“Solemn,” he said. “No one seemed to expect that he’d die before he retired.”
He was a mob boss; there was always that chance. Except our family hadn’t seen that kind of death in decades. We had ruled Sage City for generations. Conquer. Annihilate. Rule.
And then Miles Muro came.
“Any talk of Muro?” I asked.
“There are whispers,” Uncle Ray said. There were always whispers.
“Anything I should know about?”
“Nothing. No. I don’t think—” he said, then stopped mid-sentence. I tilted my head. The charm and confidence had skipped Uncle Ray and filled my father, but even this bumbling was too much for him. “No. Nothing you haven’t heard. No.” His eyes fluttered around.
“Are you lying?”
Uncle Ray stiffened. “Of course not.”
“Good.” Deep red hair flashed in the overcast light. Maddie wore a fitted frock with a dipped neckline, her cleavage covered, and yet the dress still showed off her ample figure. Her eyes stood out against the black, their green color popping out to match the forest stretching up behind her. She seemed distant too, like Uncle Ray. Distracted.
But it was a funeral.
I came to her side, welcoming the subtle hint of citrus coming from her skin.
“How are you holding up?” I asked.
She startled. She was scared, even here? It must have been her stepdad. Damn it.
“I’m not the one who lost a father,” she said.
“And yet you’re acting like your parents were killed.”
She raised her eyes to meet mine. “How areyouholding up? That’s the better question.”
I hated that I was assuming leadership under these circumstances. I hated that I had such mixed feelings about my father. He had been good to us, until he just… gave up.
If he had accepted the mafia life completely, like I had, then would that have changed his fate?
But there was no point in thinking about that now. We live. We die. In the end, all you could do was honor your family.
“We all die someday,” I said.
“You say that, and yet you can’t answer the question, can you?” Maddie asked, raising her brows. “Howare you holding up?”
I turned to her. She was perceptive, but I wasn’t mourning. I was angry. Frustrated. I needed to kill Muro before I lost control.
“I’ve been better,” I said. Then I turned away, leaving her there.
Ellie, my brother Wil’s wife, announced that the ceremony was about to begin. I found my mother and escorted her to the front seats, and sat with my brothers and their partners. It was much quieter than the last funeral we had hosted there. How many people were actually upset that Gerard had been killed? And how many were upset that Muro was still alive?
We had tried to keep it quiet, but people talk. And they would keep talking until I put Muro in the ground.
When the time came, I took my place at the podium. I hadn’t prepared a speech, but I knew what I wanted to say. I stared at each individual face, wondering what they saw when they looked at Gerard’s body in the casket. If they saw his face in mine. I wanted to say what everyone held back—that Gerard wasn’t much of a man, at least not in his later years. That we might have been better off, now that he was gone. I wanted to talk about his weaknesses, to tell everyone how I would never let myself fall into those same mistakes. Even if Margot, his mistress, was innocent, she was still the enemy. I refused to fall for the enemy like my father had.
Maddie looked up at me, her eyes tired, sadness tucked inside of her.
Looking in her green eyes, I realized it didn’t matter if I said how I was going to do better. Actions spoke more than words could, and this wasn’t the time or place for those words anyway. All I could do was honor the good in my father.
“Gerard was the leader of the family’s business for a few decades, since my brothers and I were children,” I said. “My father taught me the most important lesson you can teach a man.” I turned to my brothers and mother, sitting in the front row. “Family comes first. Always. It doesn’t matter how or what that means, or if your family makes mistakes. You respect your family. You always honor them. You hold their safety and prosperity above all else.”
