“I’m not playing at anything. But without that page, succession has to be a discussion.”
“That’s insane,” Alessio cut in. “Everyone knows Dad intended Cosimo to be the next don. The capos are ready to follow him.”
“People like to assume things. It’s how they make sense of an unpredictable world. But I knew your father better than anyone. He had his doubts.” She stared right at me unblinkingly.
Unease flared inside my rib cage. Just because she says it, doesn’t mean it’s true.
I was named underboss over a year ago. Put in charge of more than half the business. Drugs, weapons, gambling—all of it was mine. I was his eldest son. He’d never given me reason to think the empire would pass to anyone else.
Was it possible he’d changed his mind?
A smirk slowly spread over Vita’s face. “He was particularly disappointed with Cosimo’s immaturity regarding his upcoming marriage. A person ready to lead this family wouldn’t have behaved like Cosimo did.”
The room dimmed around me. The clock on the wall seemed louder.
Tick, tick, tick.
Romolo was saying something to her, but I didn’t hear him.
The puzzle pieces had finally clicked.
All these months, I’d tried to figure out Mother’s angle with Fabiana, and it had been right in front of me all along.
Thiswas it. My resistance.
She’d known I’d fight any woman she chose for me. She’d known exactly how that would look to my father, to the capos, to anyone watching.
She’d set me up, and I’d walked straight into it.
And now…
Christ.
In the midst of all the chaos—the hours we’d spent at the precinct after the bomb, the race to find our aunt before she disappeared for good, the calls with all the capos to give them their orders—I hadn’t had time to process the implications of Dad’s death on the marriage arrangement.
But one thing was clear—everything had changed.
I brought myself back to the room, forcing myself to listen.
“My loyalty’s with Cosimo,” Rom was saying. “The fucking leader of this family. And if you’re trying to undermine him, then you’re not family anymore.”
“Cosimo doesn’t have what it takes.” Her eyes flashed. “But I do.”
There it was. Out in the open now. She wanted to steal my fucking birthright.
“You might not like it, but me at the helm is what’s best for the family.”
I let out a disbelieving breath. “What’s best for the family? It’s what’s best foryou.”
It was one thing to have her in my father’s ear. It was another to let her rule without anyone there to rein her in. She’d surround herself with yes-men and let her ego run everything. For Mother, it was always about image—about how she was perceived, about how powerful she appeared.
Under no circumstance could this woman be allowed to lead. Eventually, she’d destroy everything my father had built.
She shook her head. “None of you have any idea what you’re up against. You’ve tried to figure out why the Santoro familyis targeting us, and you’ve found nothing. That history’s been erased. I’m the only one who knows the full story.”
I walked around my desk and sat down. Fury coursed through me, but I kept it contained. “Let me guess, you’re not going to tell us what you know.”
“In the wrong hands, the information could only hurt the Ferraros.”
