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The sound of the clock ticking was the only sound that could be heard in the room. My focus was on the tumbler half-filled with whiskey, I twirled it around and the ice clinked against the glass. A full-bodied cigar burned between my fingers.
"I have been told that there's a girl living in your house for months."
I faced my father, he looked displeased. Anger radiated off his body, he rolled his shoulders to get rid of some of the tension.
"Two and a half months to be precise" I answered smoothly.
"Why?" he asked, I could pick up the annoyance in his voice.
"She's an orphan..."
"You tellin' me that you did that to be charitable?"
I rolled the cigar between my fingers and took a drag. "Precisely"
He chuckled, shaking his head, and muttered something under his breath. "There's that fundraising event coming up, be charitable there, not in your fucking home, son"
A sardonic breath escaped me. "I don't take orders from you anymore, pops"
"Get rid of her" he ordered.
My response held the slightest clench of my teeth. "Can't do"
He slammed a hand over his desk, "You are engaged to Grace, Niko. You don't parade your mistress in front of your wife even if you're the most powerful man in the Cosa Nostra. In my thirty years of marriage, I have never kept a mistress, never touched another woman. Do you think I had a choice? My marriage to your mother was arranged by your grandfather. I fulfilled my duty as his son, as the head of the Costello family."
"Grace Russell is not Anastasia Ivankov Costello..." I told him, no other woman can be as perfect as my mama is.
"Anastasia Ivankov hated me when we first got married, she couldn't stomach to bear my touch, three years, Niko, it took her three years to fall for me, to allow me to be with her as her husband. Do you think I went to other women in those three years because my wife refused to be with me? No, I didn't. I respected your mother too much to humiliate her like that. You are my son, Nikolai, give your wife the same respect and get rid of the other girl"
I raised an eyebrow. "You were the one who said I don't have to stay loyal to her..."
"I know what I said or you would have never agreed to meet Paul Russell." he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "At least give this marriage a chance before going to other women. I fell for Anastasia, maybe, you can fall for Grace too."
