I really need to focus, I think, shaking my head and making my way down the rest of the stairs. “Are you with Dad?” I ask my brother, wanting to assure them both that I’m okay. “And are you really in New Jersey? Sorry if you already answered that, but I missed the response.”
Gio is silent for a long moment. “Can you put Lazarus on the phone, please?”
I frown. “No. He’s not here.”
“What do you mean, he’s not there?”
“I mean he’s somewhere else,” I return, rolling my eyes as I start toward the black car that’s waiting for us on the tarmac. “Why do you need to talk to him? Don’t tell me you’re friends.”
Gio heaves a long sigh. “Aurora… a lot has happened while you’ve been gone.”
“Yes, I can imagine,” I deadpan. “Never a dull moment in the Bianchi household, that’s for sure.”
He’s quiet again before saying, “That’s not what I mean, honey pot. There’s… there’s been a lot of changes lately.”
My steps slow a mere foot from the door that Johan has just opened for me. “Okay,” I reply. “That’s cryptic, Gio. Tell me what you mean.”
“I’m the don now, Aurora,” he tells me softly.
I stop breathing. “The don?” It comes out in a whisper, what’s left of my oxygen leaving my chest.
Because that… that can only mean one thing…
“Dad’s…?” I don’t have enough air to finish the question.
Not that I need to.
Because I already know.
And when I meet Johan’s gaze, I realize he knows, too.
Which… which means they all knew…
My father… my father is dead.
CHAPTER TEN
JOHAN
Shit.
What a fucking brilliant time for Giovanni Bianchi to announce his recent ascension. Everyone knows what that means.
The trio of families that rule New York City only pass the mantle on via one tried-and-true method—death.
Laz became the don of the Ferraro Mafia after his father passed away a decade ago.
Just as Giovanni became the don when his father passed, which Lark has clearly ascertained now.
“When?” she demands, her eyes filling with tears. But they’re not ones born of sadness.
No, my brilliant little hacker ispissed.
As she should be.
“Six months?!” She sounds ready to kill her brother. “Why didn’t you tell me, Gio?” The first tear falls, and it takes everything within me not to reach out to wipe it from her cheek.
She does it for me, anyway, though. Her hand a furious swipe against her face as she scowls at whatever her brother is saying.
