Chapter 18
Saint
The vote was closer than it should have been.
Fifteen captains in total. Eight voted to keep me. Seven voted for Marcello.
One vote.
That's all that stood between me and losing everything I'd been built to inherit.
I sit in my study, Antonio's study, staring at the list of names. The seven who voted against me. I'll remember every one.
And one day, they'll regret betraying me.
I've spent my life working for the family, preparing for this takeover, and now, these fuckers don't trust me. Simply because they think I'm too trigger-happy. Something that they all benefited from.
It won't stand. Not for long.
"You look like you're planning murders." Marcello enters without knocking, closing the door behind him. "Are you?"
"Should I be?"
Marcello's brothers have left, but he decided to stay to see the vote through. I expected him to take over, but it looks like I'll be staying in power.
"Probably not a good look for a Don trying to prove he's stable." He pours himself a drink and sits across from me like we're equals now. Maybe we are. Who the fuck knows these days. "Though I understand the impulse."
"You voted to keep me." It's not a question. I know he did. Without his vote, I'd be out. It's the only thing keeping him alive. I wonder if he knows that.
"I told you, you're better at this than I'd be," he shrugs. "I've got very little interest in being Don. If you were unable, I'd take over, but I prefer not to have all those old dicks in my business."
I roll my eyes. "I'm aware. Any chance I can get you to cut that shit out?" I ask. Marcello knows what I'm referencing, and he snorts.
"I shouldn't be surprised you know." He sits down. "Did Dad know?"
I shake my head. "He would have flipped his shit if he knew you were running a fucking gambling ring off your inheritance," I say. "You know how he felt about shit like that."
Marcello doesn't look contrite. I didn't expect him to.
He started running games in college, taking rich boys' family money, and now, he's stealing from lawyers and finance bros.
I wouldn't give that shit up either. He's probably doubled or tripled his inheritance, and he's done it all outside of the family.
Good for him.
"Speaking of family, any news about your wife?"
My chest tightens as I think of Gemma. I haven't seen her since the pregnancy scare three days ago. I'd been doing my best to avoid her, which hasn't been hard considering she hasn't left our room.
"I'm taking care of her transgressions."
He sips his Scotch. "How?"
"I'm going to Adrian. Tonight. I'm telling him everything." I press my fingertips to my temple, trying to alleviate the tension that has formed.
Marcello goes very still. "Everything…meaning?"
"That Gemma was feeding me intel on the Neros. That we used it to hit his operations. That she went to Alexei when I ended our partnership." I lean back. "All of it."
"That's..." He stops. Thinks. "That's actually brilliant. Or suicidal. I haven't decided which."
"You fucking suggested it, and you were right. It's necessary. Alexei knows. He's holding it over us like a fucking sword, and I can't lead with that threat hanging." I meet Marcello's eyes. "Adrian finding out eventually is guaranteed. Me telling him first gives me control of the narrative."
"And what narrative is that?"
"That I discovered what she was doing, and I kept it contained.
That we only did a little low-level shit, for fun.
That I'm being transparent with our ally.
That I'm putting the alliance first, over my marriage.
" I keep my voice flat. Unemotional. "That I'm willing to let him handle his sister as he sees fit. "
Marcello is quiet for a long moment. "You're giving her up."
"I'm protecting the family."
"By sacrificing your wife?"
I can't tell if he agrees with me or not. It doesn't matter. I've been thinking about this since the pregnancy scare. Now that I am firmly voted in as Don, I'm ready to pull the trigger on the plan. I don't have a choice.
Marcello was right. If Alexei goes to Adrian, I am fucked. We all are.
"I'm neutralizing a threat before it destroys us.
" I stand, move to the window. "The marriage contract has a clause.
If Gemma's betrayal is proven and I knew about it, Adrian gets sixty percent of our territory.
If I reveal it myself, show I'm acting in good faith, I can negotiate better terms. He's primed to negotiate with us.
After all, Alexei is on his neck. Whatever truce the two of them had a year ago, is obviously null. "
"Alexei hit them using Gemma's intel."
"And I've taken care of that," I remind him. "But it's also not going to stop, and he's got two children being born. He's primed for alliances, and I'm planning to renegotiate."
Marcello's brows are nearly in his hairline. "You've thought this through…a lot."
