“Being gay has nothing to do with anything. I would have played my part.”
“Don’t you want more than that, Bell? Don’t you want to be happy?”
I grab her throat again. My gun drops to my side, but I grin and grit out. “What the fuck does being happy have to do with anything? I will be the Don of the Ricci family. I will follow the legacy I have been afforded. I will be fucking king!” I roar at her. What the fuck does she know? She was only ever supposed to be a wife, a mother, nothing more, and then she killed her father, stepped up as Donna, and took over. We gave her three fucking months to prove herself and she did, she stepped up, turns out she’s a macabre little thing, with a penchant for mutilating her enemies and I respected that. I started to respect her. But little did I know, she set the condition that she would choose whoshe married if she was successful. That she would pick my little brother.
He has always been handed everything, even though he says otherwise. I can’t forget my entire existence. My father always had a softer spot for him. I was always told I had to protect him. I had to look after him. I was taken to meetings and murders from a young age. Disciplinaries, my father called them. I soon became stronger, detached, and realised I had a flair for torture. I became my father’s right-hand man while my brother got to hang out at home. He got to be a kid, a teenager. I know the scars say differently; they read so close to my own. But even then, I can’t get the reality to fall into place. I feel he never stepped into the dark like me. I resented him. I still do. I was made to feel like he was more important. But this family is to be mine, and I will carry on as my father and grandfather and generations before them. This is my legacy.
“You could rewrite the book, Bell.” Her voice softens a little. “We could burn the fucking book together. Fuck the Five; we could take it all. Bell, we could be the most powerful family. Together, we would be unstoppable. You know your father won’t hand you the throne. Deep down inside, you know he’ll never let it go willingly. You’re too powerful; you have to see that. Bell. This legacy you’re fighting so hard for is one that will keep you chained to an old ideal. You know you’ll never be happy with a wife. Break the legacy, Bell. Take a husband, rewrite the narrative. We can do this together.”
I huff a laugh at her and relax my grip as I slide the gun back into my waistband.
“And what do you care? You have my brother.”
“And who do you have, Bell?”
“Pfft, I don’t need anyone.”
“He needs you. You’ve both been turned against each other. Your father used you both, creating that separation.Knowing that together you’d be unstoppable. Bell, you have to see how powerful you both are. Together, we could rule the world.”
“You think because you took out your father, that’s the way to do things.”
“I think the families have grown stale.” She steps against me, staring up at me. Not a flicker of anything other than determination. “We need to have a cull, thin the herd, get rid of all the outdated shit they live by. Bell, this is our time to reign and your legacy to break. Only you can choose to take what you deserve or decide to be a lapdog to your father for the next fifty fucking years.”
I turn and blow out a breath. I wanted to kill her, but what she’s saying crashes around inside me. It’s the truth. I know it is. I’ve trained to be impassive, to be emotionless, but since the wedding, I can’t seem to rein it in. I want to destroy everything my father is so desperate to keep. I want to make it work for me. I want a partner, a husband. I want something that’s mine. I see her and my brother when they think no one is looking. He softens for her. I thought it made him weak, pathetic. But the more I’ve looked at them both, the more I see that together they’re stronger. Maybe that’s why I’m fighting against them. She’s making waves, and he’s right by her side.
I want someone to be by my side. I want him. I can’t get him out of my mind since I saw him at the wedding. His sister paraded around in front of me, and their father, Enzo De Luca, offered her as a way to secure more footing within the two families. I nodded in all the right places, but seeing her brother, I knew she would never be what I wanted. She would be what was expected. I could take my father’s throne. I could take him as a husband, but what then?
I spin back on her, slamming her into the wall.
“Stop fucking with my head. Stop trying to turn me against my father. I pull the gun back up, ready to be fucking done with her, as the door flies open and a massive body crashes into me, throwing me onto the floor. She has me so out of it that I never heard him coming. He’s always been stealthy.
As his meaty fist smashes into my side, the gun skitters across the floor. I try to grapple with him. My little brother is taller than me, but not as bulky. He’s fast, though, and he lifts off and punches me once, twice in the face as I grab for him, trying to land a blow of my own. I see her; she leans back against the wall with her arms crossed and just stares down at us as we roll around, trying to beat the shit out of each other.
“Okay, enough,” she bellows and steps forward. She leans down and pushes her hands between us, and we both stand panting and snarling as we face off against each other.
“Touch her again and I will fucking kill you, brother or not!” Vittorio snarls at me.
“Keep your bitch under control, teach her, her fucking place, and I won’t have to.”
He lunges at me again, and I grab for him. That’s when I feel it, the barrel of the gun pressed to the back of my head. I lift my hands slowly.
“Now, now, Bell. You see, you see what I said. You two should be on the same side. You two should be so strong that people fear you together.”
Vittorio steps back, crosses his arms, and glares at us both, his eyes flicking from her to me and back again. I feel the barrel of the gun move from the back of my head, but I don’t take my eyes off my brother. I stare him down, and she steps around me, in between us. She tucks the gun into the back of her waistband. She presses her hands to each of our chests.
“Together, we can have it all. Divided, they win.” She slides her hands up to Vittorio’s cheek, and he leans into it, his eyesnever leaving mine. She then turns to me. “Take a minute to calm down and reassess. We’ll be in the living room.”
She turns and walks away. My brother watches me for a while, neither of us breaking the stare before he blinks, smirks, turns, and walks away after her like a fucking sheep. I take a deep breath, blowing out my frustration at the situation, her words crashing through my brain.
Was that self-preservation? Did she mean it? Can I trust either of them? My mind reels on the outside. I’m the same cold-hearted bastard that I’m renowned to be. But her—something about her gets under my skin. I don’t know if it’s the rejection that stung, but I never saw her. Never liked her. She was just a pawn in this game we like to call life. Well, I thought she was a pawn, but now she’s proven herself to be a queen. They’re becoming more powerful together. I can see it. But is that something I want to be a part of, or could I just take them both out? Eradicate them and rule when my father dies. Either way, I will not be following her like a little lapdog, as she so kindly put it.
I step into the living room both their gazes flick to mine. “This isn’t over. I need to see Father.” I storm out of the house and slide behind the wheel of my car. I take a deep breath and head to my father’s office before I decide on something that can change the whole hierarchy. I need to see where my father stands in the grand scheme of things. I need to have all the facts before I burn this kingdom to the ground.
So, after the confrontation with Arianna and Vittorio, there’s clearly no love lost between us, and we constantly butt heads over the reality of what we remember. I’m off to test a theory. I pull up at my father’s office in the city.
“Good afternoon, Mr Ricci,” the receptionist singsongs at me, and I nod as I stroll through the corridor to the office at the end of the hall. I don’t knock. I just push right in. Father’seyes fly to mine as I step to the side, leaving the door open. The member of staff whose blouse is open and skirt is almost around her waist tugs at her clothes, trying to right them as she pries herself out from between my father and his desk.
“Bellino, son, what do I owe this pleasure?” There’s a bite to his tone while he tucks his dick back away in his trousers, totally ignoring her as she scurries out of the office. I lean over and slam the door. Stepping forward, I undo my jacket and take a seat in the chair opposite. My father sighs and sits back in the chair, tucking himself in before sliding his hands onto the table.
