13. Emmett
Emmett
Tucking my phone back in my pocket, I follow after Grandfather.
The old man is waiting for me when I arrive. Along with Emilio, Giovanni, and Angelo, the old man’s idiotic and yet overly ambitious sons and the main culprits in my mother’s disappearance.
They all look at me with a glint and I realize then… I was right.
They’re going to fire their cannon today… Good. My gamble paid off.
“You’re here too,” Giovanni says, with a mocking smile. “I thought you’d be too busy with your work, hiding in that town you lost.”
I smile, making sure to hold this snake’s gaze. I want him to know and see me as I move to crush his head.
“Uncle, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. I was so excited that when I heard you were coming, I quickly rushed over.”
Giovanni’s glare could kill, but the tenseness of his body tells me everything I need to know.
He’s still wary of me… as he has been since I was ten years old and his failed attempts to unalive Angel thereafter.
“How have you been?” I ask politely.
“Alessio, I’m touched that you care about me. I’m stronger than ever,” he answers with a strained smile. “How about you? Everything okay?”
“I’m not sure,” I state, to which Giovanni’s gaze widens with shock for a split second. “I’m waiting on something to happen, Uncle. I wonder if you’ll humor me today. It’s been a long time coming, don’t you think?”
And just like that, the bomb goes off.
To be clear, we’ve been at war for years.
This snake has played all sorts of tricks, shedding his skin to camouflage his involvement in my mother’s disappearance, the hits on Angel, and the preschool-level sabotaging tactics he’s been firing my way.
He hides behind his weak brothers, using them to move his pieces… and I’ve clocked and destroyed him each time.
And now, the bait has been set… by his own puppet.
“ Padre , we’re all here,” Emilio says eagerly, glancing at me with ill-concealed excitement in his eyes.
As as much as Giovanni is sly, his older brother, however, is as transparent as a cheap glass.
“Father, you called an emergency meeting, is everything all right?” Angelo asks, ever the Boy Scout.
“Since you already know this is an emergency, isn’t it clear to see that there are urgent matters to discuss?” Grandfather snaps.
All the varying emotions and expressions of humanity he showed me just a few minutes ago are gone.
In front of his sons, he’s like a machine with no feelings, just doling out instructions, orders, and impassiveness to the three sons that want his position.
To everyone on the outside looking in, Grandfather’s behavior toward me indicates favoritism, or at the very least, that he holds me in high regard, but that’s not true.
He can’t control me, nor is he able to predict my moves. So, he’s always on guard against me.
Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer type of nonsense.
A powerful but wary leader is extremely dangerous.
They become paranoid, suspicious, and unpredictable, and the old man is all that and more, especially now with his health scares that can’t seem to do the job effectively.
After his first stroke, that’s when he started moving against me, using Vaughn to check and balance my power… that is, until he realized how futile that was.
With his impressive streak of losses against me, the senile old man decided to exploit my one weakness.
The issue about that specific weakness is that although it’s just that one, it’s a fatal one. The old man knows that too, but I also know one other thing.
Without me, he’d be dead already.
I’m the buffer between him and his enemies. That includes his own sons.
“Can the meeting begin now?” Angelo asks almost timidly.
“Let’s wait a minute,” Grandfather says. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”
In that moment, the other set of doors swing open and Vaughn walks in.
“Vaughn! Come in, son,” Emilio says cheerfully, gesturing to his son.
Vaughn looks straight at me for a beat before he walks toward Grandfather and takes a seat to his left.
Angelo and Giovanni take their seats, looking curious while Emilio rushes to sit beside the son he’s pinned all his hopes on.
I remain standing by the doors, looking out at the greenhouse in the distance.
“Now we can start,” Grandfather starts in a low rumble. “I have a few things to discuss with you. First, Vaughn tells me he has something to report.”
Vaughn clears his throat. “Sir, I’ve located the whereabouts of the Family’s betrayer, Syrus.”
Without turning around, I can feel eyes on my back when my father is mentioned.
“Hold on,” Giovanni’s mocking voice sounds in the room. “Wasn’t this task given to Alessio?”
“That’s right,” Emilio chimes in. “Alessio insisted on finding his bastard father a few years ago with no success, and yet my son has found him already? That’s suspicious at best!”
“Could it be that Alessio wasn’t looking for Syrus at all? Was he pretending to find him but secretly letting him go?” Giovanni says, clearly instigating.
They all fall silent, as if waiting for me to get defensive so they can build an even bigger trap in front of Grandfather, but I don’t give a damn.
