Here it is. The point of no return.
I tell him everything.
About the partnership. The intel. The hits on his operations. Her anger when I ended it. Her going to Alexei. I spin it, of course, but I mostly tell the truth.
Adrian's face goes through several expressions. Surprise. Disbelief. Rage. By the time I finish, he's white-knuckled, gripping his desk.
"Let me make sure I understand." His voice is deadly quiet. "My sister has been feeding you information about my family's operations. You've been using it to undermine me. And when you stopped, she went to the fucking Russians?"
"Yes."
"For how long has this been going on?"
"Three months of working with me. A few weeks with Alexei before I found out and stopped her."
He stands. Starts pacing. I can see him processing. Calculating damage. Identifying which operations were compromised.
He's barely keeping it together. But Adrian is cold, like I told Marcello, and he's not going to break down in front of me.
"The gallery hit. The warehouse fire. The union issue at the docks." He's ticking them off. "All of that was you."
"Yes."
"Using information my sister gave you."
"Yes."
He slams his fist on the desk. A picture frame falls. Shatters. "That little bitch."
I feel my hackles raise. I prepared for this, but Gemma is my fucking wife.
His eyes are black with rage. "She betrayed her family. Betrayed her blood. For what? To play games with you?"
"She was angry. At both of us. Yes, it was fucking reckless, but it excited her. Made her more pliable. It's why I went along with it. I wanted an heir, and this is how I convinced her to be pliant." The words taste like shit in my mouth, but I say them anyway.
Adrian is primed to believe his sister was a silly little airhead, and I hate that I am playing into this.
"You are telling me you nearly started a war, so my sister would be easier to fuck."
"Watch it," I say, voice low in warning. "She is still my wife."
He laughs. "Yeah, fuck off, Saint. You should be glad I don't put a bullet in your head."
"You aren't going to do shit, Adrian. Not to me."
"Oh yeah?" he moves closer to his desk, and I suspect he's trying not to grab the gun he's got stored there. "What makes you so confident?"
I lean in my chair, trying to appear nonchalant. "Because those last attacks…they weren't me. Alexei is gunning for you, and you can't afford to get rid of allies and create new enemies."
I see the way my words affect him.
"Why come to me now?"
"Because Alexei knows. And he's using it as leverage. I can't have that threat hanging over both our families. I need to handle my own shit. I don't want him involved." I lean forward. "I'm giving you a boon and letting you handle this as you see fit."
"Handle it." He laughs, sharp and bitter. "You mean punish Gemma?"
"If that's what you think is best," I keep my face neutral. "I'm not going to interfere with how you choose to handle it."
