Chapter 11
COSIMO
Vita was the perfect picture of a mourning wife. Black dress, hair pulled back, face free of her normal makeup.
Anger tightened around my throat at the sight of her.
“I’ll call you back,” I said to Richard and hung up. “How did you get into my house?”
“One of the capos let me in.” She sat down on the sofa. “We should talk, Cosimo.” Her gaze drifted to Alessio. “Alone.”
“Alessio stays.” That had been one of her tactics when we were children—distancing my brothers and me so that we could never unite against her.
But it wasn’t going to work now. “Richard just called. Congratulations. Enjoy your brief stint as CEO of Ferraro Holdings, because as soon as I’m voted in as don, you won’t have a position in the company at all. ”
Her lips tightened. “You’re upset. We can discuss it.”
My fists clenched. I wanted to wring her goddamn neck. “There’s nothing to discuss. I’m the eldest son. I was raised to be Dad’s successor.”
The door opened again.
“Romolo,” I snapped, “you missed quite a show. Mom arrived here just as I got a call from our lawyer. Turns out there’s a page missing from Dad’s will.” I moved to stand in front of her. “She was about to explain how that happened.”
Her lips pursed, as if I was the one out of line. “I don’t know what happened,” she said.
“Don’t know? The safe where the will was kept only has three keys—one with Father, one with the lawyer, and one with you.
There’s a record of you accessing the safe yesterday.
You didn’t even bother to hide your tracks.
” Probably because she hadn’t had time to figure out how.
She’d had to get to the safe before the lawyer.
Mother held my stare. “I was there to get jewelry for the funeral. I didn’t touch the will.”
I scoffed. “The missing page specifies who gets control of the family. What are you playing at?”
“I’m not playing at anything. But without that page, succession has to be a discussion.”
“That’s insane,” Alessio cut in. “Everyone knows Dad intended Cosimo to be the next don. The capos are ready to follow him.”
“People like to assume things. It’s how they make sense of an unpredictable world. But I knew your father better than anyone. He had his doubts.” She stared right at me unblinkingly.
Unease flared inside my rib cage. Just because she says it, doesn’t mean it’s true.
I was named underboss over a year ago. Put in charge of more than half the business. Drugs, weapons, gambling—all of it was mine. I was his eldest son. He’d never given me reason to think the empire would pass to anyone else.
Was it possible he’d changed his mind?
A smirk slowly spread over Vita’s face. “He was particularly disappointed with Cosimo’s immaturity regarding his upcoming marriage. A person ready to lead this family wouldn’t have behaved like Cosimo did.”
The room dimmed around me. The clock on the wall seemed louder.
Tick, tick, tick.
Romolo was saying something to her, but I didn’t hear him.
The puzzle pieces had finally clicked.
All these months, I’d tried to figure out Mother’s angle with Fabiana, and it had been right in front of me all along.
This was it. My resistance.
She’d known I’d fight any woman she chose for me. She’d known exactly how that would look to my father, to the capos, to anyone watching.
She’d set me up, and I’d walked straight into it.
And now…
Christ.
In the midst of all the chaos—the hours we’d spent at the precinct after the bomb, the race to find our aunt before she disappeared for good, the calls with all the capos to give them their orders—I hadn’t had time to process the implications of Dad’s death on the marriage arrangement.
But one thing was clear—everything had changed.
I brought myself back to the room, forcing myself to listen.
“My loyalty’s with Cosimo,” Rom was saying. “The fucking leader of this family. And if you’re trying to undermine him, then you’re not family anymore.”
“Cosimo doesn’t have what it takes.” Her eyes flashed. “But I do.”
There it was. Out in the open now. She wanted to steal my fucking birthright.
“You might not like it, but me at the helm is what’s best for the family.”
I let out a disbelieving breath. “What’s best for the family? It’s what’s best for you.”
It was one thing to have her in my father’s ear. It was another to let her rule without anyone there to rein her in. She’d surround herself with yes-men and let her ego run everything. For Mother, it was always about image—about how she was perceived, about how powerful she appeared.
Under no circumstance could this woman be allowed to lead. Eventually, she’d destroy everything my father had built.
She shook her head. “None of you have any idea what you’re up against. You’ve tried to figure out why the Santoro family is targeting us, and you’ve found nothing. That history’s been erased. I’m the only one who knows the full story.”
