Page 28 of Broken Wolf Heart (Mafia Pack #3)

“Broderick, you’re still the same pimple you were in middle school, who doesn’t know when to shut up.”

The snickers are louder this time as Broderick’s face flushes. “I could shut you up,” he says, the words dripping with innuendo.

Irritation flares through me at the disrespect.

“Welp, he’s fucking dead,” Dutch mutters.

“You’re welcome to challenge me and try,” Mia tells Broderick, eyes glittering as she pins him with a look of pure invitation.

The unconcealed hunger in her gaze hits me, and I wonder if she’s been itching for a fight with this guy for a long time. Or maybe Mia just likes the unexpected adventure of it all. The unpredictability of a moment, like when she stabbed that guard in the thigh yesterday.

Because then she winks and says, “But we all know you won’t proposition me with anything else after I turned you down in that bar the summer after senior year.”

Broderick mutters something, ducking his head, and the snickers turn to hoots.

Mia turns back to the rest of the group, and her smile fades. “Now, Vincenzo Diavolo might be a piece of shit, but he’s not a threat to ignore.”

“So, this is a meeting for battle strategy?” someone asks.

“Not directly,” Mia says. “We don’t believe he’ll come with force. Not right away.”

“What makes you say that?” another of my pack asks.

Donahue. His tone is curious rather than dismissive.

Mia eyes him but answers evenly. “Because he already tried that yesterday with our high alpha and failed. He won’t make that mistake twice.”

Everyone looks at me. The bruises on my face have faded into a lovely purple, and my face burns red beneath them as they all scan my body as if they can see my aching ribs and sore muscles.

Dutch slings an arm around my shoulders and squeezes lightly. “Don’t fuck with our girl here, am I right?”

His comment earns a few murmurs of agreement. I don’t know how to feel about it. Their respect. Dutch’s affection. The fact that these two feuding packs are suddenly working together—and no one’s tried to kill each other yet.

It gives me hope.

And I’ve learned from experience that is a very dangerous thing to have.

“As a result,” Mia says, drawing everyone’s attention away from me. I exhale. Dutch’s arm falls away. “Vincenzo knows Grey is an alpha. He might be an asshole, but he’s not as stupid as he looks. He knows he’s up against two alphas and two strong packs, which means he’ll come at us another way.”

“You think he’ll fuck with our families?” Camila asks. She glances nervously at her mate. Donahue covers her hand with his own.

“I won’t rule anything out,” Mia says. “But Vincenzo’s style has always been grabbing for power.

Our source on the inside tells us he’s moving to call a vote.

” She looks at me. “He wants the pack leaders to formally reject your claim to the Giovanni seat and install him as regent while they assess stability.”

My jaw tightens. He’s going to tell everyone Grey killed Franco. That I’m a fraud.

“Those same leaders just voted her in,” Donahue points out.

“He’ll use their fear of her,” Mia explains, glancing at me almost apologetically. “Point to the way you took out Franco’s generals. Call it public violence. Reckless. Say you’re unstable.”

“He’s not wrong,” Broderick mutters, then quickly adds, “I mean, that’s what they’ll say.”

Mia glares at him but otherwise stays calm as she says, “Donahue is right. It likely won’t be enough to get the pack leaders to back him since they just voted Lexi in for those same reasons.

Especially when most of yours have already sworn loyalty to you.

He’ll have to get the public on his side too. ”

“The public loves Lexi and Grey,” Razor says with a snort.

“They don’t love power plays. Corruption. Vincenzo has already begun to spin it so that Grey and Lexi look like they’ve been secretly planning this takeover.” She tosses a newspaper onto the table.

I look over the heads of those sitting and read the headline: Pack Princess or Puppet Master? Con Woman Exposed.”

“This article claims you’re using your alpha status for your own nefarious purposes,” Mia says .

My eyes widen at the absurdity. “That’s a lie.”

She shakes her head. “The truth doesn’t matter as much as perception.”

“I get that he fed the media this shit,” Dutch says, “But how the hell can they just take his word for it? He has no proof.”

“He has the LAG gene.” Mia glances at me, her expression once again reflecting an apology.

Like she hates to be the one to deliver this news.

No wonder she said I wasn’t going to like her intel.

“He gave them your medical record. Or the parts he’d already gotten his hands on.

He says you have motive for revenge. That you’re trying to destroy the city for what Franco did to you and your mother. ”

Dutch curses vehemently.

Razor echoes it.

A few others look over at me, clearly speculating whether that might be true.

I lift my chin and cross my arms over my chest. “So how do we counter it?”

“We do exactly what we’ve been doing all along,” she says. “We beat him at his own game.”

Razor groans. “We’re back to politics and parties, aren’t we?”

Crow whispers something in his ear, and he shuts up. I swallow hard, thinking of Alvaro. We’ve done enough with violence already. Apparently, Razor agrees.

“What’s the mission then?” Donahue asks. “If we’re not going to attack him outright—which I’m starting to think plays right into his hands if we do—then how do we stop him?”

“We’ll need to find a way to spin this story,” Mia says. “It would help to know which media members he has in his pocket so we can try to flip them.”

“I say we just drive over there and take him out,” Broderick says. “Show this fucker who he’s messing with. ”

“If we do that, he’ll use his alpha power to call every wolf in the Diavolo pack to fight for him,” Mia says. “We saw evidence of that yesterday.”

