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The De Luccis were trying to get to us through another channel. One that would be hard to ignore.

“Gian needs to act fast.” I needed to act faster. “We don’t want to end up on the wrong side of Chicago.”

“Gian should have thought about this before he held Lorenzo and Bianca hostage,” Tommy muttered.

“You’re his underboss. You should’ve said something.”

“He doesn’t listen. The power has gone to his head.”

“It should have been you,” I told him.

Tommy emitted a bitter laugh. “Oh, you mean it should have been you, Sandro? The elders wouldn’t want a Scavo in charge. They will always want a Rossi.” The elders. Only one elder left and he was acting consigliere—the adviser—for the family since my brother, Frankie, whacked the last one.

“It’s time for change,” I told him. “The Scavos have been loyal soldiers.”

He gave a shrug. Tommy was the one who considered the best interests of the family first. It was through Tommy that I found out that my brother, Frankie, had suggested kidnapping Bianca in retaliation for Matteo stealing Sera from an arranged marriage that would have benefitted the Rossis.

I would kill my own brother to protect Bianca. Luca did it for me. That was the secret Luca and I shared because all witnesses to him shooting my brother were dead.

“I’m going to check on Bianca and Renz.”

Tommy smiled faintly. “Good luck with that.”

I grunted and made my way through the old house. I wouldn’t call it a mansion, but it had eight rooms, and a basement used for interrogations. A lean staff kept it maintained, and it was one of the few properties the other Five Families knew nothing about.

Once Cesar De Lucci landed in Manhattan, war was imminent unless I could head him off before he acted unilaterally and went after us. He operated outside the rulesof crime families and had a paramilitary team at his disposal, which he used to police the underworld.

I didn’t agree that underworld organizations needed an oversight. Everyone had the right to power. Luca being an example. Had Luca not been related to the De Luccis, Cesar would have gone after him a long time ago. Hypocrite, much? Luca bled power and made deals with the Russians when it suited him. But that power came at a price when he lost his wife. The wolves were circling. They scented a wounded animal. Wounded animals either gave up or fought back.

Luca was fighting back. He was still looking for Natalya.

People thought he was crazy, but I understood his obsession. Because if Bianca disappeared without a trace with no body to prove she was dead, I would scorch the earth looking for her.

Yet, I asked myself,why? To what end?

I trudged to the second floor. The ancient steps creaked from decades of use. I was glad Gian was hospitable enough not to stick his bride and her brother in the basement.

Bride.

That word left an acrid taste on my tongue.

I came upon a room with the lock on the outside. I never wanted any part of my fucked-up family to touch her, yet here we were in a more fucked-up situation.

I unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Bianca sat by her brother’s bedside, but her eyes focused on me. I wished I could offer comfort, but all I had were the doctor’s words.

“Doc said if he makes it through the night, his prognosis is better.” I nodded to Renz’s sleeping form. “I heard he was belligerent and had to be sedated.”

She stared at me for a long time, not speaking. Her condemning gaze weighed heavily on the suffocating silence, but I forced myself to meet it. I could fix this, but everything hingedon her cooperation. The mounting pressure from the De Luccis would lessen if we returned Renz.

“I’ve never despised a person more than you.” Every single word was like a bullet hitting me center mass.

“That’s fair,” I returned.

She stood, walked around the bed, then stopped in front of me. Jesus, why was she still in her bloody clothes?

“I despise you more than your cousin.”