I walked around my desk and sat down. Fury coursed through me, but I kept it contained. “Let me guess, you’re not going to tell us what you know.”
“In the wrong hands, the information could only hurt the Ferraros.”
“Then we’ll figure it out without your help.”
“You won’t.” She sounded utterly certain. “The Santoro family killed Gino, and this is only the beginning. I know them. I know I can lead us past this threat. But without me, you’ve already lost.”
I didn’t know where she was getting that information, or whether it was even true they were responsible for killing my father.
I exchanged a look with my brothers. We were all thinking the same thing.
“We’ll take our chances, Mother,” I said. “Get out. I don’t want to see you again.”
A long second passed. “You’re making a big mistake.” She grabbed her purse from the coffee table and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
“Fucking finally,” Rom muttered. “I came to tell you that Morales is keeping Mia locked up in his apartment. I’m taking a few guys and getting her out.”
I nodded, knowing Rom was worried about that girl. He’d confessed a few days ago that he’d been seeing her in secret. “Take whoever you need.”
I watched him leave, my mind already turning over possibilities, strategies, moves, and countermoves.
Alessio blew out a heavy breath. “She will challenge you at the ceremony. Until then, she’ll do her worst with the capos. Point out every mistake you make. Use every weapon she has.”
“Do you think there’s a chance she’ll win the vote?”
Alessio looked thoughtful for a moment. “It would go against tradition having a woman at the helm.”
“But?”
“But Father trusted her.”
“She cares more about securing her power than finding out who killed him.” I shook my head. “The capos know me. They’ll vote for me.”
“This vote won’t be about who’s more competent,” Alessio said.
“It’ll be about who looks steadier. More disciplined.
More willing to do what the family requires during a turbulent time.
” He leaned back in his chair. “You heard her just now. She gave away her strategy. She’ll keep emphasizing that you’re good, but you’re just not ready.
And that’s a risk the family can’t take when we’re under attack. ”
I clenched my jaw. “If I find Dad’s killers, that will be enough to sway the vote my way.”
“True,” Alessio said. “But whether you find them in the next sixty days is a big goddamn if. You really want to put all your eggs in that basket?”
“What do you suggest?”
“Marry Fabiana now. Mother turned your resistance into evidence against you. Neutralize that weapon.”
I raked a hand through my hair and glanced out the window, turning that over.
“The marriage might’ve been Mother’s idea,” Alessio continued, “but whatever her original plan was, it’s clearly irrelevant now that Dad’s gone.
Lock down the Messero alliance before anyone starts testing the cracks, and show the capos you’ll honor Dad’s arrangements.
And do it quick, before Mother goes to Messero and tries to make some other kind of move with him. ”
I’d spoken to Messero earlier, and there’d been no mention of Fabiana calling the engagement off. He would have said something if she’d talked to him, which meant she hadn’t. At least not yet.
I rose from the sofa and moved toward the window. In the night sky, the moon glowed.
I’d hoped that after that night at the bistro, after I’d gotten her to agree to what I wanted, that I’d stop thinking about her.
That hadn’t happened.
She invaded my thoughts even more than before. I hated that I still felt guilty over how I broke her. I hated that when I closed my eyes, all I saw was that lone tear sliding down her cheek. I hated that I reached for the memory of her in my arms to soothe the ache inside my chest.
To have her as my wife…
Previously, that idea had only filled me with rage at having my life controlled by Mother, but now it filled me with something far worse. Something hot and possessive and demanding.
To marry a woman who got under my skin the way Fabiana did was dangerous.
But Alessio was right. Backing out of the wedding now would give Mother exactly the kind of ammo she needed. With Dad gone, the equation around the alliance had completely changed.
I looked up at Alessio. He was studying me with furrowed brows.
“It’s your birthright,” he said. “If you want it, you’re going to have to take it.”
Our empire wasn’t ruled by laws. It was ruled by conquerors. If I wanted this kingdom of dirty money and ruthless men to be mine, I had to claim it.
Even if it meant bringing Fabiana closer when every rational part of me knew I should keep her far away.
Now I just had to convince the fiancée I’d spent months trying to drive off to agree to marry me.
I dragged my palms down my face.
Fuck.