Broderick shrugs. “So? We’ll call all of ours. Giovanni pack has always been the strongest.”

“A lot of his pack are innocents,” Mia says. “People who only remain part of his pack through generational loyalty. Not to mention women and children.”

“So, we give them a chance to switch sides,” Broderick argues.

“Actually, that’s a good idea,” Donahue puts in. He looks at me. “Shouldn’t we offer them a chance to defect before we attack them?”

I glance between Donahue and Broderick. “Yes. But that takes time. Which is why we can’t afford to attack today.”

Broderick scowls but lets it go.

“He has the numbers to make this a very messy war if he wants to,” Mia says. “If we want to protect the people of this city, we need to alert them to what’s coming and let them choose.”

“I’m all for this plan, but it’s not like we can go door to door,” Dutch points out. “How do we plan to get the word out?”

“I’m working on that. In the meantime, we need round-the-clock patrols of the grounds so we aren’t caught off guard if and when Vincenzo does show up here again—” Mia halts when the door slams open hard enough to rattle the windows.

Grey stalks inside, chest heaving like he ran down here. His clothes are rumpled, the first few buttons of his shirt undone like he couldn’t be bothered to finish dressing. His eyes—storm-grey and wild—lock onto mine, then swing around the room, sharp and searching.

I tense, panicked that he’s lost to the darkness of that creature again. But then he focuses on the computer on the table, and when he speaks, his voice is his own.

“Turn on the news,” he says.

Crow is the fastest to react. He leans over the laptop perched near Mia and jabs a few keys. The screen flickers from the spreadsheet of patrol schedules to a live news feed.

“...a statement today from Vincenzo Diavolo,” the anchor says, her voice smooth and polished like this is just another day’s gossip.

The screen cuts to Vincenzo.

Standing at a podium in front of a sea of reporters, he wears a mournful expression so convincing it makes my stomach turn. Behind him, the glass walls of The Tower reflect wealth and corruption; a portal to the underworld he rules.

“My heart is heavy as I stand before you today with such grave information,” Vincenzo begins, “but I have a duty to the citizens of Indigo Hills. And that duty to protect goes beyond even my allegiance to the alpha.”

Grey appears on my left. He leans forward to grip the chair in front of him, one hand dropping to the back of it like he needs something to hold him up. With his other hand, he brushes the nape of my neck. I can feel his fingers trembling.

“I have become aware of a very serious crime committed by our late alpha,” Vincenzo says solemnly. “I had hoped these acts would end when he died, but I have learned our new alpha continues in her grandfather’s footsteps. And I can no longer, in good conscience, allow the truth to remain hidden.”

Vincenzo pauses dramatically, and the effect isn’t lost on me. My stomach tightens, and my wolf snarls in protest of the fear that builds inside me. “Proof has come to light that Lexi Giovanni—who many of you have accepted as your high alpha—is not what she claims to be.”

The words hit like a slap.

The screen flashes to a copy of my medical chart—a file Grey and the others said was missing from the records we retrieved from Capo. Vincenzo’s voice continues while the screen shows dates of injections and the scientific names for the drugs they apparently gave me.

“She is, according to these medical records, the product of illegal genetic tampering,” Vincenzo says, his voice brimming with false regret.

“An experiment conducted by Franco Giovanni and his corrupt scientists, altering her very nature before she could even walk. Altering her wolf itself. Permanently.”

He pauses as if to let the viewer take it all in.

“In recent days,” Vincenzo continues, and the screen returns to him at the podium, “Lexi Giovanni visited the very laboratory where these atrocities occurred. Not to shut it down. Not to bring justice. But to continue the work.”

The screen shifts to video footage of Capo. Grainy, but clear enough.

There I am. Walking beside Grey into the lab. Mia and Crow following.

No context. No sound. Just the visual of us stepping willingly into a building dripping in horror stories and criminal behavior.

My stomach pitches.

“I also have records and personal statements belonging to other women. Citizens of Indigo Hills who were forced to undergo similar experiments. It started with Franco, but I’m afraid it hasn’t ended with him.

Lexi Giovanni carries the same bloodthirst, the same ambition, the same corruption, as a man who desecrated his own kind,” Vincenzo says.

“And now, she seeks to use her newfound power to make you all into an abomination just like herself.”

He looks straight into the camera. “To make matters worse, I have borne witness to my own son committing treasonous acts nearly as damning. He attacked and killed Dominic Albero without provocation and has yet to report it to the pack leadership. This is a direct violation of our pack law and should be treated accordingly.”

Grey snarls, but I don’t make a sound, rooted to the spot where I stand and riveted to the screen.

Vincenzo finishes with, “I will not stand by and watch this city fall into darkness.”

I shudder at the last word and the way it reminds me of whatever unleashed itself from inside Grey today.

Onscreen, the broadcast cuts back to the newsroom, but nobody’s listening to the anchor.

The room is silent.

Not a breath.

Not a shuffle.

Just everything we’ve been building tilting dangerously, cracks spiderwebbing through the foundation.

I stare at the frozen image of my own face on the screen.

At the monster Vincenzo just painted me to be.

Grey’s hand tightens so hard on the back of the chair that the wood cracks. I flinch as a chunk splinters off in his hand. When I turn and walk out of the meeting room, no one stops me. Not even Grey.