“Can we put everything aside and show a united front, just for the next few hours?” he questions, his tone low and private. “Then I swear, after that, you can go back to hating on us.”
“Lucky for you,” I mutter darkly, “my throat is too sore to keep cursing your bitch asses out.”
“Good,” he says, sending a tight smile to some dude lingering on the stairs. “After this meeting, I’ll find something to ease your throat and we can explain how we found out about your … lineage.”
I groan and pause, stopping him as I glance up into his addictive, dark eyes. “If anyone finds out in there—”
“They’ll kill you,” he says bluntly, finishing my sentence. “You cannot let it slip. These guys … they put on a brave front, but when it comes to Gia Moretti, they’re shit scared. She’s not someone our people want to fuck with, and until now, we’ve happily lived side by side. While our family is significantly bigger, hers is a new brand of brutal, and that’s saying a lot coming from me. She’s not a forgiving woman, and the fact that she stood back and allowed Roman to mouth off to her like that speaks volumes. She has big plans and for whatever reason, she needs me and my brothers alive for it.”
Panic flutters through my chest as I glance up to the top of the steps to find Marcus and Roman watching us, making sure we’re alright. “Is she going to come for us?”
Levi presses his lips into a tight line and slowly shakes his head. “No, I don’t believe so. I haven’t had much experience with the woman, but I do believe that she is genuine in her feelings toward you, and I don’t think she will do anything to jeopardize that relationship, at least, not yet.”
Fuck.
I swallow hard and nod before continuing up the stairs. Roman and Marcus wait for us, and as one, we push through the doors to find the foyer flooded with bodies. I suck in a breath. I expected a lot of things when walking in here, yet for some ridiculous reason, I hadn’t expected them to bombard us at the front door.
“Shit,” I breathe, scanning over all the faces that turn our way, annoyed to have been held up. “Would it have killed you guys to lock the door before coming after me?”
“They would have found a way inside whether the door was locked or not,” Roman murmurs, handing out fake smiles and curious glances, wondering which of these assholes will finish their night by stabbing them in the back. I have a few guesses, but one can never be too sure.
Nerves bloom deep in my stomach as we make our way through the formal dining room, and I can’t help but notice a few familiar faces from the ball a few nights ago. But unlike the ball, those faces are now filled with apprehension, pinched brows, and frowns.
Tension fills the room, but that tension is nothing compared to the feeling of stepping through to the empty dining room to find the boys’ grandfather sitting at the head of the table as though that’s where he belongs.
Roman sighs deeply, and I follow the boys as they make their way through the extravagant room, all eyes focused on their grandfather. I don’t miss the way that each of their shoulders pull back and the tight muscles beneath become rigid and hard.
“Grandfather,” Roman mutters in welcome, clearly not too thrilled to see him so soon again after the ball, but it’s not as though this meeting was avoidable.
The old man leans back in his seat, his thumb twisting over the heavy gold rings lining his fingers as he places a glass tumbler down on the table. “What is the girl doing here?” he demands, his deadly stare trailing over me with distaste, reminding me so much of Giovanni. “These meetings are not open for women, and especially not the current whore of the month. Do away with her.”
Marcus laughs. “That’s not going to happen,” he says as we reach their grandfather. The three boys step around him, surrounding his chair and making his eyes nervously flicker toward them. I hang back, not wanting to be in the way of this particular pissing contest.
Marcus leans down, hovering by his grandfather’s side. “Shayne stays, but you on the other hand … you’re in our seat.”
Their grandfather scoffs and pushes back in the chair before standing and turning to face them, not daring to step out from the prime position in the room. “You three are a joke, children merely playing dress up,” he spits, the insult bouncing straight off them. “You are not ready to lead this family. Now where is your father? What have you done with him?”
Levi grins and tilts his head in that creepy way that has shivers trailing down my spine. “Come on, old man,” he murmurs. “You’ve been trying to get rid of our father since the day he ran you out, but I have to be honest, it was ballsy of you to make an appearance at the ball. Tell me, did you show only because you knew he wouldn’t be there? Sounds like a cowardly move to me.”
The old man’s eyes flash with fury as he steps out from behind the chair to shove his fingers into Levi’s chest. “Don’t you forget who founded this family,” he growls. “Without me, you three would have nothing. I built this family; I was the one who rose in power. I put in the work, and your father took it straight out of my hands as though he was entitled to it. He doesn’t know what it means to run an empire, and nor do you three smug brats. You think you can waltz in here and claim a seat at the head of my table, well think again. This is my home, my family, my blood, and you’re stepping down before you embarrass yourselves. You’ll get my family once I’m in the ground, and even then, you’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.”
A smirk pulls at Levi’s lips and I can only imagine what bullshit is about to come flying out of his mouth. His grandfather’s eyes tighten, realizing just how easily the boys will follow through on his threat, and just as he clenches his jaw and his hand slips back for a weapon, a voice sails through the dining room. “Really, Father?” Louis says, striding toward the table and pulling out a seat. “You’re going to shoot your grandson with the whole family just outside these doors? Bold move, no matter how foolish it may be.”
My brow arches, and as if on cue, the rest of the family spills into the dining room and takes their seats around the grand table. With so many eyes on his back, the old man stands down, reaching for his glass tumbler and moving to the side. He takes a seat, directly beside the head of the table as the three brothers step into the prime position, watching in silence as their family gathers around them.
There’s no elaborate meal or fancy waiters walking around in penguin suits like the last time I sat through a business dinner, tonight is simply business. They’re here to say what needs to be said and then they’ll be ushered straight out the door, hopefully with their lives intact.
I keep myself away from the table, not wanting to stand with the boys in case it causes some kind of stir within the family, more so than what it already has. But I don’t think anybody, apart from their grandfather, has the balls to comment on it.
My gaze sails over the men surrounding the table, and I recognize a few of their faces from the ball. The boys’ cousins are here, and the way they take the chairs furthest away from Louis speaks volumes. Joseph is here, sitting away from everyone like the lone wolf that he is, and I can’t help but feel like this is some bullshit kind of high school cafeteria seating plan. Everybody sits away from their greatest threat while trying to keep a position that gives them an advantage. It’s high school politics in the flesh.
Roman stands in the center of his brothers, all three of them taking up the space at the head of the table and looking over the nervous men before them.
“Thank you all for making the trip out here tonight,” Roman starts, taking the lead as usual. “I know you’ve all had a long drive here, only to be kept waiting, and we apologize for that. However, we had urgent matters to attend to.”
Their grandfather scoffs, his tone sailing right down the length of the long table. “What could have been so important that you kept my family waiting on a day like this?”
Roman arches a brow, intrigued by his grandfather’s audacity. “If you must know, this afternoon, the love of my life, Shayne Mariano, was kidnapped and held hostage by the Moretti family.”