I was getting there, too, though I wasn’t there yet. And if they were no longer walking the right side of the turf, I’d be sure that their descendants paid the price for their crimes. One day, I would find out what really happened to my parents, and I would make whoever was responsible pay. Hard to believe, and harder still when you look at the paperwork involved-truly, it was a story full of loopholes and bullshit. My Uncle Leone had safeguarded it for me since I’d been nine years old, when my parents had been killed in a boating accident. Becoming the don of the Colombo family was my birthright. One day, I would be in control of the Colombo family’s destiny. Legitimate businesses were, after all, a great way to launder money. I used that knowledge to increase revenues across the board.

Even though most mafia family heirs didn’t go the college route, I’d made sure to get a good education, earning a degree in business. Everyone could already see my talent as well as my ambition, as I handled the “entrepreneurial” pursuits of the family, and I handled them well. At the moment, I was content to be an underboss, second-in-command after my uncle, but one day I’d run the entirety of the Colombo family’s enterprises. Aged for twelve years, the Brooklyn-sourced bourbon tasted of orange peel and burnt sugar. The ice in my glass clinked when I took a sip of Widow Jane, my favorite whiskey. Not many men of any age could live the way I do, in fact, and I’m not just talking about the money.

At twenty-nine years old, not many men could afford my lifestyle. Anyone would be envious of what I had, but that’s not the reason I wanted it all.

One day, it would all be mine, but in the meantime, money had bought me quite a bit of what I certainly deemed to be happiness. It seemed to me, sometimes, that the sprawling city below twinkled just for me. Glittering lights pierced a black that was never totally dark. Staring out at the sparkling city lights from my living room, I could see the whole city laid out at my feet. I chose my Midtown Manhattan penthouse primarily for the view, and from the forty-eighth floor, what a view it was. People who say money can’t buy happiness have clearly never lived.

Forbidden Honor by May Dawson