Breaking Cosmos - A Midnight Mafia Novel

EIGHT

No one had shared a meal together tonight. This was a rarity, dinner as a family, was an important tradition to Dad. Mom, Dad, Nicolo, and myself always had to be present. The meal was almost always home cooked, and never by Mom.

For all of the things Dad had taught he over the years how to not set our kitchen on fire was not one of them. Until the day she died three years ago Gram had turned her nose on Mom for her failure to cook. I think once it used to bother Mom, but by the time Gram had died her cooking was the only thing she could really put Mom down for. Secretly, Gram and Mom loved each other, I'm super sure of that.

There was always a handful at minimum who joined us at dinner. Dad was careful to rotate who joined us at dinner, there were a few regulars, but for the most part he made sure he saw different men often. He made sure to hear different voices, see different angles, stay close to all and know everything. It was confusing when I was young, all of the different faces. But as I grew older, it became our normal and I realized how smart he actually, and where the loyalty grew from.

Dad was terrifying, and he was not always the most talkative or social, he'd probably put a fork through your hand if you said the wrong thing, but he heard everyone. Often times he'd have simple drop men and high up hit men present at the same time, at the dinner table ranks didn't matter (except of course his and Mom's being at the top), having a seat next to the most powerful person in the family when you were next to the bottom made those low levels feel important and valuable. And with their company, he kept a close relationship with the simple day to day activities as well, he missed nothing, he knew everyone, he could spot a rat or a liar from a crowded room without having said a single word to the infiltrator and from their first dinner he could tell who would live to the end of the month.

But tonight, the table was empty.

Nicolo and I sat at the empty table for some time. A long time actually, before Sergio showed up. "I guess I'm supposed to feed you." He'd announced with pizza. "I thought this might really piss off your Dad, have you tried Hawaiian?"

The only times Mom and Dad didn't have dinner with us was when they were out of town of big trouble was going on...but tonight they were just...upstairs.

I retreated to my room after dinner, shaken by the seriousness of abandoned family dinner, I thought over Mom and Dad's conversation.

I doubted Dad could do it.

Stay calm and reasonable? Puh-leez. Asking the king to bend at the knee was like asking the cat to share his tuna with the mouse. It wasn't going to happen.

No way could he stand to have a full serious conversation like this without anger or yelling. I'd bet my life on it!

But still. It wasn't my life that was on the line. It was Logan's.

I got Dad's anger, and Mom's impulse. It was a dangerous combo I'd never been too worried about roping in before now. Compromise. I decided if Dad tried, I would try too, I would try so freaking hard to be reasonable and calm and to actually have this conversation with him. I would do this. I could do this.

There wasn't a knock on the door until later into the night, Dad waited a few seconds before entering my room and I had to pretend I wasn't expecting him.

"Hey kiddo." He said in a rather flat tone. "Your Mother, eh, she thinks we should talk."

I was sitting in the corner of my bed leaning against the wall, he came into the room and sat on the edge of the bed furthest from me. "If I haven't been clear, if you are somehow confused, I need to know. Because I've thought I have been perfectly clear that on the list of guys my daughter could safely date a police offer is about as far off as you could get. You might as well be with a rival family at that rate. But, if I've been unclear about the dangers this would bring to our family, and why this would be a terrible idea, I apologize and would like to clear that up now."