Chapter Twenty
Matteo Costello
These fucking meetings would be the death of me.
I’d dealt with plenty of drug and weapon deals, turf wars, and skirmishes between our own people, but the behind-the-scenes work—the work that nobody associated with being a Don—was what had me ready to bash someone’s head into a wall.
Maybe my own.
Lilianna sat at my side, slouched back in her chair as she listened to another one of her father’s men talk directly to me and overlook her entirely. It seemed to be a common way of handling women among our people.
My father had felt the same way about women as her father. Even my people had the same general beliefs.
That a woman couldn’t be Don.
It had never happened, and many of these men didn’t think it ever could.
Lilianna continued proving them wrong, though.
“All the people on the front will support you if you can send aid,” one of the advisors said.
He’d been bold enough to refuse her invitation the first time around. Seven other men sat on one side of the large conference table, most of them having refused the first invitation. Only two of them had been there. Only two had seen what Lilianna had done, but they’d all heard about it.
They all watched her as if she were there for their personal entertainment.
“There will be no aid to the front,” I countered.
The small sliver of territory that butted against the Russians’ territory had been under attack relentlessly for years now, with dozens of men dying each month.
“Then why the hell would we help you? Either of you?” he asked.
Lilianna sat up straighter. “Once we eradicate the problem of the Russians, the front will no longer be a problem.”
“The Irish will be,” another man said. “They’ve been seen all over your father’s businesses stirring up trouble recently. I’m sure you saw the reports. What can you do about that? You aren’t going to scare them away.”
She tossed her hair away from her face as she stared down the man across the table. I opened my mouth to speak, but she beat me to it. “Did my father scare them away?” she asked.
“No, but—”
“Then from where I’m sitting, that seems like an unreasonable expectation, doesn’t it?”
He huffed, his face reddening in embarrassment. “You’re a fucking mouthy bitch.”
I reached for the firearm at my hip, but Lilianna stood, leaning across the table. “If you want to defile me with words, I would have hoped you’d find something more creative than bitch .”
He stuttered, flustered by her immediate dismissal.
Lilianna, though, knew exactly how to show her power over the situation. She stared at him for just a moment before turning her attention away fully. It did two things. It showed that she didn’t fear him, and it demonstrated that she had power over the conversation. Not him.
I kept an eye on him, careful to note each of his motions. If he reached for a weapon, I would end it before the conflict even began.
“Boss.”
Both Lilianna and I looked toward the voice. One of my men stood at the end of the conference table, and Lilianna observed as I nodded for him to continue.
“My family lives on the front, and it’s been dangerous. It’s dangerous for all of us. I know we’re working toward taking care of it.” He looked nervous about addressing me, but I didn’t soften. Most men had reservations about speaking to me. At least, the smart ones did. “I’ve been working day and night on recovery details and territory defense. I’m the one who leads the teams, but my family…they aren’t safe. Not there. I’ll continue my work for you, but I am requesting security for them.”
“I admire your dedication to the cause,” I said. “But I can’t set up a detail for one man’s family when we’re putting all our resources into defending our territory from this threat.”
He deflated.
“But,” I said as I considered a new thought. “I can spare a detail of men for all the family members of the men fighting in the front. I’ll block out a floor of hotel rooms for the families who need them. They will be free to stay there until this conflict ends. I’ll ensure the building is well-guarded day and night. It will motivate men like you to continue fighting, knowing their families are safe, correct?”
The man smiled, joy lighting his eyes.
“Yes, it will. I’ll spread the word.”
I glanced at Lilianna again.
“The men who fight for me will always have my protection,” I said. Her eyes softened, but I didn’t allow mine to.
“Can the same be said about your men, Lilianna?”
I shot my gaze across the table, but Lilianna replied quickly. “Yes,” she said. “If they are fighting for me, the same can be said for the men. I am loyal to those who are loyal to me.”
“I will never be loyal to a woman capo,” he spat, shooting out of his chair. “And I’ll make sure my men aren’t either. I don’t care how brutal you want us to believe you to be. You caused this problem by breaking your oath to the mafia in the first place. You won’t get a fucking thing from me.”
I’d been expecting it from the first moment he opened his mouth.
He reached for his gun, but I was faster. I drew my weapon and fired. He went down immediately as the shot echoed through the room. A glance at his lifeless wide eyes staring at the ceiling told me that I’d hit my mark.
“We’re not here to earn your trust. We’re here because you swore yourselves to the bloodline. You enter alive and leave dead. You knew your vows when you made them!” I shouted, waving my gun around to make my point. “Make this easier on all of us. If you plan to walk, do so now. I don’t want to waste any more bullets on traitors to our way of life today, but I will if I have to.” I looked over my shoulder and spat on the ground, making my disgust clear.
Nobody moved a muscle.
