Page 72 of Love & Power

Having explained who Cedro was, Dom sat back down and smoothed his napkin over his lap once more, composing himself. It was the first time I’d seen Ivy manage to get under his skin, or was it simply having his brother here that made the difference?

Cedro was next to stand, but he walked over to me and offered his hand. “It’s lovely to meet you, Astin. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself right away, but I hope you won’t hold that against me and allow me a do-over.”

These brothers couldn’t be more different. Dom was confident and self-assured, sometimes to the point it made him seem stuck up. Cedro had a softer presence to him, but I didn’t see him as weak but more of a quiet confidence of being comfortable in his own skin. I took his hand, and instead of shaking it like I thought, he kissed the back of it.

“Well, that proves you two are related,” I muttered, pulling my hand free. “Word of warning… I have seven men who are rather possessive when it comes to people touching or making advances on me.”

“Dom did mention something about that. I wasn’t sure if it was true or wishful thinking that a relationship like that could work,” Cedro commented, purposefully not looking at Ivy or his brother. “Thank you for the heads-up. I’ll make sure not to cross any lines.”

Once he returned to his seat, everyone dug into their food, and I was forced to wait to get my answers. Finally, Ryker was the one to take pity on me and explained everything they discovered last night. I was impressed they managed to learn as much as they did with the little we had to work with.

“So that’s how Cedro ended up running the DNA profile for us,” Ryker concluded. “I know you wouldn’t be satisfied until there was proof if he was Raffa or not.”

“And this is one of the many reasons I love you,” I shared. “So, do we have an answer for that, Cedro?”

Leaning to the side, Cedro picked up a folder from the floor and flipped it open. “So he wasn’t listed in any of the databases, so that means he’s never been suspected of a crime or given his DNA for a lab to test. However, I compared his markers to other known Raffas that we do have in the system. There were enough people to sample from that, and I can say with a good amount of certainty he wasn’t a Raffa. Both of them were plants.”

The relief that washed over me hearing this was a telling sign. I’d been fully expecting him to say the opposite, and I was going to have to add even more blood to my stained hands. Knowing, without a doubt, they were Leoni spies made what I was planning all that much easier to go through with.

“You have no idea the peace of mind you’ve just given me,” I admitted. “Thank you, Cedro, for going above and beyond to get me that information. It’s funny that both of you are here for this conversation because I want to propose an idea to you, Dom.”

“Oh?” Dom questioned.

“How are things going for you in terms of your impending promotion?” I asked, but he hesitated to answer, looking around the table. “Don’t worry about them, they’re trusted people in this fight.”

“I guess I’ll have to take your word on that,” Dom said, not sounding convinced as he eyed Armond.

“Don’t get your tie in a knot, boy. If you’re truly an ally to Astin, then that makes us allies too,” Armond assured him. “Hell, Von and Astin are blood-oath sisters, so there’s no way I could turn my back on her now, even if I wanted to.”

That shocked Dom as well as Cedro.

“I am part of that pact as well, and I vouch for all the people here,” Ivy added. “Unless, Dom, you’ve decided I’m no longer to be trusted.”

Dom pinned Ivy with a look as he took her hand and flipped it so her wrist was face up. I now knew what that raised mark was and the meaning behind it as Dom kissed it just as he had after our first meeting. “Ivy, I trust you with my life, but I also know you don’t trust me the same way. If you, Von, and Astin have created a blood pact, then I won’t question the trustworthiness of anyone in this room again. As you know, this life we live doesn’t breed trust between strangers and those who have been enemies to my family.”

I watched as his thumb smoothed over the branded skin and saw Ivy’s eyes flutter closed at the touch. Even a blind man could tell you the connection between Ivy and these two men was intense. Without there once being love, there can be no hate, and she hated these men as much as she still loved them.

“Astin, to give you a more direct answer, I have everything in place. What’s slowing me down is getting the people I need to Dolsa, where our Family’s main estate is located. It’s been tricky to balance pulling in those I trust without those loyal to my grandfather noticing,” Dom explained.

Nodding absently, I leaned back in my chair tapping my fingers on the table. “What if you don’t need to hide it?”

“I’m not following,” Dom said, frowning as he tried to catch up with my thinking.

“What if your grandfather were to die in his sleep?” I asked. “In… I don’t know, a day or two? Then there would be a funeral everyone would come to, and you’d be made the new leader of the De Santis Family. I imagine something like that would warrant a party, and we both know how good you are at planning those. Everyone would assume you’d invite the who’s who of the Accardi and Leoni Families since your Family has always been loyal to them, gathering everyone into one specific place.”

“Why would I do any of that?” Dom demanded, clearly not understanding what I was saying. The whole point of why I wanted to do this is to break free from those pompous assholes.”

“Because that’s where I’m going to kill them,” I announce. “It will be like shooting fish in a barrel. They won’t see it coming. It’s too simple, and they would never dream of the day the De Santis Family would turn against them. Just think, you get to take over, establish the new pecking order within the Family, and no one will ever realize the truth of it all until it’s too late. I know you wanted a big show of strength to prove to everyone that you ripped the crown off the head of that bastard who killed your father and Cedro’s mother. But let me ask you this…”

I paused, making sure I had his attention. “Is it worth the people you will lose, doing this with brute strength, just to show people who will be dead in a few days you won?”

Domenico seemed blindsided by my challenge and sat there stunned as he considered what I’d said. On the other hand, Cedro looked as if he was fully on board with my plan, and it made me curious if he’d thought of something similar.

“That could work, but I know there’s someone who would challenge my right to lead,” Dom shared. “Doing it the way I had planned would also remove this problem.”

Frowning, I leaned forward, utterly confused. “I’m sorry… that’s what is holding you back? Domenico, I thought you were smarter than this, so I must be missing something. If he’s going to be a problem, then just take his ass out… problem solved.”

“It’s his mother,” Cedro explained. “If Rocco De Santis dies in any other way than at Dom’s hand, his mother will betray him to the Accardi Family. Once they find out we were going to betray them, they’ll slaughter the whole De Santis Family as a warning.”