"You had the last round of testing done nearly a decade ago."

"So, what's your point?"

"Didn't they tell you your fertility might come back, even if it would be at a lesser potency?" Cat asked.

Dante's jaw ticked. "How do you know that?"

"Because I wanted to understand, Dante. I know reading up doesn't give a clear outlook on the precise issue, but it does give me an idea about things. The fact remains, there is a chance your fertility could return."

"It returning is about as rare as losing it to rubella."

"I'm aware of that, too."

"What do you want from me, Cat?"

"I want you to have the testing done again, and not just for you, but for me, too. It would be nice to know if the option of another child might possibly be there for the future."

"And if it isn't, will you end up resenting me for it?"

"No. How could I when I love you?"

Dante nodded once. "Fine. Come to bed, bellissima donna."

"Antony won't be joining us today?" a male voice asked.

"No," Giovanni answered. "Neither will Paulie, which is why I'm here to take his place."

"Good to see you again, Giovanni."

"And you, Max."

"Maximo Sorrento, Vegas," Dante said quickly to his wife. "Gio had some issues in that sector."

Cat nodded.

Yeah, Kim. She knew.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Maximo Sorrento said with not a hint of disdain in his words. "You missed last year's Commission meeting."

"Is me being here going to be a problem?" Giovanni asked.

"Absolutely not. How is your wife?"

"Happy. Very loved."

"Wonderful," Maximo murmured. "Her brother will be pleased to hear it."

Cat was sure she could hear the smirk in her brother-in-law's voice when Gio said, "Send our regards."

"I'll consider it."

A sigh resounded in the private dining room of a restaurant owned by a fellow New York family. Men shifted in their seats, a sign of restlessness and impatience. The restaurant seemed the best place for the meeting of the Commission to be held this year, according to Cat's husband, and the safest.

"Lucian ..." a new voice said as the oldest Marcello brother walked into the room ahead of Cat and Dante. "I hear congratulations are in order."

"Terrance, Chicago; Lucian thinks lowly of him for some issues that went down a couple of years back," Dante explained.

Cat's hand in Dante's tightened in acknowledgment. She had already met the families from New York, but this had been her husband's way of setting the men inside even more off kilter with Cat's presence. Nobody liked to be known before they had introduced themselves.

"Oh, why do I deserve congratulating?" Lucian asked.

"Your little boy."

"Ah, yes. Thank you."

When Cat heard Lucian take a seat, another new voice asked, "If Antony isn't coming and neither is his consigliere, I can safely assume the Commission will be giving our approval on your new leader, yes?"

"Guzzi leader, Canada. Easy to handle since he doesn't need much; usually quiet," Dante said.

"For one," Gio answered the Canadian Don vaguely.

"Hmm," Maximo hummed low. "I heard there was some interesting things happening down this way, but I couldn't get any real confirmation."

"Like what?" Lucian asked.

"I think you know," Maximo said. "And I'm not sure how I like it."

"What am I missing?" Terrance asked.

Maximo chuckled. "A woman."

"A woman, is that all?" Terrance scoffed. "Dante had to marry, didn't he? Shame practically no one was invited to the wedding."

"S, a woman ... but in business, no less. Can you imagine?"

"No one, including Dante, is asking for anyone's permission regarding my brother's new wife and her profession intermingling with his," Lucian stated like there wasn't a soul around him who mattered.

Dante smiled over at his wife. Cat's grin matched his. "Ready?"

Cat winked. "Always, bello."

"Try to behave, huh?" Then, Dante rolled his eyes. "Never mind, we both know you won't."

"You love it, admit it."

Dante's fingers weaved with hers squeezed. "Later."

"What do you mean, Maximo?" Terrance asked. "Are you saying his wife is-"

Cat walked into the private dining room at her husband's side, immediately catching every eye in the room. There was more men than she had expected, given only a few had talked. Each boss sported a team of men at his disposal for the meeting, it seemed.

She almost laughed at their gawking, but refrained when their years of learned manners kicked in and all stood from their chairs. Mobsters, sure, but gentlemen nonetheless. A proper man always stood for a lady, even if she wasn't supposed to be where she was.

"Look," Cat whispered to her husband teasingly. "They're welcoming me."

"Hush," Dante said, smiling slyly.

The room was deathly still as Dante walked his wife across the floor to the head of the table. Several tables had been pushed together to create one long conference area. Lucian shot Dante a look Cat couldn't decipher as she took a seat Giovanni offered. Dante stood behind his wife with his hands on the back of her chair. She didn't like that she couldn't see his face, but decided this wasn't the time to push it.

When Dante pushed Cat's chair in, the rest of the men sat down.

"Evening, gentlemen," Dante greeted.

Silence.

Dante had told her to behave, but he said nothing about making the other men uncomfortable. There was nothing Cat did better than unsettle men. Cat shifted in her seat, crossing her legs and surveying the men watching her like she was a foreign object about to lodge in one of their eyes.

Several gazes caught her form, raking over her features, taking her in. Cat didn't mind, she was used to being looked at like a piece of prized meat. Despite her husband's light protesting earlier that morning about her choice of what to wear, Cat made a special effort to appear a certain way for the meeting of the bosses. Her signature bodycon-style dress, black, spiked heels to accentuate her legs, smoky eyes, and blood red lips.

