Once in the car, I sat there for a moment, staring up at my old house. I never really belonged here. Always hidden away. Always kept in the shadows to protect my father’s lineage. When I was younger, I’d always known that I was a liability—someone my father’s enemies could hold against him. My father tried to limit that problem by keeping me at arm’s length. But now I wondered if he’d managed to push me away entirely.
There was nothing but the game. My father had to believe that he’d trained me well. That I was the cold-hearted killer he’d tried to make me out to be. Sienna needed to believe that I’d fallen madly in love with her enough to turn my back on my own family. And me? I needed to protect my heart from both of them. Sienna wasn’t the damsel in distress I’d believed her to be, and I’d seen how loyal she was to her family. She would stab me in the back the first chance she got, if it came down to me or her own. And I couldn’t forget that just because she’d been a good fuck and I’d started to respect her.
Maybe the distance she’d put between us tonight was a good thing. Maybe I could stop thinking with my dick and start getting my head in the game like every other fucking person in my life. With the Snake hanging over all of our heads, with the Commission vote coming up in just a few days, I needed to become the person my father had always wanted me to be.
But I had my own plans. My own agenda. If I was going to be Don, I wouldn’t just follow in my father’s footsteps. I would build the empire he’d always dreamed of, sure. But it would be my empire. My kingdom. I would be able to protect my family and Sienna’s and keep us both safe. And nothing was going to stand in the way of that.
Fighting to be Don now, to take that away from Sienna, would make everything else turn to shit. My father thought that was the only way, but it wasn’t. There were more pieces at play than he realized. I had to play it smart. Sienna could try and become the Don herself, but that didn’t mean I would lose any power. She was a woman, and a woman in the mafia no less. What little power Sienna would have would be nothing compared to the influence I could control from the shadows.
I couldn’t tell my father this. He wouldn’t understand. Sal was still old-fashioned. Too flashy. He believed it wasn’t power unless everyone else around him saw it as well. But I’d grown up behind the velvet curtains, and I knew just how much power people could have from behind the scenes.
Starting the car, I headed home without looking back.
THREE
SIENNA
Ichecked the message on my laptop again to ensure my tired eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. They weren’t. The email had come through our back server, encrypted, of course, just a few minutes ago. The Commission had moved up the date for their meeting in lieu of my father’s death. I thought I’d have a few months to prepare, to plead my case, but now I only have a few days.
Snapping the laptop shut, I wanted to toss it out the window. The sound it would make against the pavement below would have been satisfying, but I knew I couldn’t. I needed to start preparing now. For everything.
Glancing at the clock on the wall, I wondered when Dante would be back. A part of me didn’t want him to come home tonight. I wished he would stay with his father, planning to take my rightful place. It would make things a hell of a lot easier to deal with. I wondered what his plan would be now.
Would he just kill me and take over, even without the Commission vote? Or would he try to siphon the power away from me bit by bit? He had a bit of a tighter deadline now, but I wouldn’t put it past the Scaranos to take these next few steps to claim power now that my father was gone.
I didn’t know what their next move might be, but I did know someone who could guess. Pressing call, I put my cell phone to my ear, waiting. Mateo answered on the second ring.
“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.
“I need you to put eyes and ears on Sal Scarano.”
“Already done.” Mateo was always one step ahead. It wasn’t just his ties to my father that had led him to become the underboss.
I chewed on the edge of my thumbnail. “What do you think they’ll do now?”
Mateo was silent for a moment. “I’m not exactly sure. There could be several different ways they could play this out.”
“And those would be?”
“I’m sure you’ve already gotten the message about the Commission vote.”
“I did.”
Mateo sighed. “They could try and steal the vote away. I’ll keep our allies on the Commission posted about any attempts from Sal to sway the vote. Or, they could have you killed before the vote even happens, and then that would give Dante a clear shot at being Don.”
“I thought he couldn’t be elected if he wasn’t married to me anymore.” He was only in the family by legality now—not by blood.
“Did you have sex with him?” Mateo asked. Coming from him, the question didn’t sound crude.
Still, I hesitated. “Yes.”
“Then he has more of a claim now than ever. You’re bonded in the eyes of God, both legal and physical. Nothing can break that now.”
Fuck. Why couldn’t he have told me this before? I guess because it hadn’t really mattered. Because my father was still alive. But now…
“So, what can we do to keep them from doing any of this?”
“Play our cards right.”