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Samuel’s brows snatched together, but his vigilant eyes stayed on the street. “He should be careful what he says.”
“I’m your wife, so I’m allowed to know these things, right?”
Samuel parked the car in our garage, then turned to me. “If I keep information from you, it’s not because I think you’re not trustworthy. It’s because I know you wouldn’t be able to protect a secret under duress.”
I pursed my lips. “I know pain.”
Samuel looked at the scar peeking out on my neck. It was one of many, though most of them had faded to fine white lines. Mom had insisted I have the best laser therapy to reduce them. Samuel reached out for it and lightly traced it. “That’s true. You have more experience with pain than most girls in our world. But submitting to torture is different. There’s a psychological aspect to it that’s almost as bad as the pain itself, the knowledge of being completely and utterly at someone’s mercy.”
I shuddered. Samuel nodded and left the car, then opened my door and lifted me out of the seat.
When we were at dinner that night, I finally broached the subject of tomorrow again. “Can I watch the initiation process tomorrow?”
I was really curious. I couldn’t deny it.
Samuel gave a tight smile. “This is part of Outfit business, only Made Men and future initiates are allowed to be part of it.”
“I understand.”
Samuel put down his wineglass. Something on his face shifted to a heated look that tightened my belly with desire. “Since seeing Geno smile at you inappropriately, I have been thinking about nothing but staking my claim on you again.”
I blinked, then quickly glanced around to make sure our cook wasn’t around to clear up the dishes. I would have died of mortification.
Samuel chuckled and shoved to his feet, then came around the table toward me. I dabbed my mouth with a napkin, then leaned back in the chair with a teasing smile. “And how are you going to do that?”
Samuel picked me up and kissed me fiercely.
Emma was still asleep when I got up. For a moment, I looked down at her sleeping form. Her brown curls were all over the place, and her hand rested on my pillow, our wedding ring prominent on her slender finger.
Being married to Emma was easier than I thought. She definitely had a stubborn streak, but she wasn’t someone who played games or who tried to rile me up on purpose. She had her own interests and didn’t just wait all day for me to come home.
I turned and got dressed in my usual gray suit and white dress shirt. I’d change into gym clothes at the training center.
I picked up Father at home. He too was dressed in a suit but a dark one.
“Are you going to get your hands dirty today, or are you too old for that?” I taunted him.
He sent me a dark look. Dad was fifty-seven, but he didn’t look it. He worked out with me five times a week, and had lost the hint of a belly I’d teased him with for months. “Considering you are going to become Underboss soon and will be the one these new soldiers will answer to, you should be the one to question and test them. But I certainly won’t stand back and watch.”
“Do you really think you can retire soon?”
Dad looked at me with searching eyes. “If you don’t think you’re ready yet—”
“I am,” I said firmly. My demons would still haunt me in five, ten, or twenty years. “Or does Dante disagree?”
“You have been very efficient and proven your worth over the past few years. He won’t hold on to an incident from the past.”
“It wasn’t an incident. It was a betrayal of the Outfit that cost three of Dante’s soldiers their lives.”
Dad nodded. “Dante has his own skeletons in the closet.”
Dad had said it before but never explained it. Feeling my curious gaze on him, he leaned back with a deep sigh. “I might not always be there. As long as Dante is your Capo, you should have something in your hand.”
I parked in front of the square building that held our training center, then waited for Dad to continue. I was surprised by his words. Dante and Dad liked each other, and we had a good family bond, but of course, in our world, that didn’t mean you didn’t have to take certain precautions.
“Rocco Scuderi Senior, the traitorous bastard, had a brother. Jacopo.”
I had never heard of him. He had died long before I was initiated, I assumed.