“He wants to get my wife’s psychotic pervert dad out of prison. How in the name of fuck does he want to top that?”
Rome slams back the rest of his drink and places his glass down, the sound rocking through the sudden silence. I don’t like the sudden shift in him. My skin prickles with an awareness, a warning that has me wary, knowing I’m not going to like a single word that comes out of his mouth next.
“What is it, Rome?”
He shifts in his seat, not looking in my direction like he’s uncomfortable. Good. He might be my cousin and on our side…for now. But I’m still the fucking king who demands respect and the tyrant who ruins those who don’t show it.
Rome taps his finger on the armrest. “You’re having a daughter.”
A chill surges through me and settles deep. “How the fuck do you know that?”
“It seems my dad’s reach doesn’t stop at your gates, I’m afraid.”
My mind goes nuclear. It’s a goddamn atomic blast that bursts through my insides, and I leap to my feet. “What the fuck are you saying?”
Maximo is next to me in a nanosecond, glaring down at Rome, ready to choke answers out of him. “Speak.”
Rome stands to face us, moving the sides of his jacket back and sliding his hands into his pants pockets. “Someone in your house is feeding my dad information, and he just got a call about you and Leandra having a little girl.”
“Someone who?” I demand.
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know he had someone on his payroll.”
“Then find out!” Maximo is barely able to restrain the anger tightening the tendons and thickening the veins in his neck. “You better give me a goddamn name, Rome.”
“I said, I don’t know.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to start killing everyone in this goddamn house!”
“Enough!” I snap. “We’ll figure out who it is, Maximo. But right now, I want to know what my uncle intends to do with the information.” I turn to face Rome. “If it were simple as having a mole inside my house, you would have told me this over the phone. But you wanted to see me in person, which leads me to believe there’s more.”
“There is.” He draws in a breath, and I know I’m about to lose my shit. “My dad knows where to aim so it hits the hardest. He knows the only way to get to you is through your wife.”
I ball my fists.
“The plan is to get Leandra’s dad out of prison and shove him back into her life to stir shit. Federico is already going around prison telling everyone and their mother that his son-in-law is Alexius Del Rossa. Now, imagine the kind of influence that gives him.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know yet.”
“I know I’ve said this to you before, but my dad’s hate for you has consumed him. Especially after he got that anonymous letter confirming what he suspected, that you killed Jimmy.”
“I didn’t kill Jimmy,” I lie with the straightest fucking face ever.
Rome’s forehead creases as he scowls at me with a silentwe-all-know-you-did-itlook. I lift my chin and stare him down. No one intimidates me. I’ll never confess. My brothers will never tell. When we vow to take something to the grave, that’s exactly where it goes, no matter what.
“Your father has always been jealous because he wants to own the Dark Sovereign.”
“That’s where it all started,” Rome says, his voice steady and controlled. “For years, he had to watch you be groomed for the position he covets more than anything. Then it was your stunt with the recording—”
“Stunt?” I shoot him an incredulous look. “You say that like I wronged him in some way when he was the fucker who planned on killing us all.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. But my dad saw it as a pissing contest, one he lost.”
“It’s not my brother’s fault your dad has peanut-sized balls.” Nicoli slaps his hand on the leather armrest. “It is what it is. No use in starting a war about it.”
“This war started years ago,” I say.
Rome nods. “You made it clear you plan to get rid of him.”