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I scowl, folding my ar as they looked good on my arm and didn’t e serious, itfor fun, the same as me

“I didn’t knoas supposed to be finding a broodht you’d want irl and fall in love, like a normal person”

“Is that what you think we did?” my mother says quietly

I pause I actually have no idea how my parents met I never asked them

“That’s right,” e,’ if you want to call it that More accurately, our parents, ere older and wiser than us, and who knew us better than we knew ourselves, arranged the ood partners for one another, and because it was an alliance that benefited both of our faes, at first”

A significant look passes between my parents A little ruefulness and amusement from both of them

“But in the end, our match is what made us the people we are today,” my father says

This is fucking bananas I’ve never heard this before

“That’s completely different!” I tell theround The Gallos are mobsters They’re old school, in the worst sense of the word”

“That’s part of the value they’ll provide,” rown in wealth and influence, we’ve lost our edge You’re my only son Your mother lost both her brothers There are precious few men on my side of the family In pure muscle, we only have e pay for You can never be sure of the loyalty of hired guns—there’s always so to paya serious threat to us, so we can’t necessarily deal with on our own The Italians have the saned, the Butcher won’t dare strike at either of us”

“Great,” I say “But who’s going to protect ine her as a politician’s wife? I doubt she even knoalk in heels”

“Then you’ll teach her,” my mother says

“I don’t knoalk in heels, either,” I say sarcastically “How exactly am I supposed to teach her to be a lady, mother?”

“She’s young and malleable,” my father says “You’ll train her, mold her into what she needs to be in order to stand by your side and support your career”

Young and malleable?