Page 15 of Love & Power

My mouth was full of toast, so I swallowed quickly and sipped my coffee before speaking, “I’m in a relationship with all seven of these men, but Jace and Braxton are also together.”

Armond and Demaso stared at me with surprised expressions. However, the two older gentlemen didn’t take that information as well.

“Blasphemy,” the man whose name I didn’t know roared and tried to shove Ryker out of his way to approach my grandfather. “Frediano, did you know about this?”

To his credit, my grandfather hadn’t said a word about my situation, but then again, I hadn’t come out and said it. Although, for a man who might have a secret male lover, he had no room to judge me in any way. I would never allow our relationship to be a secret.

“Yes, I knew she had more than one lover,” Frediano answered. “The exact number I wasn’t certain until just now, but it’s none of my business, and it certainly isn’t yours. Face it, Aldo, times are changing no matter how we wish to ignore it. It’s one of the reasons the future generation needs to take over things.”

This response seemed to take all the steam out of Aldo’s anger. They’d been so sure my grandfather would back him up, yet quite the opposite happened. “Frediano…”

Aldo was cut off as my grandfather slammed a fist against the table, rattling all the dishes. “Enough. Introduce yourselves to my granddaughter, hand over your weapons, and stop treating my blood like she’s the enemy. If you can’t manage that, then get the fuck out of my house.”

Biting into my toast, I watched as the two men made their decision. Finally, Renato flung out his arms, allowing Jace to pat him down. I was surprised to see he didn’t have any weapons on him, but Armond did say he was a businessman. Aldo had a gun in an ankle holster, telling me he didn’t really plan on using it but wanted the protection. Both men approached the table, pulling out chairs, but Hound grabbed the back of their shirts, stopping them short.

“Seems you two are having a senior moment, but there’s one more step before you can sit at this table with our Mistress,” Hound pointed out.

Renato shook off Hound, squaring his shoulders and meeting my gaze. “I’m Renato Pisano, owner of Sunsea, one of the largest transport companies in Nepreea.” His gaze shifted to look at my grandfather for a moment, almost as if he was considering telling me how close they were. “Your grandfather and I have been close friends since university. I apologize if I overstepped in defending him when it wasn’t my place.”

The way he spat that last word solidified my thoughts on their relationship. Renato wasn’t pleased with how my grandfather laid down the ultimatum to give in or leave. I had a feeling there would be a rather heated lovers’ spat later today.

seven

Everything in me wanted to remove this Aldo prick from the room, but I knew I couldn’t. It was clear that Aldo provided something important to this fight, or Frediano wouldn’t have invited him to this breakfast. However, that didn’t mean we should trust Aldo if he couldn’t respect Astin. She’d made the right call, forcing them to respect her place in this world, but the older they are, the harder it is to get them to bend to change.

As Renato took his seat, Aldo slammed his shoulder into Hound’s chest, trying to knock him off. Hound, the crazy bastard, just rocked back on his heels, absorbing the impact before shoving his knee forward, dropping the asshole to his knees.

“Are you trying to make me shoot you?” Hound asked, the gun an inch from the man’s head.

Aldo glared at him. “You wouldn’t dare, not unless your whore gave you permission.”

“Hou—” I started to yell, but my words were lost in the sound of a gun going off in the room.

“Gah, you shot me,” Aldo screamed, clutching his arm to his chest.

Fuck, please tell me he didn’t shoot this prick in the gut to slowly bleed out. Dropping to my knees, I grabbed Aldo’s arm and pulled it away, but no blood showed on his chest or stomach.

“Dude, calm down,” Hound grumbled. “I only shot you in the arm, clean through-and-through… you’ll live.”

The black color of Aldo’s suit hid the injury, but knowing where to look, I found the wound. Sure enough, there was a hole on one side of his bicep and an exit on the other. Taking a moment to feel the arm, I determined the shot hadn’t damaged the bone, making this a minor injury.

“He’s right. Get a few stitches and an antibiotic shot to ensure there won’t be any infection, then you’ll be good as new,” I said, grabbing a napkin off the table to wipe my hands.

Aldo struggled to his feet with only one arm to use for leverage. Once he was standing, my hand snapped out to grab his shirt and yank him forward. Now nose-to-nose and confident I had his attention, I spoke, “Aldo, I don’t care who you are or how important you think you are, if you fucking dare to utter a word against Lady Astin ever again… I can’t guarantee you’ll be walking away from it.”

Why my threat seemed to hit home and getting shot didn’t, I haven’t a clue, but all that mattered was that he believed me. Roughly, I shoved him back and pulled out a chair at the farthest end of the table, gesturing for him to sit. Meekly, the man sat clutching his arm, blood seeping through his fingers, making me hope there was a doctor on this compound.

Leaning in close, I whispered, “You have two seconds to introduce yourself and salvage your chances with either Raffa letting you live or Hound using you for target practice. Trust me, he’s one fucked-up bastard who won’t be quick to end his fun.”

Aldo grabbed the crystal glass full of water and gulped it down, leaving a bloody handprint behind.

“Lady Astin, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Aldo greeted as if there hadn’t been any issue. “I’m Aldo Forte, owner of Forte Engineering, a company that specializes in weapons design for the Nepreeian military and other governments who contract us.”

Astin didn’t respond, choosing to pluck a few grapes from the bunch and pop them in her mouth. I knew from personal experience what it felt like to be on her bad side, and it wasn’t something I’d let happen again. Aldo deserved to sit in the situation he caused, left to wonder if he was going to live through this day or not.

“Gemma,” Astin called out.

Seconds later, the woman entered the room, stopping beside her new mistress. “Yes, Lady Astin?”