Chapter Twenty-Three

~ Anthony ~

" Cara mia ?"

"Here," I called out as I hurried out of my study. "I'm here."

I hadn't seen Vito in three very long, very lonely days. He'd been away on a business trip getting things set up in Asia for the shipping contract we had signed with Vinnie. I hated to let him go alone, but I had been needed here.

While I was settling in, there were still things that needed to be done, people that had to be dealt with, and more paperwork than I had ever wanted to see in my life.

If people thought being the head of a mafia family was easy, they were insane. I was pretty sure I'd put in as much work since I'd taken over as I did in the three jobs I had before.

As soon as I spotted Vito standing in the grand entrance, I raced over and jumped into his arms. Vito laughed as he caught me, his hands going under my ass so he could lift me up.

Boris, who had just returned to work after healing from his injuries glanced away, but not without a small smile spreading his lips. I had been really glad to learn he had lived through the crash. I had been sure the kidnappers had killed him.

"Hi," I whispered as I looped my arms around Vito's neck. "Did everything go okay?"

Vito gave a quick nod. "It went fine. If our people do their jobs right, Vinnie will be happy. Did everything go okay here?"

"Sort of?"

Vito cocked an eyebrow.

"Okay, okay, I might have, kind of, sort of, agreed to host the next gay convention here at the end of the month."

Vito rolled his eyes as he started carrying me toward the study. "You can't keep calling it the gay convention, Tony."

"Can too."

I could call it whatever I wanted to.

I was the boss.

Vito carried me into the study, kicked the door closed with his foot, and then walked around to sit in the large leather chair behind my desk. he settled me on his lap and then threaded his fingers through my hair, grabbing a fistful.

I smirked when he yanked my head back. "Miss me?"

"Maybe a little," Vito said before settling his lips over mine.

I was just starting to get into the kiss when someone knocked on the door. "Seriously? You've been here thirty seconds." It would be nice if they gave us a little time to get reacquainted.

Vito moved me so that I was sitting sideways on his lap instead of straddling it, not a move I was in favor of by the way, and then called out, "Come."

The door opened and Carmine walked in followed closely by Roman. It was very rare to see the two men more than a few feet apart. I was happy for them, especially since Carmine was no longer harping on Vito about gay people.

"Oh hey, glad you stopped by," I said. "Vinnie and Luca wanted me to let you know that everything has finally been cleared up with the Romano family. They are paying fifty million dollars in compensation to each family involved in that mess my mother and her husband created."

"That's good," Carmine replied, "but that doesn't negate the fact that one of their family didn't adhere to the family veil rule. It's going to take more than money to get back what they lost in this case."

"Oh, I know that." I was fully aware of that and if I hadn't been, I was reminded of how easily I could have lost Vito. I wanted him protected by that sacred law, but until I married him—which I hoped to do soon—he was just my lover, which kind of made him fair game in a mob war.

"With that idiot nephew and my mother gone, the Romanos are claiming it was all their fault and they had nothing to do with the attack. I am not sure I believe them so until they gain my trust again, they won't be invited to anything other than the annual conclave."

Roman snorted. "Good choice."

Carmine set a large manila envelope down on the desk. "I wanted to give this to you before we left. It's my letter of resignation."

"You're really leaving us?" Vito asked.

"You can always reach me by phone and we'll come back to visit often, but Roman and I have a lot of years to make up for. We want to travel a bit and see the world."

"You'll call if you run into any problems?" I asked. "We have friends in a lot of places now. Help can be there quickly."

"We have no plans to visit anywhere we're not supposed to," Roman assured me. "Both Carmine and I have been at this business for a lot of years. It's time to step back and let the younger generation take over."

I snorted. "You mean the stupider generation."

"You'll get smarter." Roman chuckled, something he seemed to do more often nowadays. "You don't get all these gray hairs without learning a thing or two along the way."

It wasn't me I was worried about.

"How Carlos taking your retiring?" Vito asked.

Roman frowned. "Not well."

My eyebrows lifted. "He's not going to cause any trouble, is he?"

"His wife won't let him," Roman replied. "Most of it is bluster. I've been working at his side fo over forty years. I'm not sure he can get along without me, but Rosa says it will be good for him. She's trying to talk him into stepping down and handing the business over to Vinnie."

"Are you sure Vinnie wants the job?" I was positive he wouldn't. Vinnie liked New York too much.

"Better him than my idiot brother Frank or one of his idiot kids." Roman's eyes rolled as he shook his head. "I swear, the gene pool really screwed up when those two were born."

"Isn't there anyone else?" I asked.

"There are a few cousins with promise, but they need some experience in the mafia world before they'd be ready to take over. I'm not sure they have what it takes."

I smirked and wagged my eyebrows. "Send them my way."

I could weed out the good ones from the bad ones easily. They just needed to spend a few days with me. They'd either start to become men or run home screaming for their mommy.

Roman stared at me for a moment before grinning. "I'll call Carlos before we leave."

"Okay, we're headed out," Carmine stated. "We need to get our stuff and get to the airport. There's a bottle of wine in Paris with our names on it."

I waited until the door closed behind them before swinging my leg over Vito again and settling down on his lap. "Now, where were we?"

Vito smiled at me as he fisted a handful of my hair and started to lower his lips to mine. "Right here, Boss."

It was good to be the boss.

~ The End ~