Page 154 of Vicious Addictions

I shoot to my feet, every muscle tensing at the grim look on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Your father wants to see you. Both of you.” His gaze lands squarely on Stella as he adds that last part.

“What did I do now?” she groans, pushing herself up from the floor.

Dom crosses his tattooed arms, leveling her with a scrutinizing stare. “I don’t know, Stella. You tell me.”

“How am I supposed to know?” She throws her arms up. “I get blamed for everything in this house.”

Dom’s expression softens slightly for a second, as he always does when one of us looks hurt. But he shakes it off just as fast, remembering why he came to get us in the first place.

“Follow me. Your father is waiting in his study.”

As we trail behind Dom, I lag just enough to lean toward Stella. “Whatdidyou do?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, big brother,” she whispers back. “I’ve been busy.”

Fuck my life.

I don’t dare press her for details. I’ve known Stella long enough to understand that asking questions only leads to trouble. The real mystery is how I got dragged into whatever drama she’s caused.

However, when we step inside the study, it becomes immediately clear that this isn’t about Stella’s usual brand of chaos. This looks like a syndicate business, which raises the question of why Dom insisted on Stella’s presence.

I’m unable to give that question much thought since my gaze is immediately pulled to Mina. She’s standing in the far right corner of the room, her expression schooled into perfect neutrality. However, I can tell by the slight narrowing of her eyes that she would prefer to be anywhere but here.

My father, of course, is sitting behind his desk, unreadable as ever, while both Gio and my mother sit on a nearby couch, my mother’s lips pressed into a thin, unyielding line.

Unlike Stella and I, she knows exactly what’s coming.

The tension thickens in the room as Dom shuts the door behind us and locks it.

Our father remains seated with Marcello flanking his left, just like at yesterday’s meeting.

Now that my father has a captive audience, he stands up, spreading his palms wide on the top of his desk.

“I’ve given our recent dilemma a lot of thought, and I’ve finally found a solution that will cut off at the root of our problem,” he says evenly.

My chest instantly tightens since nothing good could ever start with such a sentence.

“As you all know, my intention was for Marcello to be inducted into the Outfit and take theomertàat the end of the month. However, I’ve changed my mind. The ceremony will now take place this Sunday after Mass.”

Tense silence falls on the room, but I don’t miss how Marcello doesn’t so much as flinch as if he had already been made privy of the news.

I glance around the room, waiting for someone else to question my father’s sudden need to hurry his induction when he dragged his feet with mine.

When no one does, I step forward. “Why the rush?”

The corner of my father’s lips curls into something that isn’t quite a smile but dangerously close to the ghost of one.

“Because I’ve decided to call the heads of all the Outfit’s prominent families as well as our allies to attend the ceremony. Lady Crane has already agreed to delay her departure to attend the event, while Gio has made similar arrangements with the French-Canadian and Irish mobs. And just before you walked in, I personally extended the invite to the Donatos, which they have accepted graciously in turn.”

And there it is. The true reason behind his haste to induct Marcello into the syndicate.

My father then sits in his chair, leans back, and throws his sights on Mina with an amused grin now fully formed on his lips.

“How did you put it, Lady Crane? ‘If you want to catch a rat, let it think it owns the walls?’ Well then… let the hunt begin.”

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