Page 93 of Vicious Little Princess

She threw her hands up in the air, cutting him off, as she yelled, “Do you really understand? I mean, yes, when I was younger, I wanted it, I thought I’d become his heir. But when he cut me out, it shifted everything. Irreparably. And I’m glad that it did, because I’ve worked my ass off to build my own empire, something I’m still doing—or trying to do with all this other shit going on and not being able to be there physically running things.That’salready killing me as it is. And now you’re actually asking me to reconsider everything, upturn my plans and become the Boss of the Leone Family? To have that toxicity taint what I’ve been building?”

Goddamn.

“Caterina—”

“No,”she ground out at him. “I won’t allow this. Not for Dante and Matteo. Not for the big picture of the mission. Not even for the three of you. I can’t. A line needs to be drawn somewhere. And this is it for me. We can win out withoutmetaking power.”

“And how does that play out in your mind?” Nico asked.

“Simple. We decimate all the power players in the Leone Family, destroy all illegitimate aspects of their business, and incorporate the rest into the Marchetti Syndicate underyou. That way, you’d already be on the road to steering things toward a much more above board approach. Maybe just keep the coke operations during the transition or share them with Carlo Benzino. The rest isn’t necessary. The Marchetti Syndicate can succeedandprosper as a legitimate empire.”

“Simple? No. It’s much easier said than done,” Nico told her. “It would require completely reworking long-established processes and approaches that have been deeply ingrained into the Syndicate.”

“Change has to begin somewhere, and it often comes right along with unsettling and upturning what came before,” she argued.

“Why this insistent need to legitimize? You’ve crossed lines before. Recently, even.”

“Those actions were a result of forced circumstances. Of survival. The only way I could thrive while my fucking father—and now yours—is still standing tall and commanding so much power.I’mtalking about when that’s done, when they’re finally fucking gone. I’m talking about our futures, our legacy, too.”

“Legacy? That’s the second time you’ve used that word tonight. Whythatspecific word? Is it something Dante and Matteo said that you might have neglected to report to me and Milo?”

“No, I—I’ve just been thinking a lot about it the last few days while things have been in a calm-before-another-storm state.”

Julian stepped up to her and draped his free arm around her. “She’s always been ambitious. This is just obviously another facet of that.”

I frowned. Something was… off.

She’d texted us earlier that everything had been fine with the doctor and the tests that had been run, so it couldn’t be that. Maybe having Dante and Matteo show up here had triggered her then.

“You know the amazing feast I prepared is going to be ruined all too quickly if we don’t start digging in, right?” Julian interjected.

Nico snapped out of his deep staring at Caterina and swung his head toward the food.

I wasn’t above it either. Neither of us had eaten all day. While Nico had been known to skip breakfast before, that really wasn’t my thing, and I was definitely feeling the hunger pangs from it now.

Nico rubbed the stubble on his chin that was a lot more pronounced than usual with everything that had been going on. “You’re right, let’s eat. I’ve reached out to Carlo to arrange a meeting so we can formulate a plan to counter the proposed attacks. We’ll finalize that after dinner and also strategize the operation against Shawn Price.” He reached out to Caterina and took her hand, softening as he said, “Right now, though, the four of us will just take a beat, be together, all right?”

“With all this happening, we can’t just—” Caterina started.

“Can’t just what?” Nico cut in. “Take some time for the four of us? To be together? To have a brief reprieve from it all? Things are about to get a fuck of a lot worse, so moments like these should be taken where they can.”

“They remind us what we’re really fighting for,” I added.

“They sure as shit do,” Julian affirmed.

With her still hesitating, Nico explained, “This is what it’s like to be a part of a team. The burden falls on all of us. It’s spread between the four of us. It’s not all on a single person’s shoulders, as you were always used to. We share the load, Caterina.”

The corner of her mouth turned up at his words.

And then she looked out at all three of us in turn, smiling as she said, “Okay, yeah, that would be nice.”

With that, we all settled at the table, Julian taking a seat beside Caterina on the one side, then me opposite him on the other, leaving Nico next to me and opposite Caterina.

“Dig in,” Julian said. “Take whatever you want. There’s also seconds and a whole wealth of desserts on the counter.” He picked up a plate with two egg white omelets on it and set it down in front of Caterina beside her empty plate that needed to be filled. “Had this made especially for you.”

She beamed at him as she pushed one omelet onto her plate with a fork. “Much appreciated, cutie.”

“He even had a bowl of berries prepared,” Nico said, gesturing at the massive thing over on his end of the table and then pushing it toward her.

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