Possessed by the Killer

she’d get.
“That’s true,” Hector rumbled. “But this is the method he wanted. How against this marriage are you, Dean?”
I ran a hand through my hair and considered. I was willing to do whatever it took to keep the family together, but I didn’t want to force a girl into marrying me. It was a delicate situation, and I hoped that offering her an absurd amount of money to make this happen would sway her enough to keep her happy, but Mags didn’t strike me as the type to let money dictate everything.
If she didn’t want to be with me, I knew she’d find a way out, money or no money.
Though that still didn’t answer Hector’s question.
Did I want to be with her? Maybe, I didn’t know.
She was beautiful and smart, but there was a fire inside of her, a flame that burned red and hot.
And it made her hate the mafia with a passion.
“I’m willing to give it a chance,” I said finally.
Bea’s disapproving smile made me grimace.
“Then I don’t see the issue,” Hector said, waving the cigar. “The girl’s here, she says she’s willing, so what’s the problem?”
“The problem is Roy,” I said, meeting Bea’s gaze. “Marrying his niece is one thing. But what happens if he starts demanding more?”
Hector grunted and shook his head. “That won’t happen. Roy’s loyal.”
“To your father,” Bea said.
“And my father’s dead,” I said. “I’m the Don now. I’ll give Roy this one concession but if he asks for more—” I stopped myself and let that sink in.
Hector sighed and took a white handkerchief from his pocket. He dabbed at his forehead as he puffed away. “Ugly business,” he grunted. “These successions are always ugly. Seen it a hundred times in the business world. Rich patriarch dies and his children rip themselves to pieces trying to get at the corpse of the company.”
“That won’t happen here,” I said.
Hector stood up with a sigh. “Well, I support you, no matter what,” he said. “As always, I’m at your service. I belong to the Valentino family.”
“Thank you, Hector. Your loyalty won’t be forgotten.”
He chuckled as he headed to the door. “You keep the payments rolling in and I’ll feel duly appreciated.” He laughed as he left, puffing away.
Bea sighed and watched him go. “I’ll have to clean the smell of cigar out of the whole house at this rate,” she said.
I leaned across the desk to try to get a sense of what she was thinking. Bea helped raise me after my mom died, and I looked up to her. She took care of me, and though she’d never replace my mother, I respected and loved her like one anyway.
“What should I do about Mags?” I asked.
Bea looked back at me. “I can’t tell you that,” she said.
“Come on,” I said. “I need your advice.”
She sucked in a breath and slowly let it out. “I’d consider it,” she said.
I rubbed at my face with both hands. “I don’t have time for your noncommittal answers,” I said. “I need guidance.”
Bea slowly stood up and smiled down at me. “Your father married for political reasons. Did you know that?”
I nodded slowly. Everyone knew that story. My mother was the daughter of an old and decrepit mafia family. The Leones were slowly dying, and the Valentino family was rising to take their place. When my father married my mother, that created a union of the two families, and the Valentinos absorbed the Leones, creating the powerful juggernaut it was today.
I didn’t know if my parents ever loved each other. My father rarely talked about my mother and I never pressed him for details about their relationship. Every child grows up thinking their parents were in love—
Except for me. I grew up wondering if my father was capable of love at all.
Not that it mattered, really, if my parents cared about each other.
It was naive to think they could’ve had a real relationship. The thought was endlessly depressing though—my mother gave herself to my father in order to tie their two families together, and then she gets killed. She might’ve never known love, and if she did, she had to hide it away and devote herself to a man that she never quite cared about.
I was terrified of that happening to me. I didn’t want to get stuck in a loveless marriage, and I certainly didn’t want to force Mags to go through that.
But I also knew that I needed Roy in order to ensure that the family stayed together through this transition, and if marrying Mags was the way to do it, then I had to at least consider the possibility.
“Do you think my mother was happy?” I asked.
Bea gestured like she didn’t know and smiled sadly. “Your mother was very quiet,” she said. “I didn’t know her well, but she was always kind to me.”
“I’m afraid Mags will end up like her.” I looked down at the desk, at my scarred and callused hands.
“You mean dead?”
I flinched, as if punched in the throat, and nodded. “Dead or worse.”
“You have a lot of control over that, dear,” Bea said and ambled toward the door. “Your father was a good Don. He thought about the family over everything else, including your mother. That made him a powerful man, but it didn’t make him a wonderful husband, and I think your mother suffered for it. I can’t say if that’s what got her killed, though I suspect that if your father paid more attention to her, she never would’ve been put in a dangerous position to begin with. But I’m only saying, you have some control over what happens in your marriage.” She lingered at the door and looked back at me sadly.
“So now you think I should do it?” I asked, smiling, head tilted.
She grinned. “I think you’re going to do whatever you want no matter what I say, so I might as well try to guide you toward the right path.” She waved once and left me alone.
I leaned