Page 126 of Deadly Vows

Elise knows grooming him is inevitable.

As a matter of fact, today his training will get even harder. Because by the end of the month, he will become a made man and take a life. When you take a life, you are ready to enter this world with nothing standing in your way.

Elise checks her watch.

“I should get going. Enzo is coming in town and said we could meet for lunch.” She gives me a sad smile, knowing that we will begin a new stage in his training once she leaves.

She doesn’t like to be around when I train Luciano.

“I wanna go with you!” Luciano shouts.

She kneels in front of him. “Not today, sweetie. Today you’ll be spending time with Daddy.” She smiles at him, running her thumb along his cheek, and he turns his nose up and makes a face.

“Okay,” he pouts.

“Now, give Mommy a kiss.” She smiles at him, and he smiles back, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I love you.” She smiles.

“I love you, too,” he says back.

I pull Elise in an embrace, but she holds me tight as she speaks.

“Don’t break him, Luca. I will never forgive you if you do,” she says low enough for me to hear.

“I won’t,” I reassure her.

She nods and stands on her tiptoes to kiss me before she waves bye to both of us and leaves the house.

It is just me and Luciano now. I take a deep breath.

“Luciano, I want you to go get the birthday present I gave you, okay?” I say.

He nods vigorously and takes off into the house. He comes running back outside with a huge grin on his face as he followsme to the range. Once we arrive, I take a seat on the edge of the patio, and he comes to stand next to me. We open the box together to reveal his gun. His first gun. I gave it to him when he was four and taught him how to use it. I didn’t put real bullets in it until he turned five. Across the handle, “Luciano” is inscribed in silver.

I pick it up, handing it to him, and his whole demeanor changes.

He is serious, just like I’ve trained him to be.

“What does that say?” I motion to his name on his gun.

“Luciano,” he responds immediately.

“And who is Luciano?”

“I am,” he says.

“And what does that mean, son?”

“It means that I am the firstborn to Luca and Elise Pasquino,” he says.

“And who will you be?” I ask.

“I will be the next to head the Pasquino family, the strongest and most powerful crime family in the United States.”

“And if anyone says otherwise?” I ask.

He holds the gun up and shoots at the five targets lined across the range, hitting all of them dead center except for the last one. He hit it too far to the left, and it spins and falls off the pedestal.

“Sorry, Dad. After I fired the first four shots, I didn’t think about the weight lightening. I’ll be more careful next time.” He smiles at me apologetically.

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