"I've thought about nothing else." That's not entirely true. I've also thought about Gemma's face when she said she loved me. The way she felt in my arms at the beach house. The desperate hope in her eyes when she thought she was pregnant.
I push those thoughts away. They're not relevant.
I promised to keep the family together, and that is what I am going to do.
"What do you think Adrian will do?" Marcello asks.
"Punish her." I turn to face him.
"And you are alright with that?" Marcello asks. "You don't think that makes you look weak?"
I shrug. "It's a sacrifice, and I'm hoping Adrian sees it as such."
"And if he decides to kill her?"
I shake my head. "He won't." I'm confident about that.
"You sure about that? I heard he nearly killed his wife's brother."
"And yet, he didn't." I'm convincing myself as much as him. "This is family. And besides, wives and children are off limits. Always have been."
Marcello doesn't look convinced. "And if you're wrong?"
"I'm not."
"But if you are?" he stresses. "Have you thought about that?"
I meet his eyes. "Then I made the hard choice. The one Antonio would have made. The one a Don has to make." The words taste like ash. "Family over everything."
Marcello studies me for a long moment, and I think he's going to argue with me. I'm surprised when he just nods.
He smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "I've also been thinking."
"About?"
"How I can help if Adrian decides to press things."
I lean back, listening.
"I've read that thing backwards and forwards. It's pretty tight, but I'm good at what I do, and we've got a way better legal team."
"Meaning?"
"If he invokes the clause, I'll tie him up in court for years. Challenge the clause. Argue duress, coercion, diminished capacity." He ticks off on his fingers. "By the time I'm done, he'll wish he'd just taken your word that you're handling it."
I stare at my cousin. Really look at him. "Antonio was smart. Smarter than I think I gave him credit for."
My cousin laughs. "Meaning?"
"He made you a weapon, just like you said. Only, one that I could use." I sit back down, studying my younger cousin, really seeing him for the first time. "I kill with my hands. You kill with words. He knew we'd need each other."
"Words and leverage and legal loopholes, yes." He takes a sip of his drink. "Father always said there are many ways to destroy a man. Violence is just the most obvious."
"He was grooming you."
Marcello's voice is matter-of-fact. "He groomed all three of us. Julian's the politician—connections, charm, public face. Dominic's the analyst—numbers, patterns, long-term strategy. And I'm the fixer. The one who makes problems disappear legally."
"And me?"
"You're the devil," he smirks, so I know it's not an insult.
It wouldn't have landed even if he'd meant it as such.
I'm not ashamed of what I am. "The one who makes people afraid.
" He leans forward. "Antonio built an empire.
He needed different tools to maintain it.
You were always the most important tool. But not the only one."
I process this. All those years thinking Antonio saw his sons as soft. As weak. As separate from the family business was false.
"He played us all," I say quietly. I'm starting to wonder if any of us were any more than pawns to Antonio.
"He protected us, in his own ways," Marcello corrects. "Kept me and my brothers out of the dirty work so we'd be legitimate. Respectable. Able to operate in places you can't." He finishes his drink. "But he made sure we'd be ready when the time came."
"And now the time has come."
"Now the time has come." He stands. "So. You tell Adrian. He gets angry. Demands Gemma. Then what?"
"Then I give her to him." The words are easier to say than they should be. "Let him punish her. Let him feel like he has control. Then we move forward with the alliance intact, and Alexei's leverage is gone."
"And Gemma?"
"Will be fine. She knows how this all works."
There's doubt in his eyes, but he holds his tongue.
"When are you going?"
"Now. Tonight. Before I change my mind—" I stop myself. "Before Alexei can make another move. Timing is everything."
"Want backup?"
"No. This needs to be me. One Don to another." I grab my jacket. "But keep your phone on. If things go sideways, I'll need that legal backup ready."
"It'll be ready." He walks me to the door. Pauses. "Saint," he closes his eyes, sighing. "I think you're making a mistake."
I down my drink. "You're the one who told me I needed to consider getting rid of her."
"Because you love her." His words stop me. "And don't even pretend you don't. We're brothers. If anyone else betrayed you, you would have killed them, immediately. She barely got a slap on the wrist, and you've been fucking miserable without her."
I don't correct him. There's no point. Whether I love Gemma or not is irrelevant.
"This is necessary. She knew that when she made her choices."
"If you do this, she may never forgive you. Are you prepared for that?" His voice is quiet.