KING: Las Vegas Bad Boys(89)

You’d think that at twenty-three I’d have spread my wings bit, found some freedom ... but my life only seems to have become more restricting with age. The family is always around; Dad’s mansion is the headquarters.

I’m grateful to be the boss’s daughter in some ways. I’ve always had everything I need. But all the money in the world doesn’t change the fact that I’m the youngest of five kids, and the word overprotective doesn’t begin to cover the way they treat me.

My sister Mary got off the hook, being the oldest girl ... or maybe because she did exactly as she was told. Married a man who was in the family business, right out of high school, and started having babies.

The conversation I had with Dad this morning rings through my head as I sit in my parked car.

“No,” I told him. “I’m not ready to get married.”

“JoJo, you’ve been out of college for a year. You’re an asset that’s losing value the older you get,” Dad repeated, for the fourth time. His tone was rough, his face grim. I wondered if he was ever soft. I’ve never seen that side of him.

I shook my head again. “I get it. You want me married and popping out babies. But it’s not like Peter, Paul, or John are married,” I reminded him. I knew that my tone was sneaking into snarky territory, and that I needed to be careful.

“Your brothers help run the family, JoJo. And they’re gone half the time in Boston keeping everything in check,” he said. “I rely on their help to run this organization.”

I hate this—being the youngest daughter of the boss of the Irish Mob. I thought when he told me we were moving to Las Vegas five years ago it might mean a fresh start. Little did I know the insider gambling circuit here surpasses the one in Boston.

“You don’t care about my happiness,” I told him.

“I want you to settle down, like your mother would have wanted. For the sake of the family.”

I was so over this guilt trip.

“I’ve gotta go,” I told him, grabbing my purse from the table. “I hear you; I do. I just don’t understand the urgency.”

Dad wasn’t having any of that. He slammed his fist on the counter. “The urgency is clear. I say it’s time for you to marry, so you will. And I’ve found the man.”

“Who?” I asked—shocked, but not surprised. Mary was married off when she was eighteen. I’ve been biding my time and I knew that, eventually, if I wanted to stay in the family, I’d be married too. “Is it someone I know?”

“I’m not looking inside for you like I did Mary. We’ve been wanting to make inroads with the Italians for a long time.”

“Who?” I asked again, my chest starting to burn. I felt scared. Out of control. Like a pawn in his game.

“Word is Frank Grotto’s getting out of prison next month.”

“No, that’s not possible,” I said, shaking my head. “He’s in for life. For that hit and run, for the drug ring. It was all over the news.”

“Looks like his lawyers got him off; other members of the family are taking the fall. Blood runs deep, Josephine. You need to remember that now more than ever.”

“Grotto is fifteen years older than me. It’s not an option.”

“We’ve wanted to make an alliance with his family for a long time. This is a done deal.”

“Dad, he’s a criminal,” I whispered, the intensity of the conversation weighing heavy in the room.

“There are worse things.”

Is that true? I don’t know. I just know I needed to get the fuck out of my father’s house.

I left knowing I don’t have a choice. That my fate will be sealed the moment Grotto is a free man.

And now my car is parked at the place that actually feels like home—feels safe. I check my face in the mirror. The slight bruise on my jaw is practically gone. I used makeup to cover it at home; no one noticed.

Funny how the one place I feel safe is also the place where I get my butt kicked on a daily basis.

My head throbs. I just want to pretend the conversation with my dad never happened. I’ve been living in denial. Arranged marriages are so dated, but not when your family is the mob.

I managed to convince everyone to let me go to college–although I had to live at home—but grad school was a no-go. When I brought it up last year, Dad said it was time I settled down like a good woman. It wasn’t that I cared about school; I just wanted to avoid the inevitable life plan.

But my heart is just not in that plan. Until recently, I’ve never once been swept off my feet.

And then, when I least expected it, I fell in love.

But not with a man.