5. Chapter Five
Chapter five
Peter
Lukas:
I stare at the message for a second, slightly concerned.
He was out in Chicago, helping Lynette and Lianne work through more family and mafia-related paperwork.
His dad, and the Don of the Agosti family, had died only a few weeks ago, and his mom was doing her best to carry on.
Lukas had asked me to stay back in Colorado to keep an eye on Quinn and the house.
It was all part of the job when working for a mafia family.
I was his right-hand man out here, and one of his closest friends.
Peter:
My phone immediately rang, and I wasn’t surprised to see my boss’s name on the screen. I accepted the call. “Is everything okay?”
“Mom picked Lianne.”
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
He let out a deep sigh. “Mom asked Lianne to be her second.”
What? It had surprised us all when Lynette was named as George Agosti’s successor, and not their oldest son Liam as everyone had anticipated.
George hadn’t updated the official paperwork before his untimely death, and when it came out that Liam was the reason his dad was dead, no one wanted to see him in charge. “Okay?”
“Li accepted.”
“Really?” That genuinely surprised me. Lianne had been extremely vocal about how she wanted nothing to do with the family business, especially having two older brothers to take up the reins.
While it made sense for Lynette to ask, I couldn’t quite read the tone of his voice to gauge his reaction. “How are you feeling about that?”
“I… I don’t know.”
We sat in silence for a moment, and I was grateful for the time to process. “Did Lianne know the ask was coming?”
He let out a tense breath. “Yeah, apparently Mom asked Ryan for his thoughts beforehand.”
Okay… that explains Ryan, but not your sister. There were still a lot of details about this I was missing. “Did you know it was coming? Did Lynette say anything to you about it beforehand?”
“No.” The response was grumbled. “I only realized something was up when Li texted that she wanted me in on a meeting with her and Mom.”
Lynette and Ryan both didn’t tell him? His own mother? His own best friend? Damn. “And Lianne just accepted on the spot? Really? Our little overthinker?”
Lukas let out a tense chuckle that trailed off into an irritated huff. “Apparently, Ryan had filled her in… She and Ben had enough lead time to chat it out and make a decision.”
I sat there, stunned. “Wow. Okay. Were you ever part of the conversation? And why did Lianne want you in the meeting?”
“Oh yeah. After Mom formally asked Li to be her second, my sister immediately asked why her and not me, citing I already knew everything already about the properties, businesses, and people.”
Glad I’m not the only one asking that question. “Which is true. And what did your mom say?”
There was a tense sigh on the other end of the call. “Mom had solid reasons why Lianne was her first pick. Some made sense and were completely understandable. Some were… Well… Mom is allowed her opinions.”
The defeated tone in his voice relayed his disapproval and hurt. “Do I want to know what else was said, or is that privileged information?”
Lukas let out a frustrated groan. And if I had eyes on the man, I’m sure he was rubbing his face with his hand.
“She brought up the fact I live in Colorado more than half the time and was transitioning out of the business in some areas, which is totally valid. But then my mom went on about how she trusts Lianne’s gut feelings implicitly, how my sister is more levelheaded, and then finished up by straight-up saying Lianne is smarter than I am. ”
I grimaced at the last several reasons. It was no secret the twins competed about nearly everything, but to flat out be told by your mother that not only was your younger sibling better but also why, while not without merit, still had to sting.
“I’m not going to sit here and call Lynette a liar, but ouch. ”
Another tense breath came out. “Right? I want to be pissed, but I can’t be mad at my mom.
Not right now. Not while she’s trying to mourn her husband while taking on all of his work and dealing with Liam and all his bullshit.
” He paused for a moment. “My mom’s not wrong in so many of those categories.
I remember making it abundantly clear when I moved out here that I didn’t want to stay in the game full-time.
I never thought Li would be asked instead of me, or that she would willingly and voluntarily take up the reins. ”
“We also never thought Liam was going to go rogue.”
“Right.”
His reserved tone implied there was more that he wasn’t saying, but Lukas and I weren’t the type to get into all the deep feelings in conversations. Maybe Quinn can get to the bottom of this. Quinn! “Have you filled in your other half yet?”
There was yet another sigh. “No. She has a baby shower and a bridal tour today. I won’t be able to talk to her for another couple of hours.”
