After a late-night meeting with my father, the old Scuderi, and our Captains, I finally headed up to my room. I wasn’t sure if Father really believed that Jacopo had been shot so shortly after I’d found out he was to marry Ines. I had a feeling he knew of my betrayal but chose to ignore it. Or maybe he’d hold it over my head later. I wasn’t sure of his motives. He had only one heir, me, and he and Mother were too old for another child. He was bound to me like I was bound to him if I wanted to keep the respect of the Outfit. Patricide was something that wouldn’t be accepted in our traditional circles.
On my way to my bedroom, I stopped in front of Ines’ door. I rapped my knuckles against the wood.
“Dante?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“Come in.”
I pushed the door open, slipped in and closed it. Ines stood in front of her window, already dressed for bed in a long nightgown, her long blonde hair trailing down her back. Jacopo’s disgusting words of what he’d do to her flashed through my mind, followed by the grim satisfaction that he would never touch an inch of my sister.
“I wanted to tell you…” I said but trailed off when Ines turned around to me. She knew Jacopo was dead. The utter relief shone on her face. “You aren’t supposed to listen in on meetings, Ines. Father will punish you.”
Father expected me to punish her as well, but I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t hit her, or hurt her in some other way. He’d never tortured her as he had me, but he hit her and treated her like she was less. My refusal to do the same infuriated him.
Ines rushed toward me and flung herself into my arms, hugging me tightly. “I’m so happy, so happy he’s dead. It’s horrid of me to be happy about something like that, but I am. I could dance from joy. I prayed every day since I found out about the marriage that he’d die, and now my wish came true. I know it was you. I know you killed him so he couldn’t hurt me.”
“Ines,” I hissed in warning. “What are you talking about?”
She raised her blue eyes filled with gratefulness. “I know it was you. Don’t lie to me. I know you did it to save me from him.”
I didn’t say anything because Ines knew me too well. No matter what I said, it wouldn’t change her mind.
“Thank you for saving me. Thank you, Dante. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Tears filled her eyes again, and my chest tightened. She rested her forehead against my chest, releasing a shuddering breath. “Thank you for killing him.”
“Ines,” I rasped. “Shhh. Nobody must know. Jacopo was killed by the Bratva, all right?”
She pulled back, smiling softly. “Carla is so lucky to become your wife. If she knew how honorable you are, she would stop worrying so much.”
My brows drew together. “Carla’s worried about marrying me?”
Ines and Carla had been friends for as long as I could remember, which was why I knew Carla despite her low status as only second daughter of a Captain—according to my father. The knowledge that they talked about me behind my back didn’t sit well with me. I hadn’t started noticing Carla until a year ago when I’d taken her home after she’d visited our home. It was inappropriate but Ines hadn’t felt well enough to join us. The thirty-minute drive during rush hour had forced us to talk and her soft lullaby voice as she talked to me about mundane things like stitching or cooking had given me a feeling of calm. While calm always reflected on my outside, true calm on the inside had eluded me. I’d started paying closer attention to her. She was beautiful but very shy about it, naturally submissive, kind and religious, almost pious. She was good in a way I strived to be every morning when I swore not to become like my father and yet failed to be already at breakfast when I entertained thoughts of how to remove the old man without losing the Outfit’s respect. If anyone could bring out whatever good there was in me, then it was someone like Carla.
Ines smiled. “You are hard to read, and quite frankly scary for people who don’t know you, so… everyone except for me.”
“She agreed to marry me.”
“Her father agreed, and any Captain would be insane not to agree if he could marry his daughter off to the future Boss of the Outfit.”
I stiffened. “If Carla doesn’t want me—”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then what is it you’re saying, Ines? Tell me.”
She lowered her arms, her smile falling. “Don’t—” She swallowed. “Don’t sound like him. You scare me when you do.”
I released a low breath and touched her arm lightly. “You don’t have any reason to be scared of me and neither does Carla. But I need to know if she doesn’t want to marry me, if she isn’t attracted to me.”
Ines shook her head. “Of course, Carla wants to marry you. Almost all the girls are attracted to you, even if you act like you don’t notice. Your aloofness is driving them crazy. You should hear the speculations making the rounds. It’s cringe worthy. Even Carla sometimes falls trap to them.”
“What rumors?”
Ines bit her lip. “I’d rather not say.”
“Ines,” I said firmly.
“Honestly,” Ines said, flushing. “I’d rather not say.”
“I need to know the rumors making the rounds about me, especially if Carla buys into them.”
Ines looked away. “It’s making the rounds that you’re so obsessed with work and so untouched by human emotion that you don’t require any kind of physical closeness, which is why some people believe you’re…” Ines cringed.
