Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
He bent, capturing my mouth. The action made him grimace. That made me grimace too, but we kissed endlessly until he eased away.
“Stop causing trouble, Mrs. Costas. The nurse will come in and threaten us.”
“You can handle her, my love.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I can.”
And wrapped in his embrace, I slept.
ROMAN
I walked the rows of vines, stopping on occasion to lift a branch, checking on the grapes. I breathed in the rich scent of the soil, the fruit, the evening that surrounded me. For the first time in my life, I knew the sensation of peace.
I had been home from the hospital for a week. A week of rest, time with Nonna and Aldo and Vi. A week of my wife. My Effie.
She brought the peace to my life. With her, I found silence. Acceptance. A rhythm I never knew could exist.
Footsteps behind me made me look over my shoulder. Luca approached, a smile on his face. “Brother.”
He hugged me, careful not to press too hard. I shook his shoulder. “Good to see you. How are things?”
We began to stroll. “I have everything arranged. We will meet in two days.” He paused. “Are you sure you’re all right with this?”
“I am,” I replied without hesitation. “I want something different now. We both do. O’Reilly can have it. He’s agreed to our terms, and you trust him.”
“He has never been anything but up front. And he is forward-thinking. Like us, he wanted to break away from his father’s way of doing things. He’ll leave the hotels and casinos alone. He will not touch Niagara.” We walked in silence for a moment. “But he has a request.”
I chuckled dryly. “Of course he does.”
“He wants Maple II.”
“I’m not surprised. He was my toughest competition when they opened up the possibility of private casinos. He needs a place to clean his dirty money. The casino is the perfect spot.”
“I know you’ve offered it to Aldo…” He trailed off.
“Who has turned it down.”
Luca stopped walking. “What?”
I turned and faced him. “We had a long talk the other night. We had a fire outside under the stars. Nonna went to bed. Our wives fell asleep. We talked for hours. Aldo doesn’t want the twenty-four seven life running the place would entail. Vi is pregnant. He wants to be part of his child’s life. Vi no longer craves the city, and neither does he. He wants to stay on here with me. I gave him fifty percent of the Maple. I’ll sell the Toronto one to O’Reilly. But he has to change the name.”
“I’m sure he’d be agreeable to that.”
“And sign a noncompete clause, not opening near our other businesses. He can open a whole string of his own, just not close to ours.”
“Makes sense.”
“I hear Santini folded up and ran like the coward he is. His crew is in shambles, and the entire city is out of balance. Tell O’Reilly to step in. Clean it up.”
“I’m sure he’d appreciate the vote of confidence.” Luca grabbed my elbow. “Roman, are you certain?”
“Luca, I wanted this life less than you did. Even with the changes. I want to be here more with Effie. With Aldo and me splitting responsibilities and going legit, and having the right men with us, we can all have what we want.” I smirked. “Besides, with what O’Reilly is gonna pay me for Maple II, I think I can relax financially.”
Luca laughed. “The next three generations of our families will never have to work, even before you sell.”
“But hopefully, they will. Not hard like Effie or Vi did, but enough to learn the value of what we did. What we struggled to give them.” I gripped his shoulder, meeting his gaze. “One day, I want to have a relationship with my kids. A good one. I don’t want them to fear me the way we feared our father. I don’t want to pit them against each other the way he did us. I want to earn the title of Dad. To have Father’s Day and know I am doing the best job I can. I want us to be friends and brothers. Not care who knows that we’re fond of each other.” I shook his shoulder slightly. “I don’t want to kill anymore. I’m tired of blood. Of the worry. The constant game. I just want to live. To love my wife. To be happy.”
For a moment, he said nothing. Then he grinned. “Who the hell are you?” He dragged me into a bear hug, somehow managing to hug the right side harder and not hurt me too much. “Welcome to life, little brother. Let’s do this.”
“Great. Now let me go before you pop a stitch and Effie comes after you. She’s tiny, but my little tiger is fierce. She will kick your ass.”
He laughed and released me. He held up his hand to fist-bump me. “To life.”