Page 105 of Caught in the Crossfire

She blushed. “I love you.”

He touched his forehead to hers. “I love you.”

It wasn’t the first time I had found myself jealous of the ease of their touches, their intimate familiarity. Leona and I were still building that. But I was a patient man.

“If he asks for help,ángel,what will your answer be?” Ciel asked.

“I guess it depends on what we can gain from his offer,” she replied.

My chest bloomed with pride. Now, she was thinking ahead. We could take control of the power dynamics in this meeting. It was a risk, but it could pay off.

I’d thought Volpe was a roadblock on our path to power. Perhaps he was a stepping stone instead.

If he had ties to the Camorra, he could be our answer to taking them down.

“All right,” I said. “Tomorrow night, then. Let’s put an escape plan in place. Caspian, Leona, will you please work with Ciel to get an understanding of Volpe’s house and the surrounding area? I need to make a phone call.”

They both nodded, and the three of them plus Wynn began working through all the ways this could go wrong.

If it wentright, however, we could have everything we needed to take out two birds with one stone. Volpe and the Camorra.

I left them in the living room while I headed to my room to call Ryuji’s realtor. I needed to make a purchase.

35

MAX

21 YEARS OLD

Ileaned against the wall outside Don Vero’s office, listening to him berate Leona for following Cas and me to the club for my twenty-first birthday.

It was stupid to think I could have a night off with no fears, no worries. A night for Cas and me to let loose before veritable hell broke loose—when all my plans to take down Don Vero came to fruition.

Justice for his treachery. Vengeance for my father.

I’d found my father’s journals just like he’d told me to, and the truth was written in their pages. I’d seen the evidence against the Don. I’d triple-checked it. He was trafficking women—which would have been reason enough to kill him, but then I found out the other Dons were in on it. He was stealing drugs from our competitors—which would have been praised among the Family—but then I realized he was cutting the supply and endangering our customers. And lastly, my father suspected the Don might have ties to the feds. I wasn’t sure how, or why, yet—but that was the most dangerous piece of information of all. If it came to light that he’d turned coat and started working with the government,the other Families would descend on us like lions on a gazelle. We’d be ripped to shreds.

So I’d been patient. I’d followed my father’s advice. I’d spent the last six years building allies, making plans, and creating contingencies until I was old enough to remove the Don from power. I’d stop what he was doing, and the proof would die with him. That was the only way I could keep our entire Family from extinction.

The Don had to die. Not just for what he did for my father, but to safeguard all our futures.

To keep them separate from all this fucking mess, I’d pulled away from Cas and Leona, despite how much it pained me. I’d arranged a safe place for them to live, free from the Family, when all this was done.

They wouldn’t understand what it took to keep a Family like ours in power and safe. Neither of them was suited for it.

Cas was even more loyal to the Don than he’d been when we were teenagers, especially after the Don appointed him as Leona’s personal bodyguard.

And Leona? She was…still a child. Only seventeen, self-absorbed and spoiled like a teenager should be. She didn’t belong here; she deserved a life where she could live without fear of pain or death around every corner. I would give that to her, even if she hated me because of it.

Everything was ready for my coup. All I had to do was select the day.

My birthday with Cas was supposed to be my last night of freedom and brotherhood before my plans went into motion. But everything had gone massively wrong when Leona had shown up at the club.

Somehow, she’d been hammered. She’d evaded both of our attention until she’d popped up at our table, scaring the hell out of me, and demanding I dance with her.

Part of me wished we had. I should have listened to herrequests to spend time with us. I should have danced with her, clutched her to my chest, and enjoyed the time we had left together before I sent her away with a new identity and a new life.

But she’d scared me, showing up there. We were being watched by the other Dons. I’d spotted the spies monitoring my every move. Tensions were growing between the Five Families, like they could sense my power pitted against Luciano’s.