Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
John shook his head, and laughed. “You’re something else.”
Lucian shrugged, and relaxed in his wicker chair. “Who else is going to keep you on your toes?”
“My wife or kids, for one.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Andino regularly tests my patience.”
“He tests everyone’s patience.”
“Fair,” John returned.
Because it was true.
“What’s all this age shit about?”
John sighed. “I’m just ... realizing that’s where I am at in my life.”
“And?”
“And I’m going to be forty-two with another baby.”
Lucian choked on his next sip of beer. And had John not still been caught in his thoughts, he would have laughed. It took a few seconds before his father cleared his throat, and glanced over at his son with a smile.
“Congrats, then.”
“Yeah, it’s great.”
“And you’re wondering how you’re supposed to do this child-later-in-life thing, right?”
“I mean ...”
“I was not a young man when Lucia came around,” Lucian noted, “and it didn’t feel any different. There was no change between when you were born, and her. More baby things to buy, maybe. That market soaks you for every dollar they can.”
John laughed. “Truth.”
Lucian grinned. “One more grandbaby to add to the pile. It’s early, but ... any names?”
“I was thinking of one, maybe.”
“Don’t leave me in suspense.”
“Jonny or Jonnie depending on the sex—Siena shouted it at me before I left the house. For me, she said.”
Lucian nodded. “I like it.”
John did, too.
*
Jonny Marcello.
Eight pounds, two ounces.
Born loudly.
Born at four-twenty-three AM on a cold December morning.
He was the baby.
The spoiled one.
John made sure of it.
And he was perfect.
New Friends
Catherine POV
“You sure this is what you want to do?” Cross asked.
Catherine glanced over at him from her spot in the passenger seat. “Why not?”
“I just figure ... well, you’ve got a good thing going on your own, don’t you? I mean, it might not be you doing the numbers when they need done, but you’ve got it handled.”
Laughing Catherine muttered, “And I am still hiding far too much money under my bed, Cross. I have no concept of how to hide large sums of money. Every time you pull something out from under the bed, do you want to worry about if there’s money inside, or what you’re actually looking to find?”
He quieted. “Yeah, you should get somebody on that, babe.”
Exactly.
“Plus,” she added quieter, “John and Siena have been married for like months now. You know I haven’t really tried to get to know her, and stuff.”
“That’s not because of her, Catherine. That’s because we’re busy as hell. You’re barely even home before you have to take off again.”
“Yeah, but I’m home right now. So ... “
Cross pulled the car to a smooth stop on the side of the street. Across from them sat a familiar restaurant. Catherine had passed the place a ton of times, but she had never gone in to eat. Mostly because the business was owned by the Calabrese family—or it had been before her family removed their problem—and the Marcellos simply didn’t mix with that bunch. That’s what she had always been told, anyhow.
Except now, it seemed.
And really, Siena wasn’t actually a Calabrese anymore.
Details were important.
“Did you ever consider,” Cross started to say, “that Siena might also have her hands full handling John’s side of the business, and she might not have the time to take you on, too?”
Catherine raised a brow. “I think, if that’s the case, then Siena probably also knows names of people, Cross.”
“So do I.”
“Yes, people who want nothing to do with the business of a queen pin at the moment.”
“Your mom—”
Catherine rolled her eyes.
Her man just laughed.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. You’re trying to do this on your own, babe. Figure all this shit out, and handle your own business. I don’t need the lecture again.”
“Not a lecture if it’s true,” Catherine pointed out.
Cross scowled. “You’re hanging around my sister too much. Stop it.”
“Mmhmm.”
Catherine leaned over the middle of the seats, and pressed a fast kiss to Cross’s lips. She pulled away far sooner than she actually wanted to—before the kiss could really get good, actually—but she had to. If she didn’t, all she would do was blink, and boom, there she would have been in that car with him for hours.
Siena was expecting her.
It was rude to make people wait.
Cross’s disappointed groan followed Catherine out of the car, but she simply shot him a wink over her shoulder before closing the door. He’d be fine to amuse himself without her for a couple of hours, surely. She waved two fingers at him from outside the car, and then turned to head for the entrance to the restaurant. She glanced back at the car just as she slipped inside the business to find Cross waiting for her to disappear out of his sights. It was only once the door closed, and she was gone from his view that he finally pulled away from the curb.