Page 32 of Revenge & Truth

Refusing to answer, I calmly sipped my coffee then tried to stand.

“Nope. Sorry, Tin-Tin, but you’re not going anywhere until you answer me,” Ryker challenged. “Is what Hound said true? Are you ranking us by some arbitrary scale and changing our seating arrangement based on that grade?”

It seems my game had been found out, but I’ll be honest, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

“There’s a possibility you might be right,” I answered noncommittally.

“I knew it,” Braxton shouted, shooting to his feet. “Atticus hardly ever had to change seats, and Ryker was getting banished to the end of the table all the time. Wait, so the other day when I got booted two seats down, was it for telling you I hated the movie Ultraviolet?”

“No, it was because while I was watching it in my room, you spent the whole time pointing out how bad it was,” I clarified. “If you hated the movie that much, you should have just left me to watch it in peace.”

Braxton started to argue with me, paused, and took his seat again. “You’re right… it was a dick move on my part. It’s just hard to sit there and watch such an amazing comic get slaughtered like that.”

“Since I’ve never read them, I have no bias, but Milla Jovovich is a goddess,” I explained. “Either way, now that you’ve found out my secret, the fun of doing it is gone, so you won’t have to worry.”

Ryker muttered something under his breath about not noticing, but I just grinned and gave him another kiss before getting up. “Buck up, Ry. You were too worried about pissing me off to realize the game. Now that you’re not in the doghouse anymore, I’m sure you’ll figure out my next game quicker.”

I took my seat at the head of the table just as Atticus and Jace joined us. Once they were seated, breakfast was brought out, already plated instead of the normal serving dishes. Glenda handed me mine with a wink and gave my shoulder a friendly squeeze before heading back into the kitchen. She knew I hated that every one of my meals was tested for poison before I ate it. When I found out she was the one doing it, I about lost my shit thinking how easily that could kill the only parental figure I had left.

Glenda all but raised me and was, for all intents and purposes, my grandmother. She’d looked after my father growing up as well, so when it was decided I’d be sent away, there was no one my father trusted more. Flora was a fucking joke when it came to being a parent of any kind to me unless it was to her advantage. Then she was the mother of the year for all of five seconds to create the impression she wanted.

Not willing to take any risks with Glenda’s life, I ordered her and Ryker to find someone else to do the job. The only rule was it couldn’t be Boykov, any of my lieutenants, or Casimira. No way would I be responsible for killing the second love of my father’s life and mother to my half-brother. Of course, since they now both lived full-time at the house my father had for them, I didn’t see Casimira much. Being here on the estate was too much for her, haunted by ghosts of two people she loved and died. I couldn’t blame her, though. She had the freedom to make that choice, and I might have done the same thing in her state.

Shaking myself out of those thoughts, I turned my attention to Ryker. “Is everyone getting their food tested now? Another one of your measures to keep us safe from retaliation?”

Ryker paused with a fork full of eggs almost to his mouth and set it back down to square up with me. “Astin, we know who we’re dealing with now. All roads lead back to the three founding families Ivy mentioned. Out of any enemy we could have, I’m not sure we could do much worse. Their previous attempts were subtle because they didn’t want us to know who the puppet master was. You taunted them, Astin. Dared the fucking founding families to make the next move, so I’m doing the best I can to prevent catastrophic disaster from occurring.”

“I see,” I murmured. “So, you think it was wrong for me to do that? That whatever happens next is my fault because I goaded them into doing it?”

“That isn’t what I said,” Ryker snapped, slamming his fork on the table.

My brows shot up at his outburst as tense silence fell over the table. Ryker closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. I didn’t say a word, waiting to see if he’d correct his mistake or if I had to do it for him. This was the tangled web of being in power and falling for someone you were the boss of. Finding a balance would take a lot of work, but it wasn’t a problem I could fix alone. I needed each of them to put in equal effort as well to pull it off.

“I apologize for yelling,” Ryker said, opening his eyes to meet my gaze. “I’m struggling with the reality of you being my boss as the Boss of the Caprioni Family and the woman I love. What you did was the right call… anything less would have made you look weak in their eyes. Even though I understand that logically, I fucking hate that it drew an even bigger target on you than you already had. It’s my purpose and role in life to keep you safe, Astin, and I’m going to do the best goddamn job I know how.”

“Okay,” I answered and began eating.

“What do you mean by okay?” Ryker pressed. “Okay, we’re good or okay, I’m back in the doghouse, but I won’t know it until I find all my shit on the front lawn?”

I snorted at the image of that but waited to answer until I’d finished the bite I’d just taken. “Okay, now that you’ve explained your reasoning, I get it.”

“Just like that?” Hound questioned. “Luna, we all know you don’t just accept things at face value like this, especially when it hasn’t been discussed with you or affects your ability to do as you please. I know you’ve noticed the shadow following you, so what’s really going on?”

I shrugged and gulped down the last of my coffee before refilling it. “What? Can’t I just be in a good mood and let the man do his job?”

“No,” everyone in the room said simultaneously, catching me off guard.

“Wow, way to tell someone they’re a controlling bitch without actually saying it,” I muttered, taking two fingers and flicking them in a mock salute. “Message received. Now can we just enjoy breakfast and hash this out in the conference room? We have more important things to tend to than Ryker’s paranoid brain. We finally have what we need to get Luca out, so let’s move forward with that plan.”

With my fingers crossed under the table, I prayed Ryker would remember the signal we’d come up with to steer clear of a topic. For a man who was convinced the founding families could easily infiltrate the house, he was blabbing about things that should be dealt with behind closed, soundproof doors. Ryker answered my request pretending to wipe something off his bottom lip with his thumb, telling me he remembered perfectly.

“Don’t have to tell me twice. If I’m not in trouble and you’re just gonna agree, then I’m not saying another word on the matter,” Ryker said, stabbing a sausage and shoving the whole link in his mouth at once.

“Ryker, you need to chill, dude,” Braxton cautioned. “I know Glenda’s sausage is amazing, but even I can’t handle shoving all that meat into my mouth at once.”

Slapping a hand over my mouth was the only thing to keep me from spewing coffee all over the place at Braxton’s joke. The whole table erupted into laughter, changing the topic into safer waters, sharing about the best sausages they’d ever eaten. Watching the guys joking and having a good time together made me think back to the first breakfast we had at this table. Three people were now missing, and it hurt to see Luca’s chair empty. However, it hurt a little less now that I knew we had a plan, and soon enough, he’d be right back where he belonged.

When the meal was over, we headed for the conference room. It was the most secure room in the whole house besides the panic room hidden in the conference room wall. This was where all the important matters pertaining to the criminal side of the Caprioni business were attended to. Half of the room was filled with files written in code only the heir to the Family could translate—another safeguard in case the house was raided by law enforcement.