“The girl. She could be an asset to us.”
Dominic’s jaw dropped. “You want to useher—Ariana? Are you insane?”
Dante smacked his knuckles into his brother’s shoulder. “Watch your mouth, jackass! You’re talking to your king. Show some respect.”
“She’s like our little sister!” Dominic rounded on me. “If you put her in any kind of danger, I swear to God I’ll…”
“Hey! Asshole!” his brother bellowed. “Don’t make me shut your mouth for you!”
“It’s all right.” I didn’t turn around. “No one is going to put Ariana in any danger—not yet.”
Dominic frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you putting her in danger or not?”
I shrugged. “What difference does it make? She’s Matteo La Rosa’s daughter. Her life was always going to be forfeit the instant he turned against us. She’s been living on borrowed time ever since.”
Both twins fell silent, but Dominic still fumed and glared at me. I strolled back to my desk and pulled the maps toward me again. “We’ve been angling to make a serious hit against the Vittorios for years. Now, we can kill two birds with one stone.”
I looked up and locked eyes with Dominic. If I was going to carry out this plan, I needed both twins on board. I couldn’t trust this job to anyone else.
“This is your chance to save Ariana’s life, Dominic. Any other king would have capped the whole family the instant we found out where they were. Every day that she stays alive is a bonus. Is that understood?”
He dipped his eyes once. “Yes, Padrino.”
“Good. Now listen very carefully. We have to get Ariana away from her father before he moves her. You two can handle that. Bring her here, but make sure she doesn’t know where she is. Chloroform her if you have to.”
“She won’t come quietly,” Dante remarked.
“She will if she’s chloroformed,” Dominic countered.
“I don’t care how you get her here, but don’t harm her. Don’t even scare her if you can avoid it. Ambush her so she never knows what’s happening. I want her to wake up here with no idea how she got here.”
Dante nodded. “We can do that.”
“What are you going to do to her?” Dominic asked.
Dante smacked his brother again. “Hey!”
I had to smile at them. They really were like my younger brothers. “I understand why you feel protective of Ariana, Dominic. I feel the same way. I don’t want anything to happen to her, but she’s too valuable an asset to pass up. If we play our cards right, she’ll be safer here with us than she would be with her father.”
Dominic scowled at me. I still hadn’t convinced him. “How do you figure?”
“Just bring her here. Then I’ll explain everything.”
“Yes, Padrino.” Dante turned away and headed for the door, but Dominic stayed rooted to the spot. He scowled at me, and I could hear the gears churning in his head.
“Go ahead, Dominic,” I told him. “Say what you have to say.”
“You’re thinking of using her as bait, aren’t you?” he blurted out. “You’re going to use her to lure the Vittorios into overextending themselves.”
“Your brother said it best. If the Vittorios knew the damage Matteo La Rosa could do to our organization, they would have been trying to find him themselves all these years. They would have tried to protect him from us so they could use him against us.”
“That has nothing to do with Ari.” Dominic’s voice jumped another decibel. “You said you wouldn’t put her in danger.”
I straightened up to face him. I couldn’t let him step out of line or challenge my authority no matter how much I liked him. “I said I wouldn’t put her in dangeryet. If you can’t carry out this job, you’ll have to step aside, Dominic. I’ll assign someone else to work with Dante.”
He lowered his gaze. “No, Padrino. I’ll do it.”
“Then consider yourself responsible for her protection. She can’t have a scratch on her when she arrives, and she has to be ready to like us.”