Page 3 of Welcome to the Sins of Blackstone
Then, without another word, I disappear into the crowd—because there’s only one thing on my mind now.
Finding her.
Chapter 2
Massimo
Iknow these meetings are important, and I have to attend them to learn about the family business. I mean almost ninety percent of the businesses in the town are ours, and then we have the next town over which is also in the family. Sort of.
Mom’s side of the family controls their corner of town. We have dinner with them once a month because she insists on it, says it keeps the family strong. Maybe it does, but if I’m honest, I don’t think the tradition will stick.
“The shipment will be here in two days, and Massimo will oversee it.” I turn to my dad, because he never lets me oversee when shipments arrive. “My son only has a few months left of college, let’s get you ready.” He smiles as my own lips curl up.
This is it; this is what I’ve been waiting for.
“I’m ready,” I tell him. My great grandad built his life here. My grandad kept the legacy alive and worked with the police. My dad made sure our name stayed feared. Now there’s me. They already call me the devil, because word got around when I kill a man, I make sure he’s staring me in the eyes and I smile. It gives me chills every time I do it.
But I want to be like my grandad, I want to be able to walk into any room and people whisper my name because they fear saying it out loud.
As everyone leaves the office, I watch my dad staring at me, a proud gleam in his eyes. A look that I’ve always wanted to see from him.
“I know you are, son. Time to learn it all.” The castors of his red leather chair whisper across the carpet as he stands and pauses behind the imposing polished oak desk, before walking around it, and I follow him.
As we both turn to the door, Mom walks in. The only woman who can get my dad to do anything; no matter what the request is, he will do it.
Grandad arranged the marriage between them, and from what Mom has told me and my siblings, she hated him when they first got together, but Dad being Dad, he wasn’t going to back down from a fight.
“So now this meeting has finished, can we get going?” Mom stops next to Dad and kisses his cheek then glances over at my sister Camilla and brother Luca walking into the office.
“Now that big brother has his foot in the business, can we start using the strip club?” Luca jokes.
“No,” I say but nod at the same time, and he glances over at Mom.
“No, you will not,” Mom snaps at us both.
If she only was aware of the shit we do at college, but a part of me understands that she knows everything, she always did.
“The thing we do have to ask you, though…” says my dad from behind me, making me turn to face him. “You need a woman next to you. Do we have anyone?—”
“No, at the age of twenty-two, marriage is the last thing on my mind. After all, I’m just finishing college.” I stop talking when my mom puts her hand up and shakes her head slightly.
“I don’t want to hear it, but if you’re going to be the big boss, you need to have the right woman next to you,” Mom tells me, and without even letting me answer, she turns to Dad. “We will not be late, let’s go.”
Dad wraps his arm around Mom’s waist, and the three of us all put our hands out to cover our eyes.
“We’ve spoken about this, not in front of us.” Camilla shouts, and so do I and Luca.
Dad tells us to shut up and get in the car or stay in the office and wait. Before he can even finish the sentence, we are out of the office.
My brother on one side, my sister on the other, and my mind already running through what’s coming next.
The shipment.
Dad’s been running things with a tight grip for years, never letting me near the bigger operations, always saying I needed to focus on college. But now, that leash is gone.
I finally get to prove I’m ready.
“So, has Dad given you your first job?” Luca asks.
