Page 20 of Broken Prince

“The porn was a tip for you, brother. I think you need to debug the hard drive. It will help with your mood.”

I walked around my desk and sat on my chair. I grimaced. The seat was still warm—I hated that. I glanced at the screen and sighed with relief. At least he didn’t leave it open on that porn website like last time.

“When did you get back?” I asked, even less in the mood for chitchat than I’d been before.

“Early this morning, the party lasted longer than I’d anticipated.”

“Oh, there was a party? How nice.” I couldn’t help but sneer.

He rolled his eyes but sat on the chair across my desk.

“Yeah, Isobelonged there,” he said with heavy sarcasm. “They were all looking at me like I was a bug, and I think your uncle had a stroke when I told him you sent me.” He shook his head. “And then there was Savio glowering from the back of the room and sticking his tongue down Francesca's throat every chance he—” He stopped and looked away.

“Ah.” Francesca, my old fiancée who had been so quick to let me go after the accident. Something that should have pained me but I'd been relieved to see her walk away and even if it should have annoyed me that my cousin snatched her as soon as she left me, I didn’t seem to care, not even a little. “I’m not sure he deserved such a punishment in life.”

Dom's lips quirked up in a half-smile. “She is a piece of work.” He agreed.

“What else?”

“Enzo kept me company against the far wall. We were the wallflowers of the evening. It was nice but I think I lost my bonnet on my way back.”

I rolled my eyes. Dom's dry sense of humor was the strongest when he was irritated. “How is he?” My concern was genuine for once. Enzo was everything his father and brother were not. He was sensitive and kind—completely ostracized but he didn’t seem to care so much. They saw him like an idiot because of his stutter, but I knew the boy was smarter than they gave him credit for.

“You know—always the same. He misses you.”

I nodded. “He’s a good kid. What was discussed? What warranted a full famiglia meeting?”

“Your uncle wants a vote to reverse some of your father’s decisions.”

I leaned forward, resting my arms on the desk; that managed to get through the fog of alcohol. “What do you mean?”

“The legit business. Your uncle is not so much into expending that. He wants to grow the other side of it.”

I frowned but remained silent in an invitation for him to continue.

“He is preparing to increase the drug and weapon side of things by taking some of the Albanian territories.”

“The Albanians? Aren’t they protected by the Russians?”

Dom shrugged.

I sighed, running my hands over my face. There was a reason why my father had been named head of the famiglia despite Benny being older… Benny was a hot-headed idiot. “He’s going to start a war.” Fortunately, I didn’t care enough to step in.

Dom shrugged again. “They are putting it through a vote. If the others agree with him, they’ll get the war they deserve.”

I scratched at my untidy mountain man beard, nodding.

He cleared his throat and I knew I was not going to like what was to come.

“Yes?”

“Matteo Genovese wants to see you.” He announced as if it was a threat and to be fair it probably was. Matteo Genovese didn’t just want to see you for no reason.

“Genovese can go fuck himself,” I grumbled.

Dom snorted. “I’d like to hear you say that. Even the almighty Luca Montanari won’t get away with that.”

“Umph. What will he do? Kill me?” He could actually; he could do it in front of everyone and he would walk away unscathed.

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