Page 22 of Tempt Me (Dark Odyssey 4)

I ball my fists and growl. “Pa, you might not want to hear this, but how are you supposed to leave me in charge when you already try to test my judgment and decisions?”

That silences him. Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about this news of his departure. I’m not ready. Deep down I know emotionally, I’m just managing. I’m not ready to take on theempire, as he put it, and maybe this is me acting out to try and deal with a situation I don’t know how to deal with myself.

He wants me to kill Mark and Ava. I don’t want blood on my hands like that. Not her. That’s a different kind of killing.

My soul might have been taken from me, but that same conscience that makes me feel guilt is there telling me I couldn’t do such a thing.

Pa studies my face, and it’s clear he doesn’t like my comment. “Can it be fixed? The shit. Can it be fixed?”

“For the most part. But I’m not sure what else we’ll find.”

“Right, well, hear this… as I’m easing out and you’re taking over, I’m gonna leave this to you. But if I find out there’s anything more to tie us in with feds, that’s it, Vinny. I’ll take them out myself, father and daughter.”

I don’t answer. Instead, I bite the inside of my lip trying not to seethe.

“Well, on to the next order of business,the business,” he goes on. “Do you have questions? You must have questions.”

I have a million. None of them will be anything he’ll like.

“I wish I’d had a heads up… I know things have to be done a certain way, and I appreciate that. It’s just… It would have been…” My voice trails off when I realize I’m showing more emotion than I should.

“Would have been nice?” he finishes with mock sarcasm. “Vinny, you aren’t some fucker who pussyfoots around shit. You know what you’re doing. That’s why you’ll be boss of the famiglia. Here in Chicago and the Giordanos in Italia. I didn’t pick you just because it was a given. We all picked you because you’re the best for the job.” He gets a real uneasy look on his face, and I know what he’s going to talk about next. I practically landed myself in it with my comments. “Vincent…” There too, he never full-names me unless he wants to make a point. “This is always hard for me to tell you, but as your father and the boss of the family, I have to. You need a wife.”

The muscles twitch in my jaw, and I can already feel the vein starting to throb at my temple.

“I don’t need a wife,” I protest.

“Like fuck, you do. You need a wife to take care of the baby and take care of you. Take care of your house. You need a woman in your life who will do all the shit you’re trying to do. You can’t have that baggage on your plate when you’re Boss.”

“You think Timothy is baggage?”

“Vincent, don’t do this. You know that’s not what I mean. I’m speaking truth to you. You’ve been without a wife for two years now, and the effect on you is noticeable. I haven’t allowed tradition to dictate to me and find you a wife because I know your loss of Sorcha runs deep.”

Hearing her name and in this context stirs the rage. I have to brace myself to cool off.

“You got lucky with her. You had the real deal, and no one can knock that, but business is business. We have to do what we have to do. Same as me.”

I narrow my eyes, curiously. “What do you mean?”

“It’s time for me to retire. I’m sixty-five, and I’ve enjoyed being boss. It’s definitely time to pass the torch to you, but… I had to make the decision when I thought I was going to lose your mother.”

I bite the inside of my lip. Ma may be his right-hand woman, but she’s had to put up with a lot of shit from him. He cheats. He and all my uncles do. It’s a known thing amongst them. They cheat and share women.

It’s something that skipped the next gen because my brothers would never do that, and that was a word I would never even contemplate when Sorcha was alive.

Georgiou is married, but he shares his doll with his best friend, and it works. Christian is the last Giordano bachelor and is as wild as the rest of us, but I don’t think even he would cheat.

So, what Pa is talking about is that.

“What happened?” I would never ask him that when I was younger. I probably shouldn’t ask it now.

“She had enough of my unsavory habits. She’s always wanted to go back to Sicily, so I decided I wanted that. I wanted her.” He dips his head in a reverent way. It shows he loves Ma, but I’ll never understand why she couldn’t have been enough for him in every way. I guess maybe this is his way of showing her she is.

“I’ll take care of everything, I promise. I will.” I’m talking and telling him what I should say, but deep down I don’t feel it.

I’m really not ready.

I’m still too broken from what happened to Sorcha. It’s not something that you just heal from. Yes, it’s been two years, and some people would have moved on and remarried as tradition dictates, but those people aren’t me.

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