This was very typical for our society, especially for our women. They tried to spin stories around me to make me out to be some kind of dream-worthy hero when I was anything but.

“I know you’re not, which is what I told Carla—”

“You know?” I tilted my head, narrowing my eyes. While I wasn’t entirely comfortable discussing my sexuality with my sister, her certainty intrigued me.

She blinked, lowering her hand. “You are?” Her shock made the corner of my mouth twitch. I only looked at her and slowly her face morphed to confusion. “You’re toying with me.”

I was, but it was good to see the weight of the last few days fall off her.

She shook her head. “You can’t be. Why would you be? If I could choose the person and even enjoy it like men do, then I wouldn’t wait either.” Her eyes widened. “I’ll wait of course. You know I will. It’s not like it’s something I’m looking forward to.”

She grimaced and turned her back to me. “I’m sorry. You should go now.”

I touched her shoulder. “Ines, calm down. I understand. You don’t have to fear my reaction. I’m not Father.”

She nodded slowly and peered up.

I felt compelled to give her a bit of the truth. “You are right, I’m not saving myself for marriage. Even if I wanted to, it wouldn’t be allowed in our circles. My first experience wasn’t by my choice nor did I enjoy it. As is habit, our father like every father in the Outfit takes his son to a whorehouse and pays for his first woman. I was very young, and would have preferred choosing a woman for myself.”

Ines turned to me slowly, her face shifting to compassion.

“Don’t feel sorry for me. You are right, as a man, I have the chance to enjoy myself before marriage, but marriage doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy yourself too. Pietro is a good man.”

“Dante!” Ines cried and pointed at the door. “Now you really must leave.”

I walked out and she followed, her fingers gripping the edge of the door tightly as she closed it until only a sliver of her face peeked out. “Will Father allow me to marry Pietro?”

“Do you want to marry Pietro?”

“He’s good looking.” She swallowed. “He’s a good man?”

He was a Made Man. “He’ll be good to you.”

“Then I want to marry him.”

I nodded. “You will.”

After breakfast, I went into Father’s office. Mother was there as well. She wrung her hands. “People consider it bad luck.”

“What do they consider bad luck?” I asked as I stepped in.

“That Jacopo died so soon after your father agreed to give Ines to him. She could be cursed.”

Mother’s superstition astonished me, even after all this time.

Father’s eyes pierced me. “A curse requires a higher power having a hand in Jacopo’s end, but it wasn’t God who struck him down, right, Dante?”

“Right. The Bratva isn’t any more heaven-sent than we are.”

Father’s smile was stiff, his eyes reptile-like in their scrutiny of me.

“I worry—” Mother began.

“Worry about clothes and stitching, not about things beyond your understanding,” Father said.

Mother nodded and scurried away.

“Pietro asked for Ines’ hand twice. Even this ridiculous curse rumor won’t dissuade him.”

“I have other offers I need to take into consideration as well.”

I stepped close to the desk. Maybe he was trying to punish me through Ines once more. I’d not allow it. “Say yes to Pietro.”

His eyes flashed with anger. “Careful.”

“A king without an heir reigns over a kingdom doomed to fall. I’m willing to risk the plunge. Are you?”

It was the only threat I’d utter. Father held my gaze, trying to gauge my seriousness then he smiled stiffly. “Pietro is the best choice on the table anyway. Why don’t you tell him the good news? He can have Ines next year. We’d set the wedding date for August.”

“Father, Ines will be only seventeen then.”

“And marriage age and age of consent are sixteen in Minnesota where she’ll live with Pietro. I expect him to move to Minneapolis and prepare to take over from his father in the next couple of years.”

“Do you expect me to take over as Capo soon after my wedding to Carla as well?” Of course, I knew the answer. My pleasant question was meant to provoke.

“Being the Boss of the Outfit is quite a different matter.”

Father thought it would draw less negative attention to him if he was referred to as Boss, not Capo, as if anyone was fooled by the false packaging. I gave a curt nod. “I’ll meet with Pietro now.”

I didn’t wait for his dismissal and left. On my way to my car, I sent Pietro a short text asking him to meet me in fifteen minutes at the bar in the Bologna, the casino he managed at the moment. When I entered the place, which had an annoying lava lamp theme, Pietro already perched on a stool. I headed for him and sat down beside him. He turned. Today his hair was immaculate and his clothes perfectly ironed. “I heard Jacopo was killed by a Bratva bullet yesterday.”

A Bratva bullet, not a Bratva soldier. “It was unfortunate.”

Pietro smiled. I motioned for the barkeeper to give me an espresso like Pietro.

“Father agreed to give Ines to you.”

Pietro’s expression brightened. “He does?”

“Next year, August.”

Pietro froze. “I’d prefer to marry her the year after when she’s eighteen, Dante.”

“My father insists on the date, and that you move to Minneapolis right after the wedding and prepare to become Underboss.”

Pietro looked away, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t feel comfortable being married to Ines when she’s only seventeen.”

“I assume because of the sexual aspect of your marriage,” I said in a low voice, even if I bristled at the idea of it.

Pietro gave me a pained look.

“We don’t have the bloody sheets tradition anymore. You can wait the ten months until Ines’ birthday. Marriage doesn’t mean you have to have sex.”

Pietro stared down at the bar. “Dante,” he said quietly, but the doubt rang loud in that one word. He raised his head.

I wasn’t blind. Ines was a very beautiful woman. Her blonde hair and blue eyes were desired by many men, and her tall frame added to her appeal. Pietro would be as good a husband as a man of his or my disposition could be. He was also a man—a man who’d have the right to a very beautiful woman he’d share a house and bed with.

“I’d never force Ines, you know that.”

“Ines has been brought up to be dutiful and her duty is to give her body to you. Force won’t be necessary, Pietro. You know that as well as I do.” My voice had become sharper.

“I don’t know if… if I’m strong enough to resist that long.” He searched my eyes. “Could you resist for months if your beautiful wife shared a bed with you every night?”

I prided myself on my self-control. Was I absolutely sure I could resist? No, but I wouldn’t reveal that to Pietro. “Yes.”