Page 54

Junior

A s far as dinners with my family went, this one didn’t even rank in the top three worst. Yet.

But the night was young, and from the way Dad kept glancing between me and Lauren, there was still plenty of time for it to go off the rails.

Everyone else seemed to understand that, too, taking longer to eat than usual, dragging the meal out with idle chatter.

Despite the forced levity, the tension just kept building, brewing out of sight like a storm on the horizon. Dad’s answers became increasingly terse. A deep groove formed between his brows as he frowned down at his plate.

“Maria!” he finally snapped, and in swept my family’s housekeeper and cook.

“ Sì? ” she said, wiping her hands on her apron.

“We’re done.” He waved at the table. “You can clear the plates.”

Silence descended as she gathered our dishes.

Beside me, I could feel Lauren tensing up, and I reached out beneath the tablecloth and put my hand on her thigh.

Her skin was smooth and warm beneath my touch, and I couldn’t help but stroke my thumb over it, squeezing once to let her know that everything would be okay. Because it would. One way or another.

Calm descended upon me as we waited. My entire family was here, blood and found, and I knew that I wasn’t about to face my dad alone.

“So,” he said when the last plate was cleared, and Maria shut the kitchen door behind herself.

His gaze rose to mine, and I could already see the anger building in his eyes.

“What is it you wanted to talk to me about? Lauren?” His focus shifted from her to me and back again.

“Is she who I would have chosen for you? No.”

I waited a beat, giving him a chance to say more, maybe add a But I won’t stand in your way , or even a But I realize my mistake now that I see you two together .

The words didn’t come, and I decided that this was the last family dinner I would attend until he came to terms with my relationship and apologized to Lauren.

No way in hell was I subjecting her to his censure again, and I wouldn’t go anywhere she wasn’t welcome with open arms.

Lauren’s hand landed on top of mine, squeezing, reassuring, like she was more worried about how I felt than anything else, reminding me what a lucky bastard I was that she’d chosen to be with me.

“Nico,” Mom said, low and warning.

Dad ignored her, eyes still locked on me, and from the way Mom stared daggers into the side of his head, he was going to regret it. “What is this all about?” he demanded.

Lauren squeezed my hand again, and I braced myself for whatever was about to happen.

“I bought a building,” I said.

Surprise rippled through my brothers, but I kept my gaze on my father.

“From who?” Dad said, expression inscrutable.

“Patrick McKinney.”

He frowned. “I don’t know the name.”

“He’s no one important.”

“Is that so?” Dad asked, eyeing me, and I knew that the second I left this house, he’d have every single one of his cronies looking into McKinney. He tipped his head sideways. “A whole building.”

It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway. “Yes.”

“Where is it?”

“Downtown. West Side.”

“Where’d you get the money?” he asked, tone deadly calm.

My hackles rose, but I kept my anger out of my voice. “I didn’t steal it from you, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Then where, Junior?”

“From my savings and investments.”

“Bullshit,” he spat. “You don’t have downtown money.”

“I don’t need to because I bought out his debt from a bookie and then blackmailed him with it.”

Mom’s eyes flashed wide, straying toward Aly and Josh. “No shoptalk at the din—”

Dad shushed her.

Mom turned back to him, slowly, à la The Exorcist. He was going to need to hide in their panic room at this point.

“What kind of building is it?” Dad asked.

Here we fucking go.

“It’s commercial,” I said. “Rented out by a members-only club.”

His gaze shifted to Lauren. “You plan on running girls out of it? Is that what this is? You’re a wannabe pimp now?”

Lauren’s fingernails dug into the back of my hand.

Across from us, Aly made a low, angry sound, and I could see my brothers shifting in their seats out of my periphery. “No. It’s a legal club, and I plan to let them keep operating out of the building for as long as they like.”

“You want to use them to help launder money?” Dad asked.

I shook my head.

“Move drugs?”

Another head shake.

“Then what, Junior? What’s the con?” he demanded, because to him, there always was one.

“There’s no con. They are a legitimate business. This is me striking out on my own. I don’t want to do this anymore,” I said, gesturing between us. “I don’t want to run oil or any of the other shit you want me to.”

He shot forward in his chair. “ Are you fucking —” His gaze slid past me, to Lauren, and then over to Aly and Josh, reminded of our audience, silenced by their presence. Dad’s number one rule was that we never discussed mob shit in front of people who weren’t in the know.

