1

      “WHERE THE HELL have you been?”

      Tony Paladino stopped in his tracks as Gina, his cousin and the office manager at Paladino & Sons, came at him waving a wad of pink message slips. He held his hand up to stop her as he checked the text on his cell phone.

      Sure enough, Rita wanted to meet later, after work. She was in town only for tonight, and he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of seeing her. He hadn’t had sex in too damn long, and Rita was just the ticket. Uncomplicated, didn’t even live in New York, and she wanted nothing from him but some hot action with a wave goodbye after. Perfect.

      He answered her text in very few words, and the moment he hit Send, Gina pounced.

      “You were supposed to be here two hours ago. Alex, the plumber on the Ortega job, says the whole system needs replacing from the ground up, and that was not in his budget, so he wants his money up front.

      “Also, Sal is going crazy at Catherine Fox’s house. He says she’s insane and if you don’t call him back right away, he’s going to pack it up and go home.”

      “Well, that’s just great.” Tony shook his head. The hits just kept on coming.

      “I’m not finished,” Gina said. “The mayor’s assistant is trying to get hold of your father to ask him to dinner as thanks for the remodel of his offices. And Leo’s truck broke down in Park Slope so he hasn’t gotten to the Walkers’ brownstone yet. There’s a bunch more, but those are the calls you need to get to right away.”

      “Sounds about right after the morning I’ve had. Thanks, Gina.”

      She put a hand on her hip and gave him the stink eye.

      “Hey, I told you I had to go to Aunt Miriam’s house.”

      “You were there this whole time?”

      “She made me physically verify every item on her final punch list while the project manager drank coffee and ate biscotti, because suddenly I’m the only one she trusts.”

      “Oh. Well, it wouldn’t have killed you to text me back.”

      “I forgot to turn my cell phone back on. But you’re right. I’ll try not to do that again. I tell you, Miriam is—”

      “A lunatic with too much time on her hands.” Gina gave him one of her best “all is forgiven” smiles when she handed him the messages. “I thought maybe you weren’t so anxious to get here. This being the first day and all.”

      “Nah, why delay the inevitable?” he said, shrugging, though anxiety had tightened his chest a few times.

      “Congratulations, Tony. You’re going to do your father proud taking over the company. I left some files on his desk but that’s it. I didn’t touch anything. I figured you’d want to fix things up yourself.”

      “I don’t think that office will ever feel like anything but Dad’s. I’ll do my best and we’ll take it one day at a time. And by the way, let’s stop with the pink slips, huh? We can do all of this on our tablets.”

      “Thank God,” she said. “Chasing down you and your brothers is like herding cats. This way, I won’t get blamed when the three of you screw up.”

      “Gee thanks,” Tony said, slowly making his way past the reception area. “But I’m pretty sure we’ll find a way to blame you, anyway.”

      Gina laughed. It made her look younger, prettier, although that might have been the result of her new hairstyle. It used to be dark and big, and now it was lighter and smaller. He liked it.

      “Do me a favor? Call Leo. Make sure he’s got his truck taken care of and see if Dom can get over to the Walker’s place?”

      She nodded, already dialing her cell phone.

      Once in his office, Tony sat down in his father’s black leather chair behind the massive oak desk and looked around the room. Everything about it reminded him that he had large shoes to fill. Joe had run Paladino & Sons Construction and Renovation for so many years the office still held a hint of the Aqua Net hair spray he swore he didn’t use.

      As the eldest son, Tony had been with the company since he’d graduated from NYU back in 2004. Unofficially, he’d been with the company since the minute he could walk. It wasn’t the work that felt daunting. What scared him was being in charge of the Paladino legacy. Their name meant something. You wanted a job done right, on time and on budget, you called the Paladinos. They kept their word. They also kept the heart of New York’s Little Italy intact in more ways than anyone who wasn’t immediate family knew.

      They’d looked out for the people in the nine blocks on the Lower East Side. Had done so since 1912, when the first Paladino had come over from Sicily.

      At least—thank God—his father was still with them after last week’s scare. Joe’s second heart attack had been a near miss. But even with strict orders from his doctor to retire, Joe would probably sneak into the office from time to time. Not that Tony would blame him. Construction ran in the Paladinos’ blood.

      He called Sal, an old friend and one of their best project managers. He’d handled a lot of difficult clients in the past, so what was making him nuts about the Fox project?

      “About time you called,” Sal said after one ring. “Your client is insane.”

      “Why?”

      “Okay, so she says we’re supposed to avoid damaging anything that might be original to the house. Art deco, she says, that was the agreement. She wants it all restored, from tile work to crown moldings. First of all, there’s nothing like that in the contract. Second, how are we supposed to know what the hell is original in this place? It was built in 1902. Look, Tony, I’m sorry to put this on you on your first day as boss, man, but you know the schedule we’re running here, and there’s a list of jobs a mile long waiting for me. So what do you want me to do?”

      Tony opened his eyes. He hadn’t even realized he’d been cringing. The Fox contract had been one of the last his father had done. He’d started making mistakes a couple months before that, and while Tony had caught most of them, he hadn’t paid much attention to the Fox job because he trusted Sal. But this was a big project, a complete remodel from foundation to roof, and not something he could fix over the phone.

      “Look, just keep working in the areas that aren’t in question. I’ll contact Catherine Fox and find out what she’s talking about and get back to you, okay?”

      “Okay. But, Tony, this needs to be settled by tomorrow. I have another job right in back of this one, and we’re supposed to be taking down walls as soon as we get the nod from the inspectors.”

      “I know. I’ll handle it.”

      “Yeah. And, Tony. I’m sorry about your dad.”

      “Thanks, Sal. He’ll be okay.” When Tony hung up, Gina stood at the edge of his door. “What about the whiteboard?”

      The huge board was in the main office. It listed every job, its current stage and who was in charge of the operation. Joe hadn’t been big on tech. He’d done things the way