Des sighed. "They called her Dawn."
"Dawn, Dawn," she chanted. "Let me look into it and get back to you."
"Erin, whatever you find, I want to take them down."
She was silent for a few minutes. "Don't do this out of anger," Erin warned.
"Erin, aren't you the one who told me you hate bullies? Well, my father is the biggest one of them all."
"What about your mother?"
"I don't feel sorry for her, but there's no reason for her to be caught up in my father's dealings. Who knew the man was so disgusting? I'm sure his other son has no idea what he's truly like."
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes, but I want it done strategically, not how those idiots on Benito Grant's campaign did it. I want his downfall to be slow and painful. Let my father think I forgot about him, and thenbam, we bury him."
"Okay, we'll do what you want." Erin sighed. "But Des, what happened to you?"
He pressed his head into the headrest, closing his eyes. "I got tired, Erin. I don't want to be a pushover anymore."
"We'll meet at the cafe tomorrow at three."
"Okay."
Othello sighedand shrugged off his jacket as he entered the Romanos’ family home. Pulling off his coat and jacket, he dropped them over the railing as he made his way to the kitchen. He would have returned to his apartment, but he had work to do and knew it would take him into the night. He'd rescheduled the auction to a few months from now.
Walking into Alessandro's office, he stopped when he saw Iago sitting at his father's desk. They'd both been so busy they hadn't seen or even spoken to each other in days.
"I figured you'd show up here after the day you've had."
"So you heard?" Othello asked, moving over to the chair and sitting down.
"Nothing happens in this family that I don't know about." He looked at Othello seriously. "Are you ready for theconsequences? We knew partnering with Falcon was also making a deal with Ricci and Greco since he was their ally."
"If a war is coming, then so be it," Othello said.
Iago smiled. "You're always steadfast in your words, and you have no regrets about your actions. Does your good doctor know how cruel you can be?"
"What I do for the family has nothing to do with Des."
"So the answer is no," Iago said. "How can you be yourself when he's never seen the real you?"
"Who says I'm not myself when I'm with him?" Othello shook his head, wondering why the conversation veered off into this topic. "I am me with the family and Des. I hide nothing."
"If you say so," Iago said. "Do you know who tipped off the cops?"
"If I knew that, I'm sure you'd have heard that they are already dead." He was happy that Iago changed the subject.
Othello got up and went to pour them both a drink. He shouldn't be drinking on an empty stomach, but after the day he had, he needed something to take the edge off his stress.
"I need to find out who is behind this, Iago." Othello sighed, sipping his whiskey.
"We will," Iago said, leaning back in the chair and swirling his drink. "I'll also set up a meeting with our allies; if we are to go to war with the commission, we must be prepared. I doubt they'll skip the warning or sanctions and go straight for taking you out."
What Iago said was true. The commission had rules for the families that could not be broken, and even though Romanoshad been doing their own thing to acquire power, property, and resources, some were approved by the commission heads.
They did turn a blind eye to Rizzo, on that Falcon was right, but taking out an ally in the act of revenge was something that needed the commission's permission. Not to mention, he’d ordered the killing of a civilian, putting another red mark on the family. With those two actions, it might show strength, but his leadership could be called into question.
