“I’m glad that Valentina is close to my age. It makes it easier to find topics to discuss,” Dante said.

I nodded. He had married a woman who had been married before. That had broken with tradition, but it was his choice. He couldn’t force the same choice on others. If it were my choice alone, I’d have stopped the tradition of bloody sheets long ago, but I had a family I needed to appease. Capo or not, I needed their support. Ruling over the East Coast wasn’t a one-man show.

His attention shifted past me toward a young girl, perhaps twelve or thirteen, with the same blonde hair as Dante. I’d often wondered why the Outfit had so many blondes. Perhaps it was because many of the families were originally from Genoa and Bologna in the north of Italy. The girl approached us. She held herself with surprising pride for someone that young, but she didn’t meet my gaze, only curtsied briefly before she turned to Dante.

“Mom told me to find you for a dance,” she said in a lilting voice. Her eyes darted up to me, cheeks flushing. This must have been one of her first social events. It was obvious that she was unaccustomed to males that didn’t belong to her family. And I knew why she had been sent over, Dante’s sister had probably picked up on the underlying tension between her brother and me.

Dante put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “This is my niece, Serafina,” he introduced her. His voice held obvious protectiveness. She squared her shoulders and met my gaze. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

I shook my head. “I’m not that old.”

Dante narrowed his eyes, and I had to stop a smirk. His family was a stickler for proper behavior, but that proper exterior was a façade and we both knew it. Dante harbored the same demons I did. “If you’ll excuse us.” He didn’t wait for my reply; instead he led the girl away and set out to dance with her.

I turned my back to them, and spotted Romero making his way toward Lily. Hadn’t he done enough? If they both disappeared from the wedding twice together, things would look really fucking bad. That was an encounter I couldn’t let happen, not in front of the gathered Outfit. I pushed forward and reached Lily first.

“Dance with me,” I ordered. It wasn’t how I usually asked a woman to dance, but I was already losing my fucking patience again. Her eyes widened but she took my hand. I led her to a less crowded part of the dance floor before I pulled her against me, closer than was proper, but I didn’t want people to overhear our conversation.

She was tense in my hold, and a faint blush covered her cheeks. Was she embarrassed because I knew what she’d done? I wouldn’t have cared that she’d fucked around before her wedding if it wasn’t one of my soldiers she’d chosen to dishonor her. That was a fucking problem, my fucking problem. “You are still going through with this marriage? You and Romero were gone for a while.”

“Yes. I will marry Benito, don’t worry,” she said quietly, but her body became stiff in my hold. She was scared. Her face resembled Aria’s in some aspect, and they both worried their lower lip the same way when they were anxious. Damn it.

“You don’t have to stay married to him forever,” I said because I knew Aria wouldn’t stop worrying for one second as long as Lily was married to Brasci.

Lily gave a small shake of her head, her eyes meeting mine. “Father would never agree to a divorce.”

She was right. Scuderi had never given a shit about his daughters’ happiness. For him they were something he could bargain with, an asset to use to his advantage. If he were a decent father, he would have never agreed to marry Aria off to me. My reputation preceded me and couldn’t have given him any doubt that I’d break his daughter.

“There are other ways out of a marriage than divorce. Sometimes people die,” I said, but Lily’s reply made it clear that she didn’t catch my drift.

“He’s not that old.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Sometimes people die anyway.”

She faltered in her steps but I moved her along. She had to work on her poker face. “Why can’t he die before my wedding?” she asked, her eyes begging me, but even for Aria I couldn’t make that happen. If I let Romero kill Brasci, which he’d gladly do, as became apparent from the death glares he sent the old fucker whenever he felt unobserved, there would be war.

“That would look suspicious. Wait a few months. The time will pass quickly, trust me.”

She shuddered against me. “Romero won’t want me anymore then.”

I couldn’t argue with that. I wasn’t sure if Romero would want Lily after Brasci had fucked her for months. It was a hard thing to stomach. If he loved her, he might be able to ignore it, but I didn’t know the extent of his feelings. I doubted he would have taken Lily’s virginity if he didn’t harbor feelings for her. Romero was too honorable for that, but sometimes feelings changed. “There are good men in the Outfit too. You’ll find new happiness. You’re doing the right thing by marrying Benito. You’re preventing war and you’re protecting Romero from himself. That’s a brave thing to do,” I told her.

It wasn’t any kind of consolation for her, and I knew that, but I was Capo of the Famiglia, and Lily wasn’t mine to protect, even if the thought didn’t sit well with me. She didn’t deserve that fate, but in our life we were often dealt shitty cards.

I returned her to her table. Aria caught my eyes from where she stood against the wall, deep in conversation with Valentina.

Something in my expression must have showed Aria that I hadn’t changed my mind about her sister and Romero. I couldn’t risk everything for their feelings.

Romero had gone against my direct orders by pursuing Lily. That I hadn’t punished him harshly was already more than others would have received from me in return. Aria’s face filled with resignation and disappointment. She wouldn’t try to argue with me again, but I knew she didn’t like my decision. After her first apology for keeping everything from me, she’d tried to convince me to help her sister, but when I’d refused she’d retreated. She was drawn back, and I hadn’t made a move to smooth things between us. I was the one who had reason to be angry, after all.

“You and Aria have been married for longer than Dante and Valentina, and yet they are onto their second child and Aria isn’t even pregnant yet,” Scuderi said sharply as he walked up to me. We had been married for more than four years, and I knew people in the Famiglia were wondering when Aria would finally get pregnant, but I had no intention of becoming a father anytime soon. I enjoyed having Aria to myself, and she was still young, only twenty-two. We had plenty of time.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s none of your business. You should worry about your new wife now.”

“She will be pregnant before Aria, I can guarantee you that,” Scuderi said with a disgusting leer at his wife, who stood amidst girls her age.

Soldiers from the Outfit I didn’t know joined us, and I used the excuse to leave. I would have cut Scuderi’s tongue out if I’d talked to him a moment longer. It was none of his or anyone’s business when, and if, Aria and I decided it was time to start a family. My father had been a fucking nightmare, and I wasn’t sure that he hadn’t rubbed off on me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to subject children to that kind of thing. Eventually, I might need to produce an heir, but definitely not anytime soon.