Page 100 of Contempt

The man already had everything.

“You should be following someone today, shouldn’t you?” Lucian asked. “I still have a few weeks left to decide where you’re supposed to be working. I believe, Christian is your current target.”

“Yes, but why?”

Lucian laughed, and glanced away. “Years ago, my brothers and I decided to … step back from the family business, you could say. We allowed our sons to take control, and step up. We knew that if our presence was too present, that it would affect how they handled their business, and how the rest of the made men in our family perceived them.”

“I get that,” Renzo murmured.

“But that doesn’t mean I am out of this game, Renzo. That doesn’t mean I won’t do everything I can to protect my family … my children. I promised my wife she would never bury a child, so whether they want me to keep an eye on their lives and business isn’t my concern as long as they don’t know I am doing it. And so, I do that from afar. You were simply one way I was doing that currently with John, but then Lucia got thrown into the mix, too.”

He tipped his head to the side. “But why him—Christian, I mean? What is it with him?”

“He comes from a familiar place,” Lucian replied.

“What does that mean?”

“It means what I said.”

“But—”

The door opened, and Lucia poked her head in the room. “Hey, Daddy, I just remembered the gelato place down the street. Do you want that instead?”

Lucian’s gaze drifted to Renzo, and then back to his daughter. “Yeah, sure. Take Renzo with you … he can carry it back for you.”

Renzo shot Lucian a look.

The man just smiled back.

Yeah.

Dangerously smart.

More than anyone gave Lucian credit for.

Renzo wouldn’t make the mistake of forgetting it.

SIXTEEN

“It’s fine,” her father murmured, kissing her forehead.

Lucia looked up at her dad, and frowned. “You’re sure you don’t want me to be here with you when you finish it out?”

Lucian patted her cheek with a tender palm. “I know why you want to be here … but this is something I want to do alone, Lucia. You can understand that, can’t you? This whole cancer thing has been more than sickness in my body—it’s been in my mind, too.”

Yeah, she bet.

Her father … always strong and never fallible had finally met his match. Sure, he was going to beat it, and yeah, they’d have to wait another six months before they would officially get the all clear, but she understood what he was trying to tell her.

“I love you, Daddy,” Lucia whispered.

Lucian smiled. “That’s all that matters to me, dolcezza.”

“We’ll take a walk around the hospital,” Renzo said from the doorway, “and then circle back around, Lucian.”

Her father nodded. “I appreciate it. Also, check in on … well, you know what I want you to check in on, Renzo. Make sure they don’t need you, or whatever. That should be happening soon, yes?”

Lucia cocked a brow, and glanced between her father and Renzo. It seemed like the two of them were having a silent conversation that she wasn’t included in on, and one that she didn’t understand. She figured it would be better for her not to question it. If the two of them were getting along, then she wasn’t about to go and ruin it with her curiosity.