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As hard as I’d had it with the old man, Luca had had it worse because he’d had the added pressure of needing to succeed at so s As basically just hired ood punch or instill just the right aht Luca had had to wearthe business and ultimately taken it over My brother had always been the more sensitive of us, but he’d been forced to snuff that out after our mother had died

Because sensitivity was a weakness

Softness was a weakness

He’d been well on his way to being the ruthless tyrant our father had been groootten the surprise of his life during his first year of college

His best friend, a girl named Genevieve, who he’d had one drunken sexual encounter with to prove to hi, had stunned hi to be parents

The night Genevieve, or V as we’d come to call her, had told Luca, he’d come to me and in a rare show of self-doubt had cried in s all at once

That he was, indeed, only interested in men

That our father was going to disown hiht

And that he was going to be a father

That last part had been the hardest thing for him to accept because he’d been convinced he’d turn out to be just like Vidone Covello

When he’d gone back to V, he’d intended to tell her that he just couldn’t do it… that he couldn’t be a father to any child

Then he’d seen the tiny outline of his baby on a sonograed

Well, not quite everything

Luca had waited until little Gio was alrandson I’d suspected it had been soo back to being the family our mother had alanted us to be

Vidone had been in a rage at first, because he hadn’t wanted another bastard in the family He’d barely even looked at me when he’d said those words to Luca and I’d hardly even flinched because I’d gotten used to that title But when the oldinto the rooururandson in his ar words of comfort to him He’d called Gio over to him and looked him up and down and then, just like that, he’d suddenly declared that the boy was a Covello and that Luca and V would make it official that weekend My poor brother hadn’t even had a chance to respond to the declaration because our father had started talking about how little Giovanni Covello was the future of the business and he’d one day rule an empire that would make Covello a household name