A moment later, my hands are cuffed in front of me. At least they’re not behind me.
“Show me in,” I say.
I follow him to a room at the end of the hall. He pushes open the doors and I take inventory.
I’m not surprised, really. Well, maybe a little.
Two uncles from Syracuse are sitting at the rectangular table. Along with them are their boys, that makes a total of six plus Catalano. Seven.
Them I expect.
It’s Gabriel Marchese sitting with a smirk on his face I don’t expect.
“Stefan,” he says, that smirk spreading into a wide, satisfied grin as he stands, extending his hand to me. “What a surprise.”
I study him, try to see any resemblance to Gabriela, and happily see none.
“Dad,” I say, smiling wide myself as I take his hand, my hard grip matching his.
He loosens his grip to let me go, but I hold tight, my smile a sneer.
For one moment, Marchese’s face is wiped clean of his grin.
I drop his hand, take in the other men in my periphery. Four soldiers. Catalano’s men.
From the looks on their faces, it’s clear no one expected to see me.
Lucas takes his place to my right.
“Gentlemen,” I say.
The Syracuse men glance at one another. “S…Stefan,” one begins to rise, and the others follow.
I go to the first one, extend my cuffed hand to shake his.
“Uncle. It’s good to see you. And my cousins.”
I look the men over. Young, this one. Eighteen, if I recall. The others are older. I make a mental note of who they are. They’ll be dealt with if they survive the night.
After we’ve all shaken hands, I pull a chair over from across the room and set it at the table, gesture for Catalano to take the seat as I make my way to the head of the table.
Catalano’s face betrays annoyance, then rage.
“I didn’t realize we did business with people outside our family,” I say to him.
“Business is business. This is the new way of doing things.”
“So let me guess. My father-in-law is here to support you financially.”
Catalano falters. He glances around the table, his expression uneasy.
Marchese clears his throat. “Hardly matters where the money comes from as long as it’s there.”
“Let’s get on with things,” I say. “You were taking a vote?”
Catalano sits. “We’ve already voted.”
“And? I’m curious about the results.”
“You don’t belong at the head of this once-great family, Stefan,” Catalano says.
“You’re not even part of this family, Francesco,” I remind him.
Hate dulls his dark eyes. “Rafa is. You can’t deny that.”
“Rafa is not a blood cousin to the Sabbioni.”
He smirks. “No. He’s more than that.”
“Francesco,” one of the Syracuse men warns.
Catalano doesn’t take his eyes off me. “It’s time he knew. Past time.”
“Then do tell,” I say, sounding calmer than I feel because I have a very bad feeling about this.
“You Sabbioni think you’re mightier than the rest of us. Better, somehow. More entitled to life.”
“I think no such thing.”
“How have you ever treated Rafa?”
“Like a brother. How have you treated him?”
“Funny you say that,” he starts, not bothering to answer my question. “See, there’s a reason your father was so good to him.”
“Because he was my aunt’s son. And my father loved my aunt.”
“Yes, he did. That’s one thing we can agree on.”
I wait.
“Very much. He loved both sisters, didn’t he? Had a hard time deciding between them.”
“Be careful, Francesco. Be very careful.”
I see every one of his yellowing teeth when he smiles. “No need for me to be careful anymore,” he says, gesturing to his armed men. “As I was saying, your father loved both sisters.”
I think about what Rafa had said over and over again. That he’s like a brother to me. That he is a brother to me.
I grow very still, understanding slowly what Catalano has. Or thinks he has.
“He’s older than you by two months.”
“He is.”
“And that gives him the right to rule.”
I wait. Because I need to hear the words.
“Your father never could keep his dick in his pants.”
At that, I lunge for him, but two sets of hands close over my shoulders and push me back into my seat and as soon as Lucas moves from his place, another soldier shoves the barrel of his gun into his chest.
“But I blame your mother, really. Couldn’t satisfy her husband so he had to go slithering about and my whore wife, well, she spread her legs wide for that snake.”
“I’m going to kill you slow, Francesco.”
He laughs outright at that and I grip the edges of the table. My guess is I have another four, five minutes tops before my men raid this place. I want to be sure Francesco survives because I want to do the killing myself.
“Here,” he says, reaching into his pocket. “Proof, if you need it. Our cousins have already seen the DNA report.”
“Francesco,” one of the Syracuse cousins starts.
Catalano holds up his hand, eyes locked on me. “Quiet, cousin. We took the vote.”
“Tell me how you each voted.”
“It was unanimous,” Catalano answers.
“You’ll understand if I want to hear from each man’s mouth.”
“You should have killed Marchese when you had the chance, Stefan,” one of the cousins says. “It’s weakened you, this game you’re playing. Weakened us.”
“How exactly? I’ll be taking over Marchese’s ships. You have to think farther than next week, cousin.”
“It’s personal for you.”
“Yeah, it’s fucking personal. He’s the reason Antonio turned on us. He’s the reason my father is dead. And he’s the man who had Antonio killed.”
He drops his gaze.
“Too much talking,” Francesco starts, standing. “Take him out back. Kill him like the dog he is,” he tells the soldiers.
It takes two of them to haul me to my feet and even then, I manage to punch one in the face and the other gets an elbow in the gut before they manage to move me.
I think about Gabriela. About what they’ll do to her if they get to her.
I think about my promise to her.
My promise to come back to her.
But when they manage to shuffle me to the door, it opens in on us and Rafa stands on the other side of it, and behind him, Gabriela comes running.
Fuck!
“Get her out of here!” I order someone. Anyone.
Rafa looks back, catches her when she tries to come into the room.
“I told you to take the fucking car! To go!”
“Get off me!” She struggles against him, eyes on me, then on the men around me.
“Gabriela!” Marchese is behind me. “What’s she doing here?” I’m not sure who he’s asking.
“Let her go!” I shout. Fuck. This fucks things up. “Lucas. Get her out of here.”