Lucian Read Free Page B

as three of New York’s finest bachelors. Rarely were they photographed with women when they did go out, but that was of their own choosing. It was easier to let the public speculate on the more private accesses of their lives than give a full show. Besides that, none of the women they did mingle with were the kinds of females any of the boys wanted the public eye to consider as anything but exactly what they were.
    A fuck. Something dirty and quick. One hell of a fun time.
    Definitely not a woman they’d take home to Antony or Cecelia. And if they wouldn’t take her home, it was a well-known fact their mother and father didn’t want to be reading about the extracurricular activities their sons may or may not be having with said females. It was a respect thing.
    Another rule to add to the pile.
    Pretty damn simple.
    Resting back into the pew, Lucian sighed, frustrated. The seating arrangement for their family always followed the same order every Sunday. His mother would always sit to Antony’s left, while Dante sat to his father’s right, followed by Lucian, and finally Gio. It was, basically, the family’s hierarchy.
    It didn’t matter that Antony was the Don—the boss of the Marcello crime family—Cecelia was the boss of their family. In no way was the hierarchy meant to denote anyone’s importance in the family, so to speak, but it showed very clearly who was who.
    Cecelia was the wife and mother. The very most important person to all of the Marcello men. She was Antony’s chosen partner, his equal. Dante, both in the mafia business and private affairs, was his father’s right hand man—the underboss to the family. Lucian, a capo, was his brother’s. Gio, also a capo running his own crew on the west side, came at the end. It wasn’t that the youngest son couldn’t handle being given more responsibility but what he did, he did especially well. His young age gave him the ability to relate to the younger men in his crew. They respected him a hell of a lot more than some of the older guys.
    Everybody knew when Antony would finally hand over his position, his title of boss would go to only Dante. Lucian, on the other hand, would second his younger brother as his underboss. Gio’s fate was still undetermined, but that was his own choice. It had always been that way, even when they were all children.
    Today, however, the seating arrangement in church was different.
    Lucian was sitting at his mother’s side, while Gio was sitting where Dante usually would beside their father. Dante, seemingly unbothered by the change in scenery, sat at the end, giving the very bare minimum he could manage of his attention to the priest.
    It wasn’t the change of seating that put Lucian on edge. He didn’t give a flying shit where he sat, really. He was sure many people in the congregation were curious about the sudden change after over a decade of the family sitting in exactly the same order, but he didn’t care. It was the fact that sitting two seats down from his mother like he usually would, Lucian could at least stare at the intricate paintings covering the walls, or the high vaulted ceiling. There, he could lose himself in anything other than the drawling drone of a priest who was preaching to a man who cared very little for the words being spoken.
    But no. Sitting beside his mother meant Lucian’s attention was being thoroughly monitored.
    He was going insane.
    A gentle touch of his mother’s hand to his knee drew Lucian from his thoughts. She had given his distracted mind just enough time to hear Father Peter ask for the congregation to stand one last time and join him in a final prayer. As he stood, Lucian gave his own silent prayer of thanks for the long morning coming to an end.
    Damn, he was hungry as hell.
    The prayer, as familiar as the church he stood in, was spoken quietly and surely. Making the sign of the cross with two fingers across his chest, Lucian echoed, “Amen.”
    Unfortunately, when he turned to