“Get out,” he spat at Aly.

She lifted her glass and took a sip of her wine, unperturbed. “Nah, I think I’ll stay right where I am.”

“You were so quick to run out of here the last time things got tense,” Dad said. “ Now you want to stay?”

Aly settled back in her seat. “Yeah, I do.”

Josh wrapped an arm around her shoulders, smiling ear to ear, and I’d never been more grateful to have these two assholes in my life.

Dad shifted his focus to Lauren.

“Don’t,” I said. “She stays.”

Fury crawled over his face, and he jabbed a finger toward her. “I fucking knew this little whore would be trouble.”

Aly swore. Greg drained his drink and set his glass down hard enough to rattle the table.

And Mom...God help Dad after we all left and she had him alone to herself.

Josh was the only one as still as I was, likely gone to that empty place in his head that he’d tried to explain to me a few months ago.

My own quiet was much calmer. This wasn’t anything I hadn’t anticipated.

My father wasn’t stupid. Like Mom, he probably sensed that this was the “big one,” and I knew that meant he would be at his worst.

“Are you okay?” I asked Lauren.

She surprised me by laughing. “I’m fine.

That is the least creative way to insult me he could have chosen.

” She leaned past me, looking at my father.

“If you were a sub, I would respond by inviting you to a private chat so you could find out just how big a whore I am.” She added a wink for good measure, and my love for her swelled.

My father’s expression shifted into disgust. “This is who you choose to be with? Someone who says shit like that at the dinner table? Think of your future. How will you ever be able to bring her around your friends? Your family?”

Aly leaned forward. “You literally just called her a whore at the dinner table, you fucking hypocrite.”

A glance at Lauren revealed her looking unconcerned, but I’d felt her tense up, knew that Dad’s words had struck deep, hit some lingering vulnerability.

I squeezed her leg, telling her that I was here, that I had her, that I wasn’t about to let my father get away with speaking to her this way.

I’d warned her how bad his temper was, how cruel he could be, and that he might turn his fury on her.

She’d remained determined to come tonight, assuring me that there was nothing he could say that she hadn’t heard before, which led to me asking her for names, which led to her telling me to stop acting so crazy.

I lifted my gaze back to my father’s. “Don’t ever speak about my girlfriend like that again.”

“Or what, Junior?” Dad bit out “What are you going to do?”

This was the moment I needed to stand my ground. My father only seemed to understand downside, only responded to strength. And it had taken me nearly ten years to realize I held the trump card all along.

“Never speak to you again,” I told him. “Carve you out like a cancer and never look back.” As far as threats went, this was the worst one I could make.

I’d considered blackmail. Lord knew I had enough of it.

But after my talk with Josh, I’d realized that threatening to break up our family like this was the biggest weapon in my arsenal.

Dad didn’t say anything in response, but his fingers tightened around his wineglass, and I could tell from the look in his eyes that if we had been alone, we’d be having a much different conversation.

This was why Josh and I had come up with the plan to do this out in the open for everyone to see.

To not let Dad hide his abuse and vitriol behind a closed door anymore.

To have witnesses to this exchange so everyone knew I wanted out, making it harder for Dad to force me back in without drawing suspicion and pissing off the whole family, risking all his relationships.

“So that’s it?” he said, cocking his head sideways. “This is how you tell me you’re done?”

“Yes,” I said.

He threw his glass at my head.

I barely ducked in time to keep from getting hit, but there was no stopping the ruby red liquid from soaking me and Lauren.

She gasped, pushing back from the table, and then everything was happening at once.

Aly, on her feet, yelling; Josh holding her back; Mom shoving Dad so hard he went tipping over sideways in his chair; Stefan slipping out of the room; Greg and Alec exchanging looks like they didn’t know whether or not they should follow after him.

Dad popped back to his feet surprisingly fast for a man of his age. “After everything I’ve fucking done for you?” he roared.

I positioned myself in front of Lauren. “Everything you’ve done for me?” I yelled back. “Like steal my entire goddamn childhood, groom me to become a thug, constantly put me in danger? You want me to keep going? Because I can.”

He stepped sideways, trying to look past me at Lauren. “This is your fucking fault, isn’t it?”