“Go on, Vaughn,” Grandfather says,
“Syrus is in Sicily and he might be moving against us with the help of our enemies. I await your instructions on how to handle this,” Vaughn answers respectfully.
“Instructions on what?” Grandfather questions.
“Should we bring him in dead or alive, sir?”
Tension freezes my body to subzero temperatures.
“Who is Syrus working with?” Grandfather questions.
“That… I haven’t been able to uncover,” Vaughn says hesitantly.
“Didn’t you just say he’s working with our enemies? After all these decades, there’s no organization or family that has the right or the standing to be classified as our enemy. They’re all nothing!” the old man bellows. “So, again, who is he working with?”
I almost chuckle. Vaughn, despite his intellect, is still far from being expertly cunning.
The only ones worthy enough to be Grandfather’s enemy are the Beaumonts, the family he loathes deeply.
“I’ll find out, Grandfather,” Vaughn says seriously.
“Forget it,” Grandfather says in a deep, disappointed voice. “If you don’t know how to do something with a resolute attitude then don’t attempt to do it at all!”
Grandfather’s admonishments are always hardcore, but with age, he’s grown worse.
“Today, the Family gained impressive spoils from the retribution order,” the old man states proudly.
This kind of praise doesn’t sit well with the other jerks in the room, so the maligning campaign starts almost immediately.
“Yeah, about that, what happened? Why did we exact revenge, and for whom?” Giovanni demands angrily. “This has never been done before since you’ve been in power, Padre , but Alessio gave the order without discussing it first.”
Here’s attack number two.
“Alessio’s behavior is very presumptuous lately, with no regard for the rest of the Family. Is he trying to take Padre’s position?” Emilio adds.
The instigation from Emilio and Giovanni could win an Oscar for best duo.
As always, these are the cheap tricks they like to play to build up the momentum they need for the final blow.
“An explanation is needed for this!” Giovanni demands.
“The order was necessary,” Vaughn suddenly cuts in. “Given the identity of the person that was attacked last night, there’s no way we could remain silent.”
An icy fury starts flowing in my veins as I listen to Vaughn’s stern voice, clearly angry over what happened to Angel.
While I understand that, what bothers me is that he has the nerve to act like it’s on him to avenge Angel.
As if she’s his. The fuck?
“Who are you talking about?” Angelo asks quietly, but Vaughn doesn’t answer that.
“ Padre , Alessio’s actions still can’t be left unanswered! He’s obviously dangerous to you and the rest of the Family!” Emilio angrily states. “Born to a mere foot soldier, a worker of this family, how dare this spawn be worthy of the power he has, let alone be the heir?—”
A heavy palm lands on the desk as loud as thunder, shutting up the rest of whatever Emilio wanted to say.
This time, I scoff.
“Why did you stop him?” I ask the old man. “Still saving your foolish son for disrespecting the only rightful heir, your own daughter?”
Yes, my mother and father were never meant to be. Their relationship was a taboo of epic proportions.
How dare a skimpy, basic, no-name lawyer be the husband to the heiress of the Easton Family? It’s unheard of!
However, I’ve since made it a law that anyone who spoke about that in such a degrading manner would get my full wrath.
“I don’t want any bloodshed tonight,” Grandfather answers tiredly, looking at me.
“Then what do you want?” I taunt. His eyes flash dangerously.
From the corner of my eye, I see Vaughn tense up and Angelo shift in his chair with unease. No one talks to Grandfather the way I do.
“I want you to go handle your father.”
And there it is. I smile.
What I wanted was this very situation, but the old man’s behavior is irking me. It’s as if he knows I need this opportunity…
“That’s a good idea, Padre !” Emilio immediately cheers. “Alessio created this mess, he should be the one to clean it up!”
“Shut up!” Grandfather snaps. Emilio clamps his mouth shut resentfully.
“Now, I know you all know of my imminent decision to step away from the day-to-day running and leadership of this Family.”
A subtle shift moves through the room as anticipation takes over.
“Before I do that, I want to make sure my heir is suitable and ready to take over the Family.” Grandfather’s words are grave and cold. “This Family can only have an Easton at the helm, and I intend to see to it that this continues. Does anyone have any objections to this?”
I almost scoff at the question.
He’s daring the unconvinced individuals in this room to act out so he can deal with them.
Everyone already knows that’s his intention, so no one is stupid enough to highlight their opposition, so there’s only silence.