The secret

It was almost midnight when Gina heard his car pull up in front of the house, She knew that he would be joining her within minutes so she refilled her drink before making him one and setting it down by the chair he always favored when he came to see her.

Hearing his heavy footsteps coming closer Gina turned to face the doorway and raised an eyebrow as her blue eyes met his hazel ones when he came through it, She motioned with her hand for him to take a seat as she went over to another chair to do the same. It was a long moment before she broke the silence that had fallen heavily between them. "So how suspicious are they and how much danger do you think we're in this time?"

She watched as Cash shrugged and swallowed his drink in one gulp. "Oh they're plenty suspicious but as far as them doing anything about it......" He trailed off as he got up to make himself another drink. Gina bit her lip as she knew exactly what he was going to say next, It was the same thing he always said when he thought they were being backed into a corner. "I don't know why we don't just tell them, It's been almost five years, Why the hell are we still keeping it a big secret? Just like these midnight meetings, We've been friends for years so it wouldn't be odd for us to meet out in public during the daylight hours."

Gina rolled her eyes and sighed taking a sip from her drink and collecting her thoughts before she gave him the same answer she always did. "You know damned well why we can't be seen in public together and why we absolutely can not tell anyone we got married."

It was the same argument they'd had many times over the years and even more frequently in the last few months when a new family started nosing around their territory and making a lot of noise about Cash not being a blood member of the Luciano family and as such should not be allowed to be boss. It was a power play on that family's part of course and at first, Gina hadn't paid much attention to it but now it seemed to have gained some traction as some of the other families jumped on the bandwagon and also started questioning the motive behind a non blood relative running the family. These weren't upstart families but ones that Luciano's had done business with many times over the years and had lived at least tenuously beside without too much hassle but the new family wanted to muscle their way into established territories and make a name for themselves so they needed the Luciano's to appear weak and this was their way of doing it, She'd burned too many bridges over the years to expect any loyalty from anyone and if the roles were reversed she probably would be just as eager to tear apart a family and split territories up between the ones left standing. Battles like this weren't anything new, They'd been fighting them to some degree since the day after her Uncle Lucky disappeared the first time and her cousin had become the head of the family. It was times like this that she missed Cecilia the most.

Gina was pulled out of her musing by hands on her knees as Cash knelt in front of her. "There's got to be some statute of limitations to those reasons, They are moot at this point don't you think? No one has seen or heard from him in years. So who is going to care that once upon a time you were married to a cop? It's ancient history. If we came clean and told everyone that we are a united front then I think that would give us the show of strength that we need to get those bastards to back off."

She wanted to believe what he was saying was true but in her heart, she knew that no matter how long it had been, She was still seen as the traitor in some circles and it was better for all concerned if they just kept their mouths shut.

Pushing his hands off of her as she stood up, Gina hovered over him for a moment before moving around Cash so she could put some distance between the two of them, It was hard for her to deny him anything when he was close to her and she needed a clear head so that she could go over everything with him again, maybe this time it would finally sink in but she doubted it, He was as stubborn and hard-headed as she was at times.

Leaning against the window sill across the room from him, She shook her head as she crossed her arms over her chest. "We have this same conversation every time, Cash you know there is no statute of limitations to being a traitor in this business, and before you say anything that is exactly how they still see me. It's always been that way, No one has ever taken me seriously. Even way back I was always Ceci's cousin, good enough when Ceci wasn't available but I lived many years in her shadow and it was fine then but after she disappeared and I had to step up they still saw me the same way as the weakest link. I proved them wrong on occasion but then Carmine came back and everything went sideways."

Cash sat in the chair she had just vacated and gave her a look before blowing out a sharp breath and pounding a hand against the armrest, "You are not the weak link and I'm telling you nobody is going to care anymore about you being married to him,  so are done with this little pity party that you decided to throw for yourself or is there more?"

She narrowed her eyes and threw her glass at him, smiling softly as it shattered against the wall behind him. "It's not a god damned pity party, it's the f***ing truth and you know it, You were there for most of it. Carmine wasn't some low-level beat cop, He was a highly decorated officer who was hell-bent on taking down every family in the mafia world including ours or have you forgotten that? I'm sure the other families have not, memories tend to be long when it comes to things like that.  I know mine would be."

Gina paused for a moment to take in a breath before continuing, "I know what was being said at the time and it's why I made that decision to step away as head of the family, I know everyone expected me to name Amadeo as my successor but he was too busy pickling his brain cells over his bitch ex-wife to be any use to the family. Yes, Lucky had other direct descendants but Cristiano was off somewhere with his wife adding to his family, Felisa wanted nothing to do with any of the business and forbade me to say anything to her kids about it, She always hated the fact that they were soldiers for the family and made sure to let me know every time she saw me. Paulo's kids disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared. Chazz no longer wanted to be involved with anything but Khan Enterprises, the twins are still with their father and could you imagine if I'd named Sylvia? I needed someone who knew both the family and the business inside and out and would be beyond reproach and that dear husband left you."

He chuckled humorlessly, "Please I've been more of a puppet than a boss because you couldn't just walk away, Do you know what would have happened to me if anyone ever figured out you were still pulling the strings?"

Gina clicked her tongue as she pointed at him, "Now you're catching onto why we still can't say anything, I had planned on walking away and giving everything up for him and to protect the family but life never has gone the way I think it's going to for me and no sooner had I tried to settle into our new life, He was gone again to parts unknown and this time I knew he wasn't ever coming back which is why I flipped the script and decided not to be as retired as it looked but you were never a puppet, A figurehead maybe but never a puppet."

She put her hand up when he looked like he was going to argue with her, Gina was far from done. "Every decision you ever came to was yours, I just re-affirmed it or tweaked it a bit to make it more palatable for those involved. That was all. After the dust settled and I'd had time to think about everything, I realized that you not being an actual blood relative could come into question which is why we got married so that if it ever did come up then all I'd have to do is pull out Uncle's will that clearly states that if his progeny or any of theirs were not available or capable of leading the family or its businesses then it would go to me and mine even though we are not directly related by blood either. You being my husband means that by extension you can also run the family, Unfortunately, no one can know that unless there is no other option because I'm tainted and I can't let that affect the family or the business any more than it already has. Tell me that you understand that...Please."

Cash sighed and hoisted himself up from his seat, crossing the room in seconds so that he could wrap his arms gently around his wife from behind leaning his chin on her shoulder mere inches from her ear, You could almost hear a pin drop in the moments that elapsed before he quietly whispered, "Alright, we'll continue to play this your way....for now."

She relaxed back into him and closed her eyes in relief that she'd finally gotten through to him, Gina turned her head slightly towards him as she nodded in agreement, her voice so hushed that he almost had to strain to hear her. "For now. Thank you."