Page 122 of Beauty and the Daddy

The conference room is a study in tension when I walk in.

The old guard, men who've served the Moretti family since before I was born, stand when I enter, a sign of respect they never showed before tonight.

Funny what killing your brother will do for your reputation.

I take my time studying their faces, watching them squirm.

They're all thinking the same thing: Is Luca next in line, or is he going down for this?

I sit at the head of the table. My father's old seat. The chair Declan coveted most in the world.

"Gentlemen." I keep my voice casual. "I know tonight's been a long night."

Don Fiorello clears his throat. "We heard about Declan. We offer our condolences."

I smile. "Do you?"

The room goes still.

"Let me be clear about something." I lean forward. "My brother tried to poison me. When that failed, he sent men to kill me in my own home. When that failed, he put a gun to my pregnant fiancée's stomach and threatened to kill my unborn child."

Don Fiorello inhales sharply.

"So no, I don't want your fucking condolences." I look each man in the eye. "What I want is answers."

Silence stretches, thick as concrete.

"Declan didn't act alone," I say, drumming my fingers on the table. "He had help on the inside. Now, either you were all too stupid to notice the underboss plotting against his own blood, or you knew and did nothing."

Vittorio, my father's oldest friend, speaks up. "We had no idea?—"

"Bullshit," I cut him off. "Declan's been spreading rumors for months, saying I'm not fit to lead."

"We heard whispers," admits Salvatore, the youngest captain. "But nothing concrete."

"And you didn't think to come to me?" I ask, voice dangerously soft. "To warn me that my own brother was turning the family against me?"

I watch them squirm, these men who wore my father's colors before I could walk.

Men who whispered their loyalty to me for years, all while letting Declan turn this family inside out.

"Here's what I think happened." I stand, circling the table slowly. "I think some of you backed Declan because you thoughthe'd win and he promised you more territory, more power, more money."

I stop behind Romano, rest my hands on his shoulders. Feel him tense.

"I think some of you were tired of taking orders from the son who planned to marry outside the family. The son who wasn't as... flexible... as his brother."

I squeeze, just enough to remind him I killed a man with these hands tonight.

A few flinch. Good.

"And now you're wondering if you backed the wrong horse."

I return to my seat, sitting down with deliberate calm.

"Let me make something perfectly clear." My voice drops. "Declan is dead. I killed him with my bare hands while my fiancée bled on the floor."

The room is cemetery-quiet.