“No, father,” I said. “She was just collecting the trash.”
Thankfully, the trashcan was full of all the edited and discarded versions of letters I’d written to her, so she was able to bow her head, grab the trash can, and flit quickly from the room before anything worse happened. My father’s eyes stayed trained on her as she left, leaving only once the door was closed behind her.
“Have you taken an interest?” he asked simply.
“No sir,” I responded, probably a little too quickly. “She is merely another staff member.”
He seemed to accept that. “Good. Recreation is fine here and there, so long as you remain focused.”
Recreation?“No, there’s nothing of the sort happening.”
“Fine. Have a seat.” I walked back to my desk and eased down into my chair, and my father sat in an armchair in the corner of the bedroom not far from me. “We have a problem.”
My entire body ran cold at the steel in his voice. “Problem?”
“Yes,” he said. “The Bonifacios gain popularity with each passing day, and something must be done to stop them from gaining more power.”
“The merger of our family with theirs at Romeo and Lucia’s wed should be strong enough,” I said, but my father shook his head.
“It isn’t enough. Lucia may not come willingly and her parents are resolved to allow her to choose her own fate,” he explained like it was the worst thing in the world, where I wasn’t used to parents who loved their children enough to do that. “It’s going to take a more forceful approach.”
“What do you mean?”
It was odd to me that my father was speaking business outside of his office, but then it hit me. Romeo’s uncertainty was borne of facts. He was afraid that my father was involving me in something that didn’t involve him because he was.
My father was deferring to me instead of him.
“The Bonifacios must be taken out. Their children, we can use, but the patriarch and matriarch are nothing but trouble for us. You and I are going to stage a coup and have them killed.”
My heart rocketed inside my chest. “How will we do that?”
“It’ll begin with an alliance with the Bonifacios that will be squandered when they kill you,” my father said simply.
I swallowed hard. “Kill me?”
“We’re going to fake your death and blame it on the Bonifacios. There’s a part two to this plan, but that will be explained at a later date. This is all you need to know for now.” He stared directly into my eyes. “If you can pull this off, Gianni, the rewards for you will be great.”
I sat up a little straighter in my chair. “How so?”
An evil grin crossed his face. “If we can pull off my plan, I’ll give you the throne of our family.”
“The throne? What about Romeo?” I asked.
“Romeo won’t be a concern. His seat will be yours,” he raised his nose to the sky with confidence, “and so will his queen.”
6
Philippa
Every day I woke up afraid that I was going to hear Angelo had killed Gianni. The aggressive shift in behavior was unexpected and certainly difficult to explain. For as long as I’d been working at the Cavetti’s household, Angelo hated his eldest son and set out on a regular course to hurt him as much as possible, physically, mentally, and emotionally. After our years of friendship, I learned that the one thing Gianni longed for most was to feel like he was truly part of his family, so the fact that Angelo turned up one day and suddenly started to offer him that, led me to believe he was trying to manipulate Gianni yet again.
It could be part of an extended, long-game torture that would flip one day in a year and give Angelo the next level of high that he was searching for. The fear that he was coaxing Gianni into a false sense of security to pull the rug out from under his feet plagued me. I cared about Gianni, not just as a best friend, but as the man I was in love with. Knowing there was no way to protect him killed me.
“Philippa.”
I slipped out into the alleyway and made sure the door was shut behind me. One of the Cavettis mid-level grunts had taken a liking to me. I was aware of the fact that he was interested in me romantically and as harsh as it may sound, I knew I could exploit that.
He held out his arms and I walked into them, hugging him and praying he hadanythingthat would help me help Gianni. “Derek. How are you?”
