“What is this?” Vienna asks breathily.
“Panic room. Nobody but Gio, Sage, and I know about it, so I’m putting a huge amount of trust in you. I figured it was the best place for us to talk. It’s soundproof, and if you hit that button there, it locks down.” I point to the big red button next to the door. “I’ll show you which book to pull in case you ever need it.” I don’t mention there is a slide down to the warehouse as an escape route. I’m not going to put that much trust in them yet, and I want to be able to come and go as I please.
“You trust us?” Tristan asks hesitantly, looking hopeful, and I shrug.
“Not really, but I don’t feel like any of us have a choice at the moment. I thought we should clear the air if we want to work toward a resolution.” I wave a hand at the bed and the few chairs that are scattered around the room. “Why don’t we take a seat and get everything out in the open?”
Tristan’s face falls, but he seems resigned.
Colton takes a seat at the work desk with all the screens surrounding it. They are all dark, only activating if the red button is pushed or I use my fingerprint on the keyboard, but I see him examining the tech with interest. Vienna throws herself on the bed but pulls herself up to the headboard and pops a pillow up to lean against. Both Xavier and Tristan take the two armchairs.
“You already knew we betrayed you that day, didn’t you?” Xavier asks me, and the other three frown with confusion.
I sigh and slide my back down the closed door before taking a seat on the floor. It means I have to look up at them, but I’mtoo tired to care about postering for positions of power. “Yeah. I had just gotten off the phone with my contact who had been investigating you. I didn’t trust what Gio found out.”
“Who’s your contact, and what did they find? I covered our tracks completely,” Colton asks, sounding annoyed.
I huff out an amused breath of air. “Are we going to be truthful with one another? I want all of your truths if I’m going to offer you mine. How did you end up with Mario?”
They are silent before Vienna replies, “It’s my fault.”
Before she can say anything else, all three boys start denying it and reassuring her that she wasn’t to blame, but she holds her hand up, silencing them.
“The four of us have always been a team. We didn’t lie to you about any of that. The story we told you about foster care and being adopted is true, but we left out the most important detail—I was pregnant. We had all but given up hope, because nobody wants to adopt a pregnant teenager, and the boys weren’t going to leave me alone, but then Mario came along. He wasn’t upset about the pregnancy. In fact, he was excited. He was also thrilled that I wouldn’t be separated from the boys. He decided to adopt all four of us. In the beginning, he was kind and caring and showered us with gifts. We were so dazzled, we didn’t see the poison in his eyes.
“He made us feel wanted and needed for the first time ever. I was four months pregnant when we went to live with him, and he got me excellent pre-natal care and the best doctors. At the same time, he made sure the boys got all the right training. We knew he was a mafia man, he never hid that, but he told us he couldn’t have children, and he wanted someone to carry on his legacy, so he trained the boys. They were happy to give him everything he asked for because we were being looked after.” Her voice cracks at the end, and she takes a deep breath.
“It isn’t like we hadn’t seen the evil side of the world with our parents. This was just an extension of that, and we were living the good life,” Tristan adds, wringing his hands in his lap. Xavier reaches over and tugs his hands apart, cupping them in his. Colton gets up to comfort Vienna, but she holds her hands up.
“I’ll fall apart if you give me any comfort right now. Let me get this out please.” I can see him pleading with his eyes, but she shakes her head firmly. “Once I had Addison, everything changed. He was pissed off that she was a girl, and when we left the hospital, things started to get tense. I was breastfeeding her, but he had already hired a nanny for her, even though I insisted I didn’t want one. He informed me that I would be going back to school because he didn’t want stupid heirs, and he had a job for me. My compliance hinged on Addison’s well-being and me getting to see her. I repeated my junior year at a private school in Suncity, but then we were told we had to transfer to the same school you went to in Banebridge for our senior year. Our instructions were to get close to you. He didn’t share any other details, just that’s what we had to do.”
“We were told the same thing. Somehow, Mario managed to arrange for us to share a dorm with Gio at Suncity U, and we were instructed to get close to him,” Xavier says gruffly.
“But then that thing with Stacey happened, and you dropped out, and Gio pulled out of college. Mario was fucking livid. I’m surprised he didn’t kill Stacey, but she managed to talk him down. That’s when he took Addison away from us. He said if we didn’t do everything he told us to, she would pay. He knew you two would eventually resurface, and by the time you did, he would be ready for you.”
“So he told you to seduce me and then what?”
“It was always his intention for you to marry me and get rid of Stefano, Carla, Mickey, and Gio, but Gio getting Casey pregnant was kind of like winning the jackpot. She was neverinvolved in any of his schemes. He became her guardian when her parents were killed in a car accident, and he liked to keep her protected. The only soft spot in his heart was for Casey,” Xavier explains.
“But he kept Carla and Dad alive,” I point out.
“He knew he was going to need something to ensure your submission. By then, your reputation proceeded you.” Tristan chuckles darkly.
“And so you see we didn’t have any choice. If we want to keep our daughter safe, then we have to do as he says. We have all paid with pain, I can assure you, and so has she,” Vienna says bitterly. “We haven’t seen her in months. I don’t know how she is. He keeps us hanging by promising us if we succeed, we can have access to her again. I’m hoping now that you are married, I will be allowed to see her again.”
“You need to be seen as compliant, Tori. He won’t hesitate to hurt your father if you don’t, and I will be the one forced to hurt him,” Tristan says, his tone pleading.
I throw my hands up in the air. “What else do you want me to do? How can I prove to him that I am complying? Nothing I say will get him to trust me. I’ve already married Xavier, and I sent out the email this evening announcing the new hierarchy. I’ve fucking given everything.” I’m pissed beyond belief, and not necessarily at these four, but at the whole fucking situation. How did it come to this?
“If he can see that you are trying in your marriage, he might soften a little,” Colton suggests quietly.
“And how am I to prove that?” I ask, and there’s a loaded silence.
“If he thinks you are trying to give him what he wants, then he will back off a little,” Xavier says vaguely, and I rack my brain to figure out what they are suggesting, but I’m coming up blank.
“But I have. I’ve done everything he’s asked,” I say bitterly.
Xavier huffs. “He wants to see us having sex, Tori, so he knows we are working to provide him a legitimate heir to the Russo-Maricuso empire,” he states bluntly.
