“You went to Mexico for a job.”
Chris chuckled as he poured a small glass of whiskey at the wet bar. “I did.”
His father came to stand next to him with a knowing smile. “Seems you came back with more than you intended to, Christopher.”
“And?”
Gian sighed, his gaze drifting across the room to where Cara was helping Valeria settle Maria for the evening. Once she was in bed, his parents had promised they would leave them be to relax for the night, or as much as they could.
“Bit ... rushed,” Gian murmured. “What is it about you boys of mine rushing into love, hmm?”
“Don’t you know?”
Gian shook his head. “I don’t, so tell me.”
Chris thought it was simple.
Obvious.
“You taught us not to be afraid of love, Papa. You and Ma—watching the two of you growing up showed us what love is supposed to be. Not perfect. Not always easy, or given to us. We earn it, we nurture it, and we do that so we can keep it. That’s the wonderful part, or I thought so, anyway.”
Gian made a soft noise in the back of his throat, turning so that his back was to the wet bar, and he could watch the women across the room as he spoke. “So, what you’re telling me is not to worry, yes?”
Chris smiled. “Not about this. I have it handled.”
“You always have everything handled. You were not the one of my five boys I had to worry about that. Trust me.”
He did.
“And I am proud of you,” Gian added after a moment.
Chris tipped his glass up for a drink, letting the spices of the heady liquor rove over his tongue before he swallowed it back. Setting the lowball down, he asked, “For what?”
“Doing the impossible. And finding something you wanted, I suppose.” Gian glanced his way, that soft expression of his father’s turning into something else. The Don was in the room—just like that. All it took was his father flipping a switch, and his mood changed. “As for the cartel ...”
“What about it?”
“I would appreciate knowing what we’re looking at now where they are concerned.” Gian shrugged his broad shoulders under his tailored, black blazer. “I let you go into Mexico with little plans, or even understanding how all of this would play out.”
“To be fair,” Chris replied, amused, “even my plans got fucked up. Someone else had her own plans, and she did what she wanted do whether anyone else cared.”
“And who is this someone?”
“Abril Lòpez. The youngest daughter—same age as Val, but nothing like her, if we’re being honest here. And that’s not a bad thing, let me say.”
“She helped?”
“Helped ... caused a war.” Chris made a dismissive noise and waved a hand in the air. “What do the details matter if it’s all the same, yeah?”
Gian grunted under his breath. “And what, I assume a surviving male will now take over the cartel? Will we have to be concerned about retribution for our part we played down there, or not?”
“Oh, no. I assume nothing. Abril is now a new queen on a very broken throne, and that’s fine, she likes it there.”
His father blinked.
Chris nodded.
What else could he do?
He had not planned for Abril, and when he decided to use her help ... the woman had her own schemes running. She was dangerous, a lot like the rest of her family, but a hell of a lot less obvious about it, too.
“We should stay out of Mexico as much as possible,” Chris said. “Entirely. I suspect she will be busy tearing down what remains of her father’s cartel to rebuild it in the image she prefers, while—”
“Warring with her rivals.”
“Mmm.”
Gian folded his arms over his chest, considering those words. “You think she would ... use us to her advantage, if we were to return, even for vacation?”
“I think anyone—man or woman—who thinks to assume to underestimate Abril Lòpez will deserve everything they get, and our family should not be the ones who she makes an example out of.”
That seemed to be enough for his father.
“I will pass the information along to Andino, then. I am sure the Marcellos won’t be welcome down that way, either.”
“To be safe,” he agreed, “yeah.”
Gian glanced his way again, the kinder smile replacing his stony expression. “As for you ...”
“What about me?”
“I hope you will settle down, now. I’ve never said one way or the other, Chris, on famiglia or The League because I thought you had decided long ago.”
He cleared his throat. “I thought I did, too.”
“And now?”
A laugh burst from his chest.
“This was enough for me. I am a made man, and nothing more. That’s where I need to be, and where I want to be. Corrado and I, well, we’re old enough now we don’t need to be looking over each other’s backs all the time, I think.”
“You’re not wrong.” Gian nodded, reaching over to clap his son on the shoulder. “And on the made bit, good.”
“What would you have said, if I chose the other option?”
“The same thing, son.”
Right.
Because that was his father in a nutshell.
And his mother, too.
Speaking of which ...
Across the room, Cara took a hug from Maria before the girl darted to take her mother’s outstretched hand. Valeria shot Chris a smile over her shoulder before the two disappeared into the connected bedroom of the hotel room. Once the door was shut behind them, Cara looked her son’s way with a familiar smile that had his chest growing tight.
He loved his ma.
All the Guzzi boys did.
“She is a sweet child,” Cara said, crossing the room to stand in front of Chris. She patted his cheek with a soft palm, pride and support shining through in her actions, and in her eyes. “I was worried about you.”
“Sorry, Ma.”
“You didn’t call enough.”
“It wasn’t safe, really.”
Cara’s thumb stroked his unshaven cheek. “And just what do you plan to do with the two of them now, hmm?”
Chris smiled. “We have all the time in the world to figure it out.”
Inside, though?
He already knew.
Keep them forever.
• • •
“That’s three books,” Valeria said, laughing.
Chris grinned to himself in the doorway when Maria gave her mother a dramatic sigh. The girl wasn’t at all spoiled, but she still had her mom wrapped right around her pinky finger, as cute as that was.
“But—”
“And we had to get the concierge of the hotel to find the books, Maria.”
“Just one more?”
Valeria was trying to get her daughter to fall asleep, but Chris figured the events of the past couple of days had been a bit much. They all needed time to absorb what happened, calm down, and get back to a normal routine. Maria included.
Behind him, the echo of water running into a tub reminded him of what Valeria had been trying to do before Maria crawled out of the bed meant for her, and found them in the bedroom as they talked.