Page 86 of Vicious Little Princess

“I thought you might be.”

I took another drag of my smoke. “We were so focused on undoing the damage that my father caused through his poor decision-making regarding that deal and restoring our own power that was being compromised by the unhinged moves from both the Marchetti and Leone side of things. But getting that power back only meant not being controlled by them, by anyone. It meant our freedom by destroying the three families and the entire system.Notby actually taking the Bosses’ places.”

“What Carlo suggested got into your head. Him claiming there would be a power vacuum and that it would result in us being in danger all over again.”

“Because he was right. I had tunnel vision, in a sense. All four of us did. And with the Reincourt backup in place, there was always that option to disappear, to start over. It wouldn’t be starting over, though, if things played out the way Carlo is predicting. It would mean us running,beingon the fucking run and always looking over our shoulders. It would be no small thing to be known as those who took down the three families. It would put a target on our back. With all these new players that have been brought in with the Marchetti-Leone alliance, it’s served to complicate everything.”

“You think the only way to be safeandremain free is to be at the top of the food chain?”

“It’s looking more and more like it.”

“Not to mention, you don’t want Caterina and Julian losing everything they’ve built here.”

“And with my soldiers on our side, showing their loyalty the way they have been today, making it clear they’re willing to follow me into the tunnels of hell… to walk away afterward, to leave them floundering essentially… it doesn’t sit well with me.”

“I hear you. But what of Caterina? I mean, if she doesn’t want to take control of the Leone Family too?”

“Then we run with Dante Rivera.”

“If he even wants it after the shit he’s been facing with the disrespect and insanity that Santino has been throwing his way. It could leave us with just that useless Capo of theirs, Elia Volpe. He’s basically a carbon copy of Santino.”

“That can’t happen. It would be a Santino 2.0 situation before we know it.”

“It should be Caterina, Nico. We both know it.”

“We can’t force that on her.”

“Of course not. But I do think we need to put it to her again, not just walk on eggshells where that’s concerned.” He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out. “Speaking of that, I got this text from her about Julian while we were in that last meeting.”

He held it out to me, and I took it in.

Caterina:Julian needs to be brought back in on everything. He’s frustrated and pained with the way we’ve been treading so carefully with him. Work on Nico.

Work on Nico.As if she didn’t already have the power to do that these days. Really, she knew that it was Milo who needed to be worked on where this was concerned. She was just reframing it so it didn’t look like it to him, so it wouldn’t put him on the defensive.

“It’s only been a few days.”

“I know,” Milo said as he pocketed his phone. “This isn’t following the same pattern as last time with him.”

“If Caterina is insisting, though—you know what? Text her back, tell her to fill him in on everything.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah. We can’t shield him any longer. We’ve got him past the worst of the physical healing process, at least.”

“All right,” he said, firing off the necessary message to Caterina.

I butted out my smoke and walked to the driver’s door. “Let’s head back.”

Before I’d even opened the door, my phone started ringing.

I held up my hand to Milo as I pulled it from my pocket to see Cassio Quinto calling.

Frowning, I took the call, “Cassio, what can I do for you?”

“It’s whatIcan do for you, Nico.”

I tensed. “What’s happened?”

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