Sure, Dante would have to resist beating the hell out of a few people, but that wasn't anything new. Cat needed to be on her game, which mean she needed the men around her to be completely thrown off theirs. A woman like her, looking a certain way, would do just that.

Her husband, however, didn't have the same kind of patience for the nonsense she did. Dante was a jealous man and Cat loved it.

"I realize my wife is beautiful, and I'll take your visual surveying as a compliment, but right now you're pissing me off," Dante said warningly. "And worse, if you keep looking at my wife like you want to fuck her, I'm going to start nailing people to the wall with bullets."

Throats cleared around the room and gazes shifted from Cat's body to her face.

Dante's hand rested to Cat's shoulder, his fingers grazing her neck. "Thank you."

Cat reached up and patted her husband's hand. "Who needs to behave now?"

Dante huffed under his breath. "Some of you already know my wife, but for those who don't, her name is Catrina Marcello. She goes by Cat to me and our family, so don't be surprised if my brothers regard her as such. Beware, calling her Cat without her permission may earn you a slice or two from her claws. She is half-Sicilian, half-American-Italian. We married a few months ago in our family's church with close friends and family as our only guests.

"Cat is an extremely successful Queen Pin and her profession takes her across the country handling a variety of clientele that some men in this room would die to have connections for," Dante continued, keeping a confident, cool tenor. "She is, in all aspects of the Marcello family, my partner. And not just as my wife. Believe me when I say she has earned the respect of a couple of men in this room already, as well as my men, simply by being who she is."

"And I'm wonderful," Cat added, laughing lightly. "In a very terrible way."

Giovanni chuckled to Cat's left. "I think the word you're looking for is hellish."

"Be nice, Giovanni."

Dante ignored his brother and tugged on a lock of Cat's hair gently. "You are." Turning his attention back to the table, Dante said, "My father has formally stepped down and has been for a while now. My seat was chosen and given without issue or refute. I've met every requirement demanded by the Commission in order for me to be a suitable Don for the Marcellos. Would anyone like to object to my leadership in New York?"

Again, nothing but stares answered them back. Cat was getting bored.

Cat tilted her head back and smiled up at Dante in a way she knew looked as sardonic as her next words. "If they continue this silent treatment, it's going to be a short meeting."

"That it is, Amore," her husband agreed.

"Not that I mind," Cat added, pulling out her nail file from her clutch. Nothing pissed men off more than when a woman acted as if they didn't matter. She went about buffing her nails. "I have things to do, so the quicker this is done with, the better."

"Like what?" Terrance asked. "Getting your nails done?"

Cat flashed her teeth at the man in a sneer, canting her head as if he were a small child needing a scolding. "Perhaps, they are feeling terribly underused this week. I've been looking for the right throat to rip out and yours just might do."

Dante chuckled. "Enough, Catrina."

"I have no issue with your new status," Maximo stated, his voice turning dangerously calm. "I do, however, take issue with you bringing a woman to this-"

"This woman is my wife," Dante interrupted sharply. "And she is not like your wife, or anyone else's wife in this room today. As I already said, she is also my partner, which means if I choose to bring her along as a councillor because our businesses tend to intermingle and what benefits me is also good for her, I have every right to do that."

"She is a woman!" Terrance barked. "Women are not allowed in-"

"You are not Cosa Nostra," Dante replied, shutting the man up instantly. "It would be extremely wise of you to remember that right now, Terrance. You choose not to follow the rules the rest of the men in this room do, so do not throw them in my face when it feels convenient for you to do so."

"I also don't like this," the Guzzi leader at the end said, his dark brow lifting in Cat's direction. "Women in business never mix well."

Dante moved to the side, pulling out a chair and sitting beside Cat. "Mine does."

"You're making a charade of Cosa Nostra, and I can't accept that," Maximo said from across the table.

Dante shrugged under his black suit jacket. "Then ask me to leave."

The men were quiet.

"You won't though, will you?" Dante asked, humor coloring his words. "Because if the Marcellos leave this table, the rest of you might as well go, too. In one way or another, too much of your business is tied to New York and the families here. Without our contacts in the shipping district, many of you would need to rethink your imports."

"Without our contacts in the political scene, some of you wouldn't be nearly as integrated into the political side of things as you are," Lucian added.

Giovanni laughed. "I'm just here for the show."

Dante gave his younger brother a look, and Cat suppressed her knowing smile.

"Regardless, it gives you some things to consider," Dante said, resting his hands to the table and lacing his fingers. "How many times have the Marcellos offered protection to one of you, or even pulled their weight with connections to take the heat off your mistakes? We are the dominating family at this table both in size and territory. We are the most profitable, and because we tend to work with others, if we cut you off in some areas, your connections to New York will drop like flies. Trust me when I say the families in this state have no issue with accepting my wife into the fold for their own gain."

"Are you trying to suggest we might think of you as the capo di tutti capi at this table?" Maximo asked.

"Absolutely not," Dante answered.

Cat didn't bother to hide her smile that time. Dante's unspoken words were a hell of a lot louder than his actual ones: But we both know I am.

"I would like something clarified," a voice to Cat's far left said.

She tensed at Carl Calabrese's arrogant tone. She disliked him from their first meeting, but she also knew he wouldn't take issue with her. Not after their dinner and Dante's offer.

"What's that, Carl?"