A small smile appeared on my face. I loved how, even though he was hundreds of miles away, he knew Quinn’s daily schedule like the back of his hand. “Do you need me to do anything here?”
“No. Well, nothing yet. I need to get with Ryan and figure out the new rosters for who is covering who and where. I can tell you better after that.” There was a pause and then some rustling. “I gotta go. I’ll touch base later.”
The call ended, and I leaned back in my chair, letting out a low whistle as I ruminated on the information Lukas gave me. If Lynette was taking over, she was going to be the first female Don in Chicago… ever? And Lianne would be the first female second.
Holy shit.
I shook my head at Liam. He wanted to make a name for himself and the Agosti family but then threw it all away on a bad business deal.
A wry chuckle came out. Well, he made a name for himself, but not in the way he wanted.
And the Agosti name is going to catch a lot of attention, but again, not in the way he wanted.
I hoped double-crossing his family was worth it.
After Phil and Quinn came home from Cardinal Hideaway, the boutique hotel and lodge we all also worked at, he immediately turned around and headed out again to go on a date with his girlfriend, Chelsea.
Quinn smirked and shook her head as she watched the SUV back down the driveway.
“Would you like to have dinner with me, or do you have plans, too?”
Between rolling with the wildly changing schedule at both the lodge and the house, and the fact Lukas needed to spend more time in Chicago, Quinn had been phenomenal in dealing with the chaos, but that didn’t mean she was above needing things herself.
Someone had to be strong and here for her, too.
“I have no plans and would love to have dinner with you.”
The relieved sigh that came out of her made me realize how little she was looking forward to eating alone again. “Thank you.”
“Of course. I was actually going to ask if you wanted to share some wine with me.”
Quinn turned to face me, arching an eyebrow. “Were you, now?”
I nodded, not surprised by her skeptical response. “I have one of your favorites downstairs, and I was just thinking about how long it’s been since we’ve hung out and watched TV together.”
“I’d call you out for lying, but…” She let out a sigh. “It has been a while. What are you in the mood to watch tonight?”
It was quickly decided we’d eat upstairs and watch a new show about car restoration. We had put a chicken parmesan bake in the oven and sat down on the grey microfiber couch when Quinn took a sip of her wine and leaned forward, staring at me. “I’m assuming you talked to Lukas earlier?”
I nodded. “I did.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Did he tell you what he told me?”
A snicker popped out as I shook my head. “Are we really going to play this game and not ask direct questions?”
The fiery redhead stuck out her tongue at me. “Listen, I’m not going to assume shit about what he tells you right now. That man barely talks to me some days if the grief and guilt are too much. Did you hear about the meeting he had with his mom and sister this morning?”
“I did.” I let out a sigh and leaned back on the couch before glancing at her again. “How’s Lukas taking the announcement? For real.”
Quinn looked down the hall toward his closed office door. “He’ll never admit it, but he’s struggling. A lot. As much as he’s pissed at his brother for everything that went down with Barlowe, he had already been wrapping his head around the fact he might have to step up in the business.”
“And then his mom and sister blew up that thought.”
She took another sip of her wine and nodded. “Yeah. Not that I blame Lynette for asking for help. I actually applaud that shit. She’s a smart woman.”
I nodded. “That she is. There’s a reason she and George made it as long as they did in the mafia business while also maintaining their marriage.”
“Right?” Quinn sighed as she stared out the windows, looking out the back of the house.
“If you had asked me a month ago what I thought was going to happen with the Agosti business, I would have assumed Liam would have been next in line to be Don. If you had asked me a week ago, I would have shrugged and said Lynette or Lukas… but never Lianne.”
I nodded. “But now we know differently.”
“That we do.”
We sat in silence for a moment before Quinn smiled.
“I don’t think I’d ever say this to Lukas’s face, and if you repeat this, I will deny it, but I’m glad Lianne is Lynette’s righthand woman.
One, she’s already there and has Ben with her.
Two, selfishly, I don’t want Lukas gone that much.
Three, no one should be shouldering all that on their own, and I know Lynette and Lianne get along well.
And on top of grieving? Taking on all of your late husband’s work? That’s just cruel.”