35. Ilaria

36. Dante

37. Ilaria

38. Dante

39. Ilaria

40. Ilaria

41. Dante

Dante

Afterword

TRIGGER WARNINGS

Traditions of Love is a mafia romance and depicts gun violence and death. There are themes of losing a parent to cancer in the past. Past relationship cheating is on page. This does describe consensual sexual acts between FMC and MMC. Tropes are arranged marriage, forces proximity, and mafia romance.

There will be other books in this series and mentions of those characters but, this is absolutely NOT a cliffhanger. You’re welcome.

Please know your trigger warnings and trope preferences before reading.

Playlist

Boston - Augustana

Four Kicks - Kings of Leon

Dark Blue - Jack’s Mannequin

Rivers and Roads - The Head And The Heart

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop -Landon Pigg

Buttons - The Weeks

Don’t Worry Baby - The Brook & The Bluff

golden hour - JVKE

Waiting - City and Colour

I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

First Day of My Life - Bright Eyes

1901 - Phoenix

Lady Luck - Caroline Grace

Cough Syrup - Young the Giant

Everywhere, Everything -Noah Kahan

Best Friend (feat Doja Cat) - Saweetie, Doja

Tounge Tied -GROUPLOVE

Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Yours for Life - Bread

1DANTE

The summer heat had settled over Boston, stifling the city and making my stressful day feel like I was walking through the garbage pail of hell.

I was in a bad mood before my phone rang, but as I looked down seeing Enzo’s name, my already trash day managed to get that much worse; if Enzo called, there was going to be more problems for me to solve.

“Did you get everything signed?” I asked in greeting, checking my watch and feeling the pinch of a headache coming on strong.

He was currently at City Hall, getting all the permits signed off so we could open the restaurant for a grand July 1st opening. The long holiday weekend would drive extra business for us. The club would end up bringing in a huge amount of money as soon as everything was signed off but, if it wasn’t done. I was risking losing a lot of money if this wasn’t completed on time.

Worse than the loss of money, would be seeing my father’s look of embarrassment as his heir tried to go straight and failed at it. I could already feel the way he looked at me, wishing that he had another son to take over the family. But he got me, Dante Luchese, New England playboy, if the magazines were to be believed.

In this case they were to be believed.

Probably another thing my father was disappointed with me about.

He was quiet for a second and I knew that the dinner I was already running late for was going to be pushed back further. Which was just what I needed, another reason for my father to be mad at me.

“I’ll be there in five minutes.” My clipped tone came out before I hung up, sweat trickling along the back of my neck as I checked the speedometer and then glanced at the clock in my dash, foot getting heavier as I headed to get the job done myself.

I should have known better than to let someone else handle this.

This was my dream to work on and the burden of making sure that every i was dotted and t was crossed fell to my shoulders.

Just something else for them to hold. .

My headache was a dull throb, lingering from the phone call yesterday with my father. He told me that there were expectations about my life that needed to be filled. Opening this club was not part of the expectations, but what he called a hobby for me. A hobby that would make clean money, give us more legitimate business than not.

Dinner with him was where I had been heading before getting sidetracked with the business of the club. This was business, after all, and not a hobby, as he had callously insinuated.

Always business.