Outtake: The Secret #DanteandGio

Hey, loves. We're back again for another outtake. This one I pulled from the recent requests. Keep in mind that not every request I get will be written - it is whatever my muse seems to want to write, or I have an idea for.

Do enjoy.

Onto the outtake.

*

The Secret

A Marcello Brothers Outtake

Dante/Gio POV

Dante POV

Dante smirked down at the screen of his phone with a glee even he couldn't contain at the sight of his brother's text.

Just arrived, it read.

"Why does your face look like that?"

Dante attempted to fix his face when he glanced up to find that his wife had come to stand on the other side of their kitchen island, but even the sight of her cocked eyebrow wasn't enough to shake the smugness he felt.

"Well?" she asked when he didn't answer right away.

"Gio's here. The bookie called a half hour ago with the final numbers on the run we went in on. I won. Which means I get to tell him he was wrong, I was right, and--"

"Stop gloating."

Dante grinned. "I'm not."

Yet.

But he would.

As soon as Gio came inside.

Catrina shook her head. "That's a level of petty even I can't manage to reach, Dante."

"Listen," he said, pointing a finger at his wife even though he knew that came with its own set of risks, quite frankly, "you can't just come in here with your better than me attitude and tell me not to have my moment, Catrina."

"I didn't tell you not to have it. I said it was petty."

"And?"

Because he didn't see the problem.

Now that Gio, Lucian and Dante were all grown men, had kids and grandkids of their own, their life phased out of the mafia and its suffocating rules that had completely surrounded their entire lives ... well, the three of them had a chance to act like real brothers in a way they hadn't since their younger teen years.

Before they'd chosen to follow their father, and everything that came along with that. Sometimes, it felt like they were making up for lost time with their late Friday nights, and closer to lunch breakfasts on Saturdays. All the running jokes between them couldn't be contained, even if it had every single one of their wives rolling their eyes on a regular basis. None of the brothers cared, honestly.

They were having fun.

Dante had only now realized how long it'd been since they were really able to sit back, and have fun with each other without some sort of undercurrent running between them because of the family and the goddamn mafia.

"Keep your pettiness," Catrina told him with a small smile as though she could read his mind, "but you know he'll get you back for it the first chance he could."

"Likely," Dante returned, "but shit, that's half the fun, Cat."

"Right."

"What's fun, now?"

Dante found Gio had finally come inside, and was now standing in the entryway of the kitchen. He grinned his brother's way, ignoring how he could see his wife rolling her eyes out of the corner of his eye. "How I just soaked you for twenty-k on the last game--"

"Fuck sakes," Gio groaned, tipping his head back and letting out a sour laugh. "Did you seriously make me drive all the way over here for that? You made it seem like something was fucking wrong, Dante."

"Yes, the fact you owe me twenty-k is very wrong because it's not in my bank account."

"Twenty-k?"

Gio grinned.

Dante made a face. "Cat, now--"

"You're betting tens of thousands of dollars with your brothers through a bookie, Dante? Really?"

"I'm bored," he said defensively.

"Bored?"

"Maybe it's a mid-life crisis, I don't know!"

Catrina dead-stared him from the other side of the island. "Dante, you are well past mid-life."

"Oh, shit," Gio crowed.

"Shut your face and transfer me the money, Gio." And then to his wife, Dante said, "Just had to twist that knife in deeper, huh?"

"Dante, most people don't even have twenty-k in savings, and you're just throwing it around--"

"How much did that limited edition Louis Vuitton bag cost, Cat?"

That quieted his wife really fast.

"You know," he added, "the one that came hand-delivered by the company last week in a fucking armored truck? Only what, two made in the world? More than twenty-k, I bet."

"This isn't about me, this is ... shut up, Dante."

*

Gio POV

"Well," Catrina said from the other side of the kitchen as she leaned over the island to pat her husband on the cheek, "at least you don't look well past middle-age, oh, and my bag collection gains in value which is ten percent of our wealth."

She then smacked his cheek before adding, "Bet less, Dante."

"Fine," he muttered.

Gio managed to keep his smirk in check just long enough for Catrina to leave the kitchen, but that was only because he knew better than to make his sister-in-law think he was trying to make fun of her warnings.

Her claws were less sharp.

The bark didn't come as often.

All that was true, sure.

It also meant when it did come, no one was prepared for it because Catrina let everyone get just comfortable enough not to walk on eggshells before she reminded them exactly who she was. You'd have thought life and kids and time would have softened the woman a bit--and maybe it did, in some ways--but she was still Catrina fucking Marcello even on her good days.

"Are you transferring me the money?"

"Shut up, Dante, you'll get your money," Gio said, walking further into the kitchen. "The least you could have done was have a coffee waiting for me since you got me all the way over here just to gloat, though."

His brother laughed.

The ass.

"Did you hear from Lucian this morning?" Gio asked, making his way to the electric kettle to turn it on. "Doesn't that mean he owes you twenty-k, too?"

"His phone is off. I called Jordyn--she said he had a thing. I don't know. I will gloat over him later, too, no worries."

"I bet, you fucking prick."

"Dante?"

Gio went about pulling a coffee cup from the cupboard as Catrina came back to the kitchen entry.

"Yeah?" Dante asked.

"There's a man at the door."

"Pardon?"

"An enforcer. He's at the door."

"One of ours?" Dante asked.

"No, he's one of Lucian's, I think."

Gio forgot his cup on the counter as he turned to look Dante's way. Sure, they all had a man or two that looked after them or their wives when they were out and about. But with Dante not being the boss anymore, they didn't have a revolving door of made men coming in and out to answer to the boss.

After all, Dante wasn't the boss now.

"You coming?" Dante asked Gio.

He nodded. "Why not?"

They kept a calm demeanor for Catrina--not that the woman would have cared either way, and she could handle any situation--but that was just how they did their business. Even now, after all these years, and no longer being active in the family. Inside, though, Gio was concerned about what might have happened to cause the enforcer to come visit Dante.

They found the man--he was one who looked after Lucian, or the man's wife or kids when needed--standing on Dante's front stoop. None of the three spoke until the front door of the house was closed and they had privacy. And even then, it took Dante talking first to make the nervous enforcer meet the brothers' stares.

"Something wrong, Grayson?"

"Uh, boss--"

"Not the boss," Dante was quick to say.

"Right, right. You know I do a lot of the driving for Lucian's daughter--the one who's in town from Cali, right?"

"Lucia," Gio said.

"Yeah, that one. I've been taking her to the hospital once a week. Wasn't really given a reason why."

"Lucia's going to the hospital?"

Dante passed Gio a look.

He shrugged, not knowing anything about that.

"No, I guess it's for Lucian," the enforcer said, "and I don't think I'm supposed to say anything. I mean, he didn't even tell me, and I'm not sure any of the other guys know but--"

"Spit it out," Gio snapped.

"He's sick--cancer."

What?

Surely, Gio hadn't heard that right.

"Are you--"

"Positive," the enforcer was quick to say, "and we all know how you three are, so I thought ... maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

Gio's chest hurt.

Dante's expression had blanked.

"No," Gio said, "you did exactly right."

"He's there now?" Dante asked. "At the hospital?"

"I believe so."

"Call Jordyn," Dante murmured.

"Man--"

Gio didn't even get to finish his statement.

"Call Jordyn."

Share this post