Page 6

Chapter One

Vinny

Eighteen months later …

A nnoyance pounds inside my chest at the spiel coming from my stepson’s mouth. My oldest son, Rafael, rolls his eyes in my direction, and I pull my lips into a tight line to refrain from smirking.

“I’ve tried, Vinny. I swear. I just need a little help,” he drones on. “This time is different.” Of course it fucking is. Like the last time… and the time before that.

Rafael shifts in his chair, so I know he’s becoming agitated. My son has zero patience where Robert is concerned, but I refuse to cut him off. His mother, Nancy, was a good woman, and it was her dying wish for me to look out for him despite knowing he was a lost cause .

Rafael sits forward, and his gaze slices toward Robert. “How much?”

“Wh-what do you mean?” Robert splutters.

“How much money do you want from my father this time? My family.” Rafael’s voice is deadly, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end, and I couldn’t be prouder.

Using my finger, I stroke my bottom lip and sit back in my chair, watching this play out.

“I-it’s not like that.” Robert’s eyes implore me. “This time I want it to work. I need it to work.” His hands ball into fists on his lap.

“What’s so different this time, Robert?” I say deadpan, trying to keep the amusement from my tone.

“My daughter, Gracie. She has a little girl.” He gulps.

Rafael rears back, but I don’t give away my emotion so easily, masking the shock of my stepson having a granddaughter.

How was I not made aware of this?

“She-she’s dependent on me. They both are, and I need to be the best man I can for them.” He holds eye contact, but I narrow my eyes, then he looks away, unable to hold the intensity of my glower. Sly little fucker.

I hadn’t realized Robert’s daughter was old enough to have a child. Jesus, how old does that make me? I drag my hand through my hair, and the coarse tips of the silver between my fingers is so unlike the silky locks of my lost little pet.

Rafael shifts in his chair, bringing my attention back to the here and now. My son has been desperate to take over for a while now, and though he’s capable, I just don’t want the responsibility resting completely on him and his young family. Besides, there’s plenty of life left in me yet.

“My granddaughter deserves the best in life,” he states.

Does that make me the kid’s great-grandfather? Fuck! Another responsibility.

“Where’s the fucking father to this child?” Rafael bites out, and I know his mind is solely on Robert trying to push someone else’s responsibility onto us.

But we are, after all, this girl’s family.

“H-he’s a loser. Gracie met him at church.” Church? Rafael releases a patronizing chuckle, and I can’t fault him. Fucking church, of all places.

Robert probably steals from the congregation while claiming his repentance.

“Pl-please.” He chokes on his tears and swipes at the snot dripping from his nose as his body shakes.

Good fucking god, the man is a wreck. I want to tell him to stop blubbering and sit up straight, to face me like a real man, but it’s clear he’s having withdrawals, and he’s desperate, very fucking desperate.

He sits up straighter. “I-I told him if he couldn’t man up, then I would.

He’s not been around since.” His spine goes ramrod straight, and his tears clear like he’s suddenly a new person, one proud of his words.

“So you manned up?” Rafael drawls, and I stifle my smile at my son’s sarcasm.

“I did.” Robert lifts his chin.

“Poor fucking girl,” Rafael mumbles.

I steeple my fingers on the desk in front of me. “So, what exactly do you need from me?”

The sly little fucker smiles, then swiftly masks it, but being brought up in the Mafia, I’ve learned the common traits and tactics people use without always realizing. The giveaways become like second nature to us. Rafael meets my eyes, and I know he saw it too.

“Well, there’s this rehab facility in Washington.”

He opens his mouth to continue, but I hold my hand up to stop him.

“No. Any rehab facility will be chosen by us this time.” We’ve become accustomed to Robert’s idea of a rehab facility, and frankly, it’s nothing more than a bunch of money-hungry pricks who allow their patients to run amuck.

They’re mostly funded by mommy and daddy, so the rich little fuckers don’t even feel the pinch of their own fuckups.

He nods his head, giving in far too quickly for my liking. “I was hoping my daughter and granddaughter could stay here. I don’t trust that fucker around her and the baby.”

Rafael’s and my body tense. “Is he going to be an issue?” I ask, needing to be made aware of any potential threats.

“N-no.” He shakes his head furiously. “Just keep him away from her. She’s a good girl, and she’s lost her way since… him,” he grits out.

“If the baby is his…” Rafael asserts.

“It is,” he bites back. “But he’s not a good role model for either of them.”

This coming from the man who has spent most of his daughter’s life being an absent parent and only stepping up when he had no choice and her mother passed away.

I might not have had much contact with Robert over recent years, but I made sure I had tabs on him.

I just hadn’t realized how old his daughter actually is, and he’s made it a mission to avoid our family invitations unless it suits him.

“He takes drugs, deals them. I know he’s been stealing credit cards from other churchgoers, praying on their good nature.

” He sounds like he’s describing himself, and I have to stifle the smile that threatens to break free.

“That’s why I kept her home during the pregnancy.

I don’t want my daughter around someone like that. ”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him he doesn’t want someone like himself around his daughter, but Rafael opens his mouth, so I quickly shake my head, and he snaps it shut. I know damn well my son was about to say exactly what I was thinking.

My finger toys with my bottom lip as I contemplate my next move.

Robert appears genuine, but he always has.

However, now he has a daughter and granddaughter in his care, something to get clean for, and Nancy would have been devastated if I’d turned away her flesh and blood, her granddaughter and great-grandchild, no less. They, at least, deserve more.

Jesus, I’m fucking old.

Taking a deep breath, I hope I don’t regret what I’m about to do. “They can stay.”

Rafael jolts, but Robert sits taller. The smile on his lips is cunning and not one I’m fond of. It’s not lost on me there’s not a single hair on his head that I like, I only hope his daughter is different.