Dylan was two years older than me and had always been a pain in the ass. He'd constantly made fun of me growing up, and not in the same way Jamie and Louie teased either. Maybe I was being biased because they were my best friends, but when Dylan had tried to make fun or tease, it had felt like he'd actually been trying to make me feel bad or put me down. Whenever Louie and Jamie poked fun, I’d always felt uplifted after. Despite them laughing and joking around, their tone and their smiles secretly told me they loved whatever they were teasing me about.
Dylan had light brown hair like his father’s and brown eyes like his mother’s. Unlike Samuel, he was rocking an edgy business look by wearing a button-down blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing multiple tattoos on his forearms. A lot of the men in the family had tattoos, especially Jamie. He was covered and I was slightly concerned he had an ink addiction. Before I'd left, he had just finished his sleeves with beautiful Celtic knots and been talking about getting more ink done on his back and chest.
Apart from a few new tattoos, Dylan looked pretty much the same since we'd last seen each other. I took in Samuel’s wrinkle-free face next and I couldn’t stop the corners of my lips from quirking up. “Stefan didn’t tell me you were seeing the same doctor. Uncle, you look amazing! Stefan’s been raving about the results and now I can see why. I’m starting to think this doc has a time machine with how good you both look.”
Samuel’s cheeks tinted. “Dr. Abell is known to be the best.”
The sigh that came from across the room was comical. I turned, adorned with a triumphant smirk. Stefan was rubbing his forehead. “Really, Sam?”
“What?” Samuel asked looking between us, completely at a loss. I laughed at how easy that had been. Even Jamie was smiling from the couch while everyone else stared at us like we were crazy.
“I never told her about Dr. Abell,” Stefan explained to Samuel.
“Am I the only one confused?” Dylan asked, frowning.
“Stefan and Samuel have been getting Botox. I wasn’t sure at first, but your dad just confirmed it,” I explained.
Dylan looked a little surprised as his eyes roamed over his father’s face. “He has been looking more youthful lately. I assumed he was getting laid.”
“Dylan!” Samuel chastised. It was no secret that Samuel wasn’t faithful to my aunt.
I was a little shocked Dylan openly teased him about it. Then again, he hadn't specified that it wasn’t my aunt Samuel was doing the deed with. If I were in Dylan’s position, I’d be pissed if one of my parents cheated on the other. But that was me and they were the mob. Morals was just a word, not a requirement. And no one judged.
I wasn’t saying every man in the family was an adulterer shithead. My other uncle loved his wife and would never do anything to hurt her. Stefan had loved my mother, not that I could remember, but I could tell by how torn up he got whenever he talked about her. He hadn’t moved on with anyone else, either. Just a couple flings here and there. I had a feeling as to why that was, but I didn’t think it had to do with grief. Deep down, and I mean really deep down, I had a hunch Stefan might be gay. I didn’t have any proof or ever would. As the leader of this family, Stefan had to uphold a certain image and sexual preference was woven into that. It was fucking stupid. Samuel could cheat on his wife and no one would bat an eye. If my father happened to like men, then there’d be an uproar and people would say he was not fit to lead. Great, now I'm getting mad over something that may or may not even be true.
“Maura?” The sound of Stefan’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
“Yes?”
Stefan’s head was slightly tilted, eyes studying me. He wasn’t the only one. Looking around the room, I found I was the center of attention.
“You zoned out, babe,” Louie said, taking pity on me.
Oh.
“Just thinking.”
Stefan’s gaze lingered until Samuel cleared his throat, drawing his attention.
“We’ve got the books you asked for,” Samuel said, reaching into his breast pocket inside his suit and pulling out a flash drive.
“Good. Any progress this week?”
Samuel didn’t answer as he handed over the flash drive. Stefan stared at him expectantly, which made Samuel look pointedly in my direction. “Maura, please excuse yourself. We have business to discuss.”
Anger flaring, I bit my tongue. I had to love my uncle. I didn’t have to like him. He was a sexist bastard like most of the men in the family. He'd always made it abundantly clear that women had no business knowing the business and that our place was either in the kitchen or in the bedroom, taking care of the men.
Stefan hadn't raised me, or even Jamie for that matter, to think that way. He'd demanded my strength and punished me if I'd ever showed him submission. When interacting with other members of the family who didn’t agree with his parenting style, like Samuel, who expected my submission, Stefan had left me to stand on my own. He'd sat back, watched, never coming to my aid. As a little girl, I'd turned the other cheek. It had been what all the other females had done, or they'd been beaten. Sadly, abuse wasn’t uncommon or stopped when done publicly in this family. Again, morals was just a word to the mob. It was why I hated holidays and family gatherings. What I hadn't understood until I'd been in my teens was that I couldn’t be punished or put in my place by anyone other than Stefan. No one had outright told me that or explained what being Stefan Quinn’s daughter entailed, which had left me terrified of being hurt. I had a feeling Stefan was to blame. He'd wanted me to be strong and earn respect on my own without the crutch of knowing he’d murder anyone who laid a finger on me. It had worked. Over time, something in me had snapped and I'd become fed up. Using all the stupid lessons my father had taught me, I'd held my head high and stood my ground against the men in this family. It had resulted in some angry mobsters looking to Stefan to deal with me. To their dismay, he hadn't come to their aid either.
“Let’s go find some scissors, Louie. Anyone with a vagina apparently isn’t welcome to know the goings-on of the big bad mob,” I said caustically.
Samuel held a blank expression as he stared back at me, but the challenge was there. He was baiting me, and I so badly wanted to take it. Bastard.
“Are you saying I have a vagina?” Louie asked, trying to break the tension in the room like I'd known he would.
“You spend enough time with them. I’m surprised you haven’t turned into one,” I snickered. Without removing my eyes from Samuel’s, I continued, “Besides, having a vagina is empowering. It can handle whatever a man can give, and it pushed all of you out into this world. Not to mention most men can’t live without it. Some even pay for it, right, Uncle?”
Silence fell on the room with shock and tension speaking louder than words ever could. His infidelity wasn’t a secret, nor were the high-end escorts he was unfaithful with. We just didn’t talk about it.
Coming back to this life, I wasn’t only going to change things between Stefan and me, but my position in the family, as well. I didn’t want to be looked over as another female or Stefan’s daughter. I was tired of seeing the line drawn in the sand. I wasn’t going to just stand my ground anymore. I was going to rise. How was I going to do that? I wasn’t quite sure. However, putting my sexist uncle in his place seemed like a good start.