Chapter 38 MICELI

Monday

Sev texts and tells me to meet him in his office at home before dinner.

I'm in one of the visitor chairs, sipping on a scotch when he comes in. Late, his hair tousled, and not wearing a tie, he looks like he just rolled out of bed and threw a suit on.

He probably did.

The man is addicted to his wife.

"You might want to comb your hair before dinner, or mamma will comment."

Sev pivots toward the attached bathroom. "Pour me one of those. I'll be right back."

He comes out looking more put together, hair combed, tie in place. "There's a lot going on right now, but Catalina needs my time too."

"Sure," I agree without any conviction.

Sev shakes his head. "Talk to me again after you marry that feisty Irish rose."

Róise is back to ignoring my calls and texts.

"I don't think there's any risk of her needing my time after we're married." She'd rather pretend I don't exist at all.

"That's going to have to happen this summer instead of next."

My brows furrow. "Why?"

As underboss with every intention of training my future nephew to take over my role someday, when I marry doesn't matter.

Maybe he wants to use the wedding as a chance to shore up support with the other dons .

"Because when I become godfather, I'm stepping down as Don of the Genovese."

His words kick the air out of my lungs and I stare at him in shock for long seconds of silence. "But…"

"The godfather being the don of a family divides his time and loyalty. Don Caruso's waste of space nephew wouldn't be a capo if another Lucchese ran that Family."

"Much less in line to be the next don," I agree with disgust.

Sev's expression shows the same feeling. "He's putting bloodlines ahead of what's best for the mafia."

"Are you saying you'll do different?" I know that's how we were raised, but Sev is not our father.

"I won't have to," Sev says with firm conviction. "You being the next don is good for the Genovese and the Cosa Nostra."

"I'm the underboss. I was raised to wage war, not lead."

"Bullshit. You were raised by the same father as I was. You were tutored in the same political and battle tactics as I was."

"But Sev, I'm not you." That's one truth he cannot refute.

In some ways he's harsher, in other ways I am. Would those differences really be good for our mafia?

"Right after papà died, Aunt Ilaria took me aside. I think she knew I was having doubts."

I'd seen those doubts too, but then one day they disappeared and Sev stepped up like I knew he would. I stepped with him, my gun pointed at anyone who wanted to come for my brother.

"What did she say to you?"

"What I'm about to say to you. You were born to be my underboss, my god of war, but that isn't all you were born for." Sev's expression reminds me more of our father right now than it ever has.

"She told me I couldn't take hold of the future without taking hold of the present. You can't either."

"But my future was being underboss."

"No, your future was to become the next Genovese don. You will have your own sons to train, both to be don and underboss."

"I might have daughters." Which doesn't mean one can't follow in my footsteps, but unlike a son, she would have more options from infancy.

"You know sex is determined by the chromosomes passed down by the father. The men in our family have fathered exactly two women in the past five generations. And one of them was born over a hundred years ago. "

Papa was so shocked when Giulia was born, he had a DNA test done on her. Mamma never knew, but Sev and I found the medical report confirming paternity when we went through the files in the document safe room after he died.

Of course, we never told either of them.

I wonder if Catalina has found the test results? If she has, she hasn't said a word either.

"Our father planned for this. He expected me to be the next godfather and he counseled me to pass the mantle of Don of the Genovese onto you."

"He never said anything to me." Neither did Sev.

"He would have."

But he died and any chance to advise his younger son on a different path than the one I was on disappeared.

"You'll be an excellent don, Miceli, but you're two years younger than me."

"Three years older than when you became don."

"And you remember the unrest with the older capos. My marriage to Catalina was necessary. You need to marry Róise before you wear the ring."

"A family connection to the Shaughnessy mob is something none of the other dons who will challenge to be godfather can bring to the table."

Sev nods. "It is an alliance that is good for the entire Cosa Nostra, not only the Genovese."

That explains my brother's insistence on the blood alliance. He gave me a choice about being the groom, but I know my duty.

Does Róise know hers?

~ ~ ~

"Róise said she's busy and won't be able to make dinner on Friday." Catalina grimaces at the asparagus on her plate and shoves it to the edge with her fork.

Weird. It's one of her favorite vegetables, which is why we have it at least twice a week. The cooks adore her.

Mamma dabs at her mouth with her napkin and then smooths it over her lap again. "That's for the best, isn't it? It's a family dinner after all."

"Róise is family, mamma. She's going to be my wife." This thing about my mother's uncle runs deeper than I thought.

Aria De Luca knows her duty. She was an excellent don's wife and fulfills her role as don's mother just as effectively.

Besides, she's a lot kinder than I will ever be. The acceptance and compassion she offered Catalina when she married Sev is severely lacking with Róise though.

"We need to plan the wedding for this summer," Sev says, his tone final. "I'll call Brogan about it after dinner."

"This summer?" Catalina asks, eyes wide .

"It's already May. The earliest we could possibly plan a wedding befitting your brother is the end of September." Our mother's tone is every bit as firm as Sev's.

My brother frowns. "You planned my wedding in three months."

"Yes, but I am certain Mr. Shaughnessy will insist on the wedding taking place at St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is an old and prestigious church located in Manhattan with strong ties to the Irish community."

Making it the best venue to respect the affiliation of both syndicates. That's the mother I know, thinking of all the angles.

"So? Our wedding was in a cathedral." Sev is not looking at mamma, his eyes are fixed with concern on Catalina's pale face. "Are you well, mi dolce bellezza? "

My sister-in-law smiles wanly. "Just a little tired."

"I haven't overtaxed you with social engagements have I?" my mom asks worriedly.

Catalina shakes her head, grimaces and takes a quick sip of water. "No. Really. I'll go to bed early."

Sev leaps to his feet all plans for my wedding forgotten. "You'll go to bed now ."

Catalina's protests are interspersed with laughter as he carries her from the room.

Mamma and I breathe out identical sighs of relief. That low tone of Sev's and his wife's amusement means she's not really sick.

Maybe tired means, I want to fuck my husband now. That's fine by me.

Mamma looks at me, her beautiful face troubled. "I am sorry, Miceli. I want to be a good mother-in-law to your wife, but I can't forget what her family did to mine. Once I get to know her better, I'm sure…" Her voice trails off like she's not convinced of her own words, so she doesn't finish the sentence.

Is this what I have to fight with Róise?

A prejudice buried so deeply even a woman as reasonable as my mother can't dispel it.

"You know that a Cosa Nostra killed her mother. Róise believes her father's killer was also one of us."

Mammo looks outraged. "We aren't the Bonannos."

Her words are echoes of the ones I said to Róise and now her retort comes back in my own voice. "We are all Cosa Nostra."

"Which makes it even less likely she's marrying you with good intentions." My mom will come around eventually.

She's a good person. Better than me. But the past holds on hard sometimes and clearly that moment is not now.

"Her intentions are to protect her younger cousin from having to be the sacrificial lamb. "

"Marrying you is no sacrifice, mio figlio ."

If I move Róise into a home where the matriarch distrusts her and despises her family it will be.

Which means Róise and I won't be living here after we are married.