232

my father’s rule.
“You can have the yacht, but I’m not going back to New York,” she said softly.
“For all I care, you can move to Italy, Nina. I don’t miss you , trust me.” Before hanging up, I added. “And have someone clean every inch of the yacht. I don’t want to find any traces of your sex anywhere, understand?”
She gasped, but I did not wait for her answer.
After the call with Nina, I needed that fucking vacation, but first I was going to have to survive a meeting with the Family’s Sub-Chiefs, two of whom were my uncles and two of my aunts’ husbands. I walked out of my office and went to the last door at the back of the Sphere.
I entered. They were all already gathered around the oval wooden table. Matthew’s expression did not bode well.
I had better join them or he would soon kill someone.
The men stood up, even Matthew, because he knew how to keep up appearances even though he never treated me like a Chief when we were alone, but Uncle Gotthard took his time getting up from his chair, probably his way of showing me that he did not respect me.
I signaled for them to sit down again as I let my gaze wander over them. There was Uncle Ermano, my father’s younger brother, who was sub-chief of Atlanta, and my Uncle Gottardo, who ruled Washington DC on my behalf.
Across from them sat Uncle Durant, who governed Pittsburgh and was my Aunt Crimella’s husband, and next to him sat Uncle Felix, Aunt Egidia’s husband and sub-chief of Baltimore. The sub-chiefs who ruled Charleston, Norfolk, Boston and Philadelphia were not related to me, at least not closely enough to be considered family. All the men were between forty and sixty years old except Matthew and me. My uncles thought I was too young to be Chief. They didn’t say it outright, but I could tell by the looks they exchanged, the occasional defiant comment.
“There’s a lot to discuss. I know this is only our second meeting and you have to get used to my way of dealing with things, but I’m sure we can control the Russian threat if we work together as one.”
“In your father’s time, the Bratva would never have dared to attack the Vitiello villa. They showed respect,” Gottardo said. His eyes expressed contempt. He still hated me for slitting his son’s throat six years earlier, but my cousin got what he deserved for trying to kill Matteo and me to improve his position. Had it been up to me, Gotthard would have shared his fate. I still doubted that Gottardo was not involved in any of this. My father had believed his claims of innocence for who knows what inexplicable reasons, but I did not trust the man. If I had to make a bloody statement to establish myself as Chief, I would have started with him.
“My father was hit in the head by a bullet from the Bratva. How do you show respect?” I asked in a deadly voice as I approached the table. I did not sit down, wishing they would pull back their fucking necks to look at me. Let them see who ruled the city now, who ruled them.
I didn’t give a fuck if they were happy I was Chief at only twenty-three years old. I would have killed every bastard in the room if it meant staying in power.
Matteo threw me a smile. He had pulled out his knife when Gotthard had spoken and was now twirling it in his hands, his feet resting on the table. He would surely have appreciated a bloody statement.
Gottardo and my other uncles gave him nervous glances. They would never have become Sub-Chief if it had not been for my father. The other men who had earned that position were the ones I had to convince of my abilities, because they had the respect of their soldiers.
“You must send them another message,” Gottardo said abruptly.
I walked around and stopped beside his chair. He made a gesture to get up but I pushed him back down. “I sent them Vitali in small pieces, a warning letter attached to his severed cock. I think they got the message. The question is whether you got the message that I am your Chief, Gottardo.” He had to stretch his neck back to meet my gaze. Then he moved quickly to Ermano beside him for help, then to my other uncles. Neither made a move to come to his aid.
“You would do well to respect your elders. Maybe the others are too cowardly to say it out loud, but you should not have become chief. You may be strong and cruel, but you are too young,” he muttered, trying to save his pride.
Matthew lowered his feet from the table, his smile slipping away.
“And who, please, should have become Chief instead of me? You, Uncle?” I said in a low voice. “After all, your family tried to stop me from becoming Chief once, and your son paid with a crushed throat for the betrayal.”