I raised my eyebrows.
“…you’re a virgin. Carla actually asked me if you’re saving yourself for marriage.”
I stared at my sister. Her cheeks were red. She covered her mouth with her palm and laughed, eyes crinkling with amusement. Her shoulders shook. “Sorry.”
This was very typical for our society, especially for our women. They tried to spin stories around me to make me out to be some kind of dream-worthy hero when I was anything but.
“I know you’re not, which is what I told Carla—”
“You know?” I tilted my head, narrowing my eyes. While I wasn’t entirely comfortable discussing my sexuality with my sister, her certainty intrigued me.
She blinked, lowering her hand. “You are?” Her shock made the corner of my mouth twitch. I only looked at her and slowly her face morphed to confusion. “You’re toying with me.”
I was, but it was good to see the weight of the last few days fall off her.
She shook her head. “You can’t be. Why would you be? If I could choose the person and even enjoy it like men do, then I wouldn’t wait either.” Her eyes widened. “I’ll wait of course. You know I will. It’s not like it’s something I’m looking forward to.”
She grimaced and turned her back to me. “I’m sorry. You should go now.”
I touched her shoulder. “Ines, calm down. I understand. You don’t have to fear my reaction. I’m not Father.”
She nodded slowly and peered up.
I felt compelled to give her a bit of the truth. “You are right, I’m not saving myself for marriage. Even if I wanted to, it wouldn’t be allowed in our circles. My first experience wasn’t by my choice nor did I enjoy it. As is habit, our father like every father in the Outfit takes his son to a whorehouse and pays for his first woman. I was very young, and would have preferred choosing a woman for myself.”
Ines turned to me slowly, her face shifting to compassion.
“Don’t feel sorry for me. You are right, as a man, I have the chance to enjoy myself before marriage, but marriage doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy yourself too. Pietro is a good man.”
“Dante!” Ines cried and pointed at the door. “Now you really must leave.”
I walked out and she followed, her fingers gripping the edge of the door tightly as she closed it until only a sliver of her face peeked out. “Will Father allow me to marry Pietro?”
“Do you want to marry Pietro?”
“He’s good looking.” She swallowed. “He’s a good man?”
He was a Made Man. “He’ll be good to you.”
“Then I want to marry him.”
I nodded. “You will.”
* * *
After breakfast, I went into Father’s office. Mother was there as well. She wrung her hands. “People consider it bad luck.”
“What do they consider bad luck?” I asked as I stepped in.
“That Jacopo died so soon after your father agreed to give Ines to him. She could be cursed.”
Mother’s superstition astonished me, even after all this time.
Father’s eyes pierced me. “A curse requires a higher power having a hand in Jacopo’s end, but it wasn’t God who struck him down, right, Dante?”
“Right. The Bratva isn’t any more heaven-sent than we are.”
Father’s smile was stiff, his eyes reptile-like in their scrutiny of me.
“I worry—” Mother began.
“Worry about clothes and stitching, not about things beyond your understanding,” Father said.
Mother nodded and scurried away.
“Pietro asked for Ines’ hand twice. Even this ridiculous curse rumor won’t dissuade him.”
“I have other offers I need to take into consideration as well.”
I stepped close to the desk. Maybe he was trying to punish me through Ines once more. I’d not allow it. “Say yes to Pietro.”
His eyes flashed with anger. “Careful.”
“A king without an heir reigns over a kingdom doomed to fall. I’m willing to risk the plunge. Are you?”
It was the only threat I’d utter. Father held my gaze, trying to gauge my seriousness then he smiled stiffly. “Pietro is the best choice on the table anyway. Why don’t you tell him the good news? He can have Ines next year. We’d set the wedding date for August.”
“Father, Ines will be only seventeen then.”
“And marriage age and age of consent are sixteen in Minnesota where she’ll live with Pietro. I expect him to move to Minneapolis and prepare to take over from his father in the next couple of years.”
“Do you expect me to take over as Capo soon after my wedding to Carla as well?” Of course, I knew the answer. My pleasant question was meant to provoke.
“Being the Boss of the Outfit is quite a different matter.”
Father thought it would draw less negative attention to him if he was referred to as Boss, not Capo, as if anyone was fooled by the false packaging. I gave a curt nod. “I’ll meet with Pietro now.”
I didn’t wait for his dismissal and left. On my way to my car, I sent Pietro a short text asking him to meet me in fifteen minutes at the bar in the Bologna, the casino he managed at the moment. When I entered the place, which had an annoying lava lamp theme, Pietro already perched on a stool. I headed for him and sat down beside him. He turned. Today his hair was immaculate and his clothes perfectly ironed. “I heard Jacopo was killed by a Bratva bullet yesterday.”