“Fucking good. We’re here to discuss this partnership between our people. You are all here to show your strengths to your new boss. You’re here to be useful to this alliance. Alessio and I have put all our other meetings on hold over the past six months, and there are important matters to discuss. Who among you if planning not to be useful in these meetings?”
Again, nobody stood.
“Who is the most efficient at getting the word out?” I asked.
Everyone glanced toward where Jay sat, and he made a noise of confirmation. “That would be me.”
“Send out word that we are working closely together, and if anyone stands against Lilianna, they stand against me. She is mine, and this alliance will stand regardless of any pissing competition among our allies.” I slammed my palm onto the table. A couple of them men jumped at the crashing noise. “Tell them what happens if they stand against either of us.” I pointed at the body lying on the floor in a pool of blood to remind them.
“I think the message is loud and clear that neither of you will stand for backlash,” Jay replied.
“We’re all going to work together to end this feud with the Russians,” Lilianna said, her voice strong and firm. “Our people are dying, and we’re both aware of it. I have men living and fighting on the front alongside Matteo’s men, and I won’t stand for it. Once you all get over your fucking problems with me and my gender, we can start discussing the real issue at hand. Believe it or not, you can love this family with or without a cock.”
Lilianna smiled thinly when nobody spoke.
“Nobody will talk down to me ever again. Matteo isn’t the only one willing to shed blood to quell a rebellion. I want you all to know that I never swore an oath to the mafia. Never to my father or my brother. When I left, I did it without ever swearing any vows. I left because I was still free, but that is no longer the case. I have sworn myself to each of you, and by the end of today, I expect the same loyalty from you.”
I’d grown used to seeing this entirely different side of Lilianna. I’d seen her as an empathetic and loving mother. I’d seen her as a sister and a daughter. I’d seen her dedication to avenge her family, but I had never seen such cold brutality from her in the past. She had been struggling with the idea of rejoining the mob life for weeks. She knew what it meant to swear herself to this life, and she didn’t take it lightly.
But I’d forgotten who had influenced her.
I sometimes forgot that Lilianna was more equipped to handle this life than men who had been living the life for twenty years. While they had a past before the mob life, Lilianna had always been here. She’d always been surrounded by death and gore and loyalty that might cost your life.
It was ingrained in her DNA.
She was a born leader, and she didn’t need me to hover and make decisions for her. Lilianna knew what to do, and I knew I could trust her.
She began talking to a few advisors, and they looked at her differently this time. I saw the cool assessment in their eyes, but I also saw approval as she spoke as if she’d spent her entire life leading men like them.
She’s been raised by a man who had spent his life leading a successful crime family, and it showed.
Of course, she knew what to do.
Her turned-up nose crinkled at something one of the men said, and she plunged deeper into the conversation, taking note of the soldiers and made men who would be most effective in the fight against the Russians. She learned the names of her father’s best spies, and she wrote down their names and specialties.
She learned everything, and once she did, she delegated.
She rearranged the places where her father had stationed his soldiers to best accommodate the threat. I listened to each of her choices and allowed her to make them. When she went to pull forces from one border, I explained a threat that she hadn’t been made aware of, and she reevaluated.
I saw the way her men approved of each of her decisions, and when they questioned her, she listened. Alessio had never listened, and he’d lost people and money because of it.
Lilianna made the final decisions remorselessly, but she didn’t make them blindly or without acknowledging feedback.
“Starting tonight, everyone will be in their new positions,” she said with a nod. “I’ll send undercover men into the territory to scope out the possible attack routes, and we’ll strike within the week.”
Everyone seemed pleased to hear that.
“It’s time for the ritual,” she said, standing and smoothing a hand over her shirt. “I spoke with all of you, and you heard my plans for change. I allowed you to consider. But you all swore your oaths to my father, and you know what that means.”
They either had to swear to her, or they would die. There was no avoiding it. Leaving traitors alive could end in further bloodshed, and judging by her stoic expression, she knew it. She’d been merciful once, but not anymore. Not now that we were this close.
She grabbed a blade from her pocket and glanced at her hand. A line had already scabbed over from where she made a promise to her brother’s grave. This time, she angled the knife a little lower.
Blood welled in her hand, and she squeezed her hand into a fist to create a small pool of ruby red.
“As it has always been done,” she said with a nod. “I swear myself to the Italian mafia. I enter of my own free will, and only death will separate me from my duty.”
One by one, the men came to her and swore themselves with the same official words and blood. Not a single one hesitated, and nobody bothered trying to talk their way out of it. My men made their way from the room, too, leaving Lilianna standing straight and eyeing the exit. Blood dripped from her fingers onto the mahogany table.
Only as I came behind her and put my hand on her lower back did her posture loosen. Her back expanded with a deep breath as she turned and pierced me with a bright gaze.
“We did it.”
“ You did it.”
When she smiled up at me, there wasn’t a single thing in the world that mattered more.