Page 121 of Single Malt Drama

He glanced between the remaining capos. “Do I need to call for a vote?”

Giancarlo stood. “Since my father no longer has a seat at the table, as the eldest son, I claim the position as capo of the Lazio family. My first order of business is to vote to allow Marco’s request.”

The older men stared at Giancarlo and Marco.

If I had to guess, I’d say they’d seen the future and didn’t like it. Not one bit.

Tommaso Abruzzo glanced between my mom, Sophia, and me as if weighing his words against our likely reactions. “With Marco at the table, and the promise that operations will continue as usual, we no longer need Gabe and the others. I say we let them go as a show of our willingness to compromise.”

Compromise my ass.The way he’d worded his response locked Marco into the mafia so tight Houdini couldn’t get him out.

“I disagree, but I am outvoted.” Salvo threw up his hands.

“Thank you. Enjoy my party. I won’t be attending.” Marco all but pulled me out of my chair and ushered me from the room.

* * *

Marco

“But why didn’t your father get my mother out of the convent?” Nico had spent the previous half hour machine gun firing questions.

My eyes had glazed over five minutes into the barrage.

“He was concerned about her safety.” I yawned, wrapped my hand around the side of her head, and forced her to rest against my shoulder. “We’ll get the answers eventually, but you should get some sleep.”

“What he said about me marrying my brother…it makes no sense. If my father honestly believes I’m the result of an affair between your father and my mother, why would he try to force me to marry Enzo?” Her voice thinned.

“He’s either lying or he thinks Enzo isn’t a Marchionni.”

“My God. Should we tell Enzo about this?”

I couldn’t bring myself to consider the possibility for a number of reasons. One, thinking about my mother having sex, in or out of marriage, was gross. Two, Pietro Lazio was a paranoid son of a bitch with a complicated relationship with the truth. I didn’t believe a word out of his mouth. Three, if it were true, it would crush Enzo and my father.

“I’m kidding.” I forced out a laugh for her sake. “We all look too much like my dad for any of us to be illegitimate.”

“That’s true.” She sighed. “I think Maria knew what happened to my mom.”

“I had the same thought.”

“I’m not upset with her. I mean, I am, but I understand. She was too afraid of my father to do anything to stop what had happened. Maria wouldn’t have had any idea where he’d taken my mother.

“Maria cared for you like you were own flesh and blood. That’s the best thing she could have done for Vittoria.”

She nodded.

I rolled to face her. “Since you’re obviously not going to sleep, we should talk about what comes next for us.”

Nico furrowed her brow. “How do you feel about being a father? I mean, we spoke about it, but now that it’s—”

Rather than letting her work herself into a panic, I pressed my lips to hers. The kiss went from a whisper to a moan faster than the speed of light. Laughing, for real this time, I pulled back enough to rest my forehead against hers. “I’ve wanted to do that since I got here this morning.”

“Me too.”

“To answer your question, I’m scared shitless but excited.”

“It’s the same for me.” She brushed her fingertips over my jaw.

I tucked my chin to get a look at her flat abs, glanced back to her eyes, and set my hand on her belly. “Are you feeling okay? You were pretty nauseous at the cabin. I wondered if you were pregnant.”

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