A Bratva bullet, not a Bratva soldier. “It was unfortunate.”
Pietro smiled. I motioned for the barkeeper to give me an espresso like Pietro.
“Father agreed to give Ines to you.”
Pietro’s expression brightened. “He does?”
“Next year, August.”
Pietro froze. “I’d prefer to marry her the year after when she’s eighteen, Dante.”
“My father insists on the date, and that you move to Minneapolis right after the wedding and prepare to become Underboss.”
Pietro looked away, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t feel comfortable being married to Ines when she’s only seventeen.”
“I assume because of the sexual aspect of your marriage,” I said in a low voice, even if I bristled at the idea of it.
Pietro gave me a pained look.
“We don’t have the bloody sheets tradition anymore. You can wait the ten months until Ines’ birthday. Marriage doesn’t mean you have to have sex.”
Pietro stared down at the bar. “Dante,” he said quietly, but the doubt rang loud in that one word. He raised his head.
I wasn’t blind. Ines was a very beautiful woman. Her blonde hair and blue eyes were desired by many men, and her tall frame added to her appeal. Pietro would be as good a husband as a man of his or my disposition could be. He was also a man—a man who’d have the right to a very beautiful woman he’d share a house and bed with.
“I’d never force Ines, you know that.”
“Ines has been brought up to be dutiful and her duty is to give her body to you. Force won’t be necessary, Pietro. You know that as well as I do.” My voice had become sharper.
“I don’t know if… if I’m strong enough to resist that long.” He searched my eyes. “Could you resist for months if your beautiful wife shared a bed with you every night?”
I prided myself on my self-control. Was I absolutely sure I could resist? No, but I wouldn’t reveal that to Pietro. “Yes.”
Pietro shook his head with a chuckle. “Then you’re a stronger man than me.”
* * *
Their wedding took place next year in August as Father insisted.
I kept an eye on Ines and Pietro at the wedding, trying to read their interactions to gauge how forceful my warning for Pietro would have to be. My eyes drifted to Carla who stood by herself, clinging to a glass of water. Her parents were dancing. I made a beeline for her. She spotted me and quickly averted her eyes in the demure way she had. I held out my hand. “Would you dance with me?”
“Of course.”
We danced for a while in silence before I bridged the subject that had been bothering me. “Are you sure you want to marry me?”
Her eyes grew wide. “Absolutely. We marry in three months… do we?”
I inclined my head. It had taken considerable effort to convince Father to have the wedding the same year as Ines’ but I didn’t want to wait. Carla’s parents were very conservative and she had already turned eighteen several months ago. “You seemed reluctant.”
“I’m not, honestly. I’m only keeping my distance considering we’re not married yet.” She gave me her first honest smile of the day.
“Three months.”
She smiled a bit wider, blushing, and nodded, and as usual, a sense of calm flooded me in her presence. After my dance with Carla, I headed toward my brother-in-law to deal with the second matter on my list.
Pietro laughed at something Rocco said. Since the old Scuderi’s death and Rocco had taken over as Consigliere his demeanor had changed. Now nobody called him Squirt anymore. Freed of his father and brother, he showed that he was a Scuderi through and through, not as depraved as them but cunning and brutal. A good Consigliere, one who was loyal to me, not my father.
“I’d like to have a word with you.”
Pietro nodded and followed me to a secluded area.
“You remember a year ago you told me Jacopo was a monster and that Ines shouldn’t be given to him.”
Pietro watched Ines talk to Carla before he turned back to me, brows pulling together. “Of course. I’m glad he got killed.”
“I hope you’ll prove tonight and every day that follows that you are a better man than Jacopo, that you deserve my sister,” I said quietly, stepping closer to him.
Pietro held my gaze. “If I don’t, will the Bratva give me an early end as well?”
“I hope it won’t come to it.”
“It won’t. And not because I fear the consequences.” His expression was hard. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to talk to my wife.”
* * *
I was tense, had been all night and all morning. Pietro and Ines finally stepped in and applause sounded. I didn’t join in. Pietro had his arm wrapped possessively around Ines’ waist, but Ines was leaning into him, seeking his closeness and protection as the force of everyone’s attention hit her. She held her head high despite the slight blush on her cheeks. She peered up at Pietro without a hint of fear and he returned her gaze with adoration. When he noticed my attention, his expression smoothed, turned into blank calm. He gave me a curt nod, and I returned it because one look at my sister told me he’d treated her the way she deserved it. Maybe betraying the Outfit for my sister would eventually come with a price, but I was willing to pay it.
Ines—the first woman I betrayed the Outfit for.
It was only the beginning.