Gotthard leapt to his feet, and this time I let him. He only got up to my nose, so if he thought he could impress me like that, he was a fucking idiot. “He would have been a better Chief than you. I would be a better Chief. You, like your father, are not fit for that honor.”
“Now, Gottardo, you’re talking shit and you know it,” Durant muttered, his eyes shifting nervously between Matthew and me.
I gave Gottardo my coldest smile. ” To me it sounds a lot like a violation of the oath. I am your leader.”
“I never swore to follow you.”
Ermano grabbed his brother and tried to pull him down, but Gottardo resisted. “Shut up, Gottardo, for God’s sake. What has gotten into you?”
“No,” he spat. “First Salvatore, now him. I will not follow the orders of someone who might be my son. If it were not for his father, he would not be Chief. He inherited the title but he is not worthy of it.”
“If we were not a family, I would have cut your tongue out by now, ” Matteo said as he came after me.
I wanted to kill Gotthard instantly, I wanted to crush his throat like I had done with his shitty son. I was 100 percent sure that he had sent his son to kill me all those years ago.
I looked at each of my Underbosses. “How quickly can you summon your captains and their soldiers for a meeting?”
Mansueto, Sub-Chief of Philadelphia, stood up, supporting his weight with his cane. Since his second heart attack three months earlier, he had become a shadow of the man I had known.
His family was loyal to the bone. Had he died, it would have led to more trouble. Philadelphia was important and his son Cassio was only four years older than me. “Tonight.
Tomorrow morning at the latest.”
The other men nodded, all except Gottardo, who eyed me suspiciously, and Ermano, who said, “It takes at least fifteen hours to drive all the way here from Atlanta. And I don’t know if we can get everyone here that fast. Tomorrow morning would be better if you intend to get the soldiers involved as well.”
Matteo gave me a quizzical look, but I clashed with Gotthard. “Then tomorrow morning. Call everyone.
Tomorrow I will have every Made Man in the Family swear to me.”
Gottardo sneered. “What makes you think they will do that?
Maybe they want someone else to be Chief.”
I nodded. “I will allow anyone who thinks himself most worthy to challenge me. You can contest against me. If you get the support of the majority of the soldiers, I will resign.”
Matthew looked at me as if I had lost my mind, but I knew it was the only way to silence all the voices that doubted me because of my age.
“Tomorrow at eleven o’clock in the abandoned power plant in Yonkers,” I ordered. My men exchanged a look. It was there that the last bloodbath in the history of the Family had occurred , and the press was calling that place the Gates of Hell. I sent a smirk to Gottardo. “Good luck, Uncle.”
I turned on my heels and left them to their shock. I was done with that fucking meeting. Until I had the full support of the Family, there was no point in discussing the Bratva.
Matteo ran after me. “Luca, you are the Chief. Why are you risking everything?”
“I’m not,” I said. “My men will swear allegiance to me.”
Matteo stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. “You should have cut Uncle Gotthard’s throat. That would have silenced even the doubters. We’re not the fucking Senate or anything like that. We don’t vote for our Chief, Luca.”
“I am the youngest Chief in history and I need to silence all my enemies. This time I will give them a chance to speak.”
“And are you sure you will still be Chief tomorrow?”
Matthew asked softly.
“The Family needs strength. They need a brutal hand.
My men know that.” And they all knew there was no one who could distribute vengeance with more brutality than me.
Matthew nodded, then squeezed my shoulder. “I hope you are right, because otherwise things will get bloody.”
I met his gaze. “I will never again bow to anyone’s orders. Either I will rule the East, or I will go down fighting.”
“I know. So if things don’t go as planned we’ll have to stab and shoot our way out. And we may both die, and I hate to say it, but I would really hate to die before I have a chance to fuck Gianna at least once.”
I shook my head. “Maybe I’ll save you a lot of trouble if I get us killed.”
He smiled. “I like trouble,” he said, as if I didn’t know.
“Do you want to tell Aria?”
I paused. I had to find a way to keep her safe if things went wrong. There were many men in my ranks who would have wanted to get their hands on her, and that was never going to happen. “No,” I said. “I don’t want her to worry about me.”