“Then where is Luca? He brought me here to show the world how in lllloooooovvvvveeeeee we are, but instead, he just ran off and disappeared.”
I glanced toward the mezzanine door where Luca went inside. He still hadn’t come out. The meeting must be getting pretty serious. “All right. You’re supposed to know everything, so you might as well.”
“This club is neutral ground,” Dante chimed in.
“What do you mean by neutral ground? Do you mean none of the families control it?”
“It’s more than that,” he replied. “It’s neutral, so the families can meet here without anyone trespassing on anyone else’s territory.”
She snorted. “Isn’t all this family territory stuff kinda childish?”
“That’s the mob,” he told her. “Trespassing on another family’s territory is a direct threat. If relations deteriorate far enough, it could blow up into all-out war.”
Her eyes widened. “You mean like with the Vittorios?”
“That isn’t why Luca’s here, though,” I interjected. “They’re having a meeting. Michael Vittorio wants to talk to him. He’s offering a peace gesture so the families can live side by side without intruding on each other’s territory.”
“Supposedly,” Dante corrected.
She looked back and forth between us. “Didn’t Luca say hewantsto ignite a war?”
“The Vittorios have been plaguing us for years. They’ve been trying to steal our territory since before Don Antonio’s time, but they’ve been careful not to do anything that could be construed as a major declaration of war. They’ve just needled the Fortinos here and there to encroach on our territory.”
“Luca wants to push them into overstepping,” Dante explained. “He wants them to give him a pretext to throw them out altogether.”
“What’s stopping him from doing that now?” she asked. “You’re mobsters. It isn’t like you have to follow the rules.”
“We still have rules,” Dante told her. “The Council wouldn’t allow it.”
“Council! What Council?”
“The Council of Families. When two or more families can’t get along, the Council steps in to try to smooth things over. They arranged this meeting at Michael Vittorio’s request.”
“So, is Michael trying to smooth things over? Is he trying to avoid a war?”
“He’s definitely trying to avoid a war,” Dante replied. “The Vittorios aren’t strong enough to attack the Fortino family openly.”
“They definitely don’t want peace, though,” I added. “They want to weaken us so that, when it comes to war, they’re in a better position.”
She kept looking back and forth between us with wide eyes. “Wow. It’s a lot more complicated than I realized.”
“You’ll learn,” Dante replied. “You have some catching up to do.”
“Why aren’t you guys higher up the ladder? You’re Luca’s cousins. You’re his next of kin. Shouldn’t you have more decision-making power?”
“There can only be one king,” Dante told her. “We’re as high as anyone can be, but someone has to be on top.”
“Besides,” I added, “one of these days, Luca will get married and have his own children. The kingship will pass to his son, not to us.”
She froze. “Luca… wants to get married?”
“Not yet, but someday.”
She looked around rapidly and started to get up. “I need a drink. I’m going down to the bar.”
I shot out an arm to stop her. “Hold it. Luca said to stay here.”
“Well, why can’t we get a drink? That waitress hasn’t come